Adorable, Organized Home Office in a Small Rental Home

I just love the start of the year don't you?  After the busy holidays I am always eager to put away the decorations, clean house and get organized.  I love filling out my calendar and sorting through last year's papers to get rid of everything I don't need and I especially love how much more time I have to work on these things in the month of January. Today I'm going to show you my adorable, organized home office in my rental home. 

This is a post by my assistant, Tiffany, who is sharing her home office she made in her rental home! Come see the rest - it's SO cute!

This year I got started in October when I began to feel frustrated with the way my desk and entryway was getting cluttered. After months of purging, shifting furniture and pondering how to organize everything, I've finally finished and I'm so excited to share with you how it all turned out.

This before shot is truly terrible, but its really what it looked just before I did my final purge and my hubby moved in the new desk.  I had moved some furniture around in the house to make a new drop-zone by the front door and to get my desk out of the front room. Here is where the new office would be, but this is definitely not what I wanted it to look like.   

Since I have a 2 year old, I needed a way to work on sorting while keeping it contained.  I worked on my junk for several days during nap time and used cardboard boxes for things "to shred" and "to keep" and a trash bag for things to toss.  When the baby would wake up I'd throw the trash away outside and stack the boxes inside that big box in the corner. It would stay there until the next nap time.  It looked THIS UGLY for several weeks while I was working but we just had to deal with it! 

Don't let little ones be your excuse for not getting organized.  If you have a toddler to take care of, it may take you a little longer, but you will be so happy in the end! 

Here is my beautiful new office now.  I am thrilled with how it turned out!  You can see that there is now room for two computers and best of all, no junk!   

My sweet Husband was kind enough to build a desk to fit our office space and family's needs.  I LOVE how it turned out!  I was inspired by this one that Lisa Pennington built in her dining room because this little office is off my dining room as well.   

I showed him my Pinterest Board of dreams for the new office. Then it was time for a date to find what we needed. We had fun hunting for legs at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and trying to find good straight wood in the pile of "common lumber" at the hardware store. 

He wanted to make it super detailed with drawers and I insisted that if I had a drawer, I would probably shove stuff in it that I shouldn't and so he kept it super simple for me! I was inspired by Becky's office shelves and decided to put up some of my own rather than have drawers in my new desk. 

We are not allowed to paint our walls in our rental home, so the only way to add a little color is in the furniture, accessories and art I choose.  I had fun making over these old wooden chairs that a friend gave me years ago. My oldest daughter convinced me to add a little whimsy to the office with that deer-head seat cushion.  It makes me think of her and smile every time I sit down to work. 

Don't be afraid to try something that's just a little "funky" you can always change it if you don't end up liking it. 

The chalkboard calendar was another DIY project.  This was a framed art print I got at good will for about $6. I turned the art around and spray painted the backing with chalkboard paint, then used a paint pen to create the blank calendar grid.   I write our schedule on the calendar each month in chalk and it wipes clean leaving the blank grid behind.    All together this extra large chalkboard cost about $15 to make.  

I used a wall system to organize things.  The file pocket is perfect for letter sized file folders.  I put our weekly chore/laundry/dishes rotation on the cork board as well as any upcoming invitations I may want to look at.  The small pockets are for my chalk pen, my phone (while I'm working) as well as receipts I need to keep for a while.  

I used a box, along with some acrylic drawer organizers to store extra push pins staples and other things I need in the office.  I have a basket for some of my odd-sized office and business tools and a little suitcase box for extra stationary and stamps I may need.  Having things in their own container has helped me to put things where they go rather than just shoving them out of the way somewhere.  

I refer to these books daily and so I like to keep them right above my work station where they are away from toddler fingers (and crayons) but easy for me to find  when I want them.

Isn't this mouse pad and coaster cute?  It is too cute on my desk, and I really want everyone to use a coaster in order to keep the desktop looking beautiful, so when we received the second computer, I decided to buy another set from Office Depot! 

A candle, a couple of live plants and some cute art make the space all that more cheerful.  EVERYONE in the house loves working in the new office.  

It took about three months to get this all done. I hope that encourages all of you to just work at it a little at a time. 

Transformation doesn't happen in an hour.  When you're caring for a family and celebrating the holidays you need to take time to just plan a little, dream a little and work at it a little at a time.  

Don't give up, you'll be so glad you stuck to it!

This new office is the perfect way to start the New Year! Thanks to Becky and See Jane Work for all the fun accessories and organizing tools to make my office a happy place to spend the day.  Thank you to the Lord who has given us so much more than we need or deserve.  Thank you to the secret giver who gave us their old computers when they no longer needed them.  

A special THANK YOU to my sweet hubby for all your hard work on the desk and being the biggest encouragement to me as I work hard at home training our little ones day after day.  I love being the Mom when you are the Dad!

Isn't it amazing how she can make her little rental home so pretty? Even with strict rules she made it nice. 

 

 Want to know where I got that product? 

Go HERE and find it!

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