Creating a Calming Office Space

Having my own office makes me feel like a queen.


Except when it looks like this. Then I feel like the opposite of a queen. No, not a king. An ugly stepsister punished by being surrounded by too much cute stuff. I was so looking forward to making my work space pretty that I overlooked the fact that it needed to be functional.


It all started so innocently. I had this run of the mill table that I bought from KMart for $5o years ago. You've seen this table before in half your friends' houses, right?


We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at this table for years but then it was either demoted or promoted, I'm not sure which, to my office. I painted it a gray blue. Just some old paint I had around that I cannot find the name of. I sanded the top just to knock off the dried cereal and shine and then sprayed on some weird clear primer that my husband had in the garage. Then I rolled on the paint. And because I am skilled in time management I did this all 5 days before we moved. Something about knowing I have to pack makes me try to find any excuse to do anything else. It was imperative that I paint this table.

I knew it wouldn't get that much wear since it would be in my office so I didn't worry about doing it "right".


In this house, I put the table in the middle of the room with just the short end touching the wall by the window. I don't want to stare at a wall all day when I can watch the garbage men allow all my personal trash blow down the street as it gets dumped into the truck. And it also lets me keep an eye on what's going on in the rest of the house since I have a good view of the foyer and up the stairs.


But I figured out fast that once I start putting stuff on my table/desk, it attracts more stuff.


And within a few hours, there are air soft guns, hats, cheese cracker packages, and wires, wires, wires. This is where the whole family uses the computer and once they see that you can pile up junk on the table, they figure no one will notice if they peel off their bloody band aid and leave it next to the lamp.


I learned fast that I worked best with a cleared off desk. That doesn't mean that I can't put stuff on the desk. But, I'm trying to get in the habit of clearing it off at the end of the day. It's kind of like flylady's shiny sink method--when I see a cleared off desk in the morning, it helps me work better.


So now I have a cleared off work space. And I added two chairs on the other side of my throne. That way my boys can play the computer by just flipping it around. And, when I hold my important, life changing business meetings, I have places for the dignitaries to sit.

It's amazing how simply decluttering helped me work better and improved the look of the space. Now you can see the pretty table that I meticulously painted, and each item that is important enough to have a place in the room is actually visible. Next stop, wall hangings and storage.

Do you have a designated spot for your computer and or work? Does it have clutter build up?