Teenaged Girl's Bedroom in Scandinavian Design

It has been several months since we redesigned my teenaged daughter's bedroom for her birthday, but I wanted to share how lovely it turned out. It's difficult to get into her room and photograph these days, as she is now homeschooled and spends an enormous amount of time in her room, and more specifically on her bed! If you've been following me for any time now, you may remember that we re-did her bedroom a few years ago! She is now a full fledge teenager and has very specific design ideas and so for her 14th birthday, I told her we could redecorate her room. It has been FIVE years and she's a lot different at 14 then she was at 9 years old! Here is what her room looked like before:

AMAZING Wall Treatment and Command Center Update

This post is sponsored by the Formica® Corporation. All opinions are my own.

Last time I shared with you how I was getting that organizing itch again! Remember that? Well, I've been doing a LOT of fun projects in our home because I just love organizing and decorating! Our command center area had been working well for a while, but then it stopped really working and we needed to update it! I have the big reveal of what we did - and it's AMAZING!

Boy's Room Update: Easy Desktop Tutorial

I have been compensated and provided materials to share this fun project! 
While I've been compensated, opinions are 100% mine!

I shared a few weeks ago how our teenage son is turning 16 and so it was time to give him a little update in his room. I proposed this to him and he seemed very happy with "Mom's ideas" -- he really doesn't care too much about what his room looks like but is ready to let his red wall go....however, I'm doing one thing at a time.

How to Handle Paper Clutter

Today, I'm so excited to bring you a guest post from a sweet lady. Mary is a professional organizer and mother of four. She loves to organize, create, decorate and then blog about it at MaryOrganizes. Mary doesn't chase after perfection, her goals are a healthy home and happy life. She has amazing organizing skills and is here to help me out with all my back and forth traveling I've been doing. Now..let's handle that paper clutter before it controls us!

 

 If paper is your problem, you are not alone! 

Laundry and Paper are the monsters of homemaking and are more similar than you realize. A good strategy for laundry maintenance can teach you a lot about how to solve your paper problem. Your dirty clothes go in a hamper until its time to wash it. It would be a waste of time and energy to wash each piece of laundry one at a time as it becomes dirty. I use my inbox as my paper hamper and I save time dealing similar types of papers (or loads) at the same time. 

31 Days of Spontaneous Organizing - Day #29: Desk Top

Today is Day #29 of 31 days of spontaneous organizing! Your mini-challenge for today is your desk top! Oh, dear...this one's a tough one, right?

Here are a couple of ideas and tips for when you organize the top of your desk. If you have a lot of papers on there, go through them quickly. Make a "file pile", toss those you don't need, and come up with a plan to keep the papers from piling up again. Take anything off your desk that doesn't belong. Keep a minimum of things on there - decide what things ARE allowed on there and stick to it! 

I have to admit, keeping my desktop clear is not even easy for me! So, there are a few things I've done to tackle this since I work from home. I have a couple of organized file boxes on my desk - I tend to be a "piler" and this helps keep me from piling things and forgetting about them. I have file folder in those that are labeled with different areas that I tend to have piles. 

I have a magnetic bulletin board I made and covered with fabric to put important paper in front of me when working and off the desk top.

I also use simple boxes to hide things that I need close by but don't want cluttering up my desk top. Now, it's your turn to get your desk top cleared and clutter free!


More helpful posts for your home office: 

OMF Headquarters: The Big Reveal of my office
OMF Headquarters: The Organizing
Portable Office
Cleaning up Your Desk
Office Desk Ideas
Your Office: Clutter on your computer
What's your filing system?
Behind the scenes of my office reveal

Now get to it! Get under that kitchen pantry shelves organized! Remember to:

A. Follow me on Pinterest {HERE} and/or
B. Follow me on Instagram {HERE}
C. Load your photo on either Pinterest or Instagram and TAG me {BeckyB_OMF or OrganizeMadeFun go HERE to learn how to tag on Pinterest} and use hashtag #SpontaneousOrganizing--If you upload to Pinterest, please either leave the URL link here in the comments for me to visit OR let me know your Pinterest "@" name and I'll follow your board to see it. 
D. Before and after pictures ARE preferred but not necessary - cause sometimes you start and are so excited you forget to take a "before" picture, right?

**Update: There is trouble with tagging me on Pinterest {because it doesn't notify me}, so instead please do the URL copy and post in the comments and I'll be sure to go and look at it. Thank you for understanding**

Feel free to leave a comment if you're doing today's challenge! Can't wait to hear how things are going and see some of your pictures!

 

 Like what you see here? Consider becoming a follower or subscribe via email! Are you an Organized Reader? I'd love to see your organized space. Email me HERE and show me your space to possibly be featured as one of my Organized Readers. 

 

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OMF Headquarters: Behind the scenes and the costs

My office project has been the biggest improvement for me more than I could even have imagined! You remember where I started right?

It's so nice to work in here, but I've had lots of questions from all of you about many different things in the office: where did I get things, what colors, how did I paint the furniture, etc.? So THIS is where I get to tell you ALL about the low down!

What colors are the walls and furniture? I don't usually take too long choosing paint colors. I knew what I wanted and put a bunch of paint chips on the wall - I immediately picked this one in about 30 seconds! I let it sit on there for awhile and a few days later still wanted the same color - Valspar "Gravity" is the color I chose. It's a really nice, soft gray. For the furniture, I chose Valspar's "December Starlight" - also a quick decision for me as I knew what I wanted. 

So, how much did everything cost? Above are all the costs of every single thing I bought for the office. Yes, $1000 seems like a lot of money, but I really worked hard to save a lot of money in some places - like repainting the furniture, so that I could "splurge" on other things like the rug and chair for the library corner. My organizing purchases from The Container Store were in the desk, on the desk, all around and were purchases that were well worth it with high quality organizing items. Plus, being a work at home mom blogger, I get to "write off" all my expenses to fixing up my office :) I did not include the skytube in my purchases since this was more home improvement and not decorating {but I get to write off the skytube, too}.

Where did I buy each thing? As you can see above, it was a combination of The Container Store, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Target, Target.com, HomeDecorators.com, and Ikea. I scoured the internet and many stores for just what I was looking for. The chair in the corner of the library I COULD have bought one at a thrift store and reupholster, but I just didn't have the time and the cost of this wasn't that bad, justifying my purchase.

How did I paint the beast, I mean, desk? Thanks to Instagram, which taking pictures with my Iphone is WAY easier when I'm in the middle of a beastly project like this, I took some pictures during the process. The desk is made up of laminate and real wood - in various places. But, that's okay cause you can paint both. The laminated areas are actually smoother and nicer when painted than the real wood. I start off by using a liquid sandpaper {or deglosser is good like TSP-type substitute}. I wipe down all the surfaces I'm going to paint to prepare it. Then, I put on TWO coats of primer. Then, I painted TWO coats of semi-gloss paint. As you can imagine, it takes a long time with furniture because there are nooks and crannies - unlike most walls. It's tedious and long, but the reward is a brand new-looking piece. I am not a "chippy" or "wood showing through" kind of girl {generally} so I just simply paint it! I knew the top of the desk would never survive a computer and all kinds of stuff on it for long, so I purchased a piece of glass sized to fit exactly - you can call a local glass cutting shop for prices. It was well worth the $75 and they had it ready in a few hours. I STILL haven't found the missing handle for the middle drawer on the right {as you can see in the picture}. I keep hoping it will just turn up - where in the world could it be?

How did I make the cardboard magazine holders so cute? It was seriously simple...I took my fabric and cut it so that it would wrap around just the front of the holders. I had two already cute stenciled-looking file holders that I planned to put on the ends, so I just cut enough fabric to cover what you would see and used spray adhesive to hold them on. I debated for days about whether to cover the entire folder/box with fabric and I decided it wasn't worth wasting all the time and fabric to do that when you only saw this much of it!

How do you make that magnetic board and get it to stick up there? Again, super easy. My hubby purchased an electric sheet metal cutter awhile back because it makes cutting sheet metal a breeze {he's used it on several projects around here} - seriously, it's quick and easy. You can cut it by hand, also, but it will be harder and a bit longer process. You may even be able to ask your hardware store to do it for you, if you're nice! They aren't terribly expensive, but I use those to cut the sheet metal to size. Then, I wipe down sheet metal and take spray adhesive and spray the surface and lay fabric on it and smooth it. The desk has this bump out {see pic, Left, second picture down} where I was putting the magnetic board, so I took scraps of wood and drilled them into the top half so it would sit out level with the bottom half. Then, I took my velcro wall strips and placed them on the scrap wood and hung it up. 

Last, how did I make the wall art? I purchased Joel Dewberry fabric on Etsy that was coordinating with my office colors. It was sold in fat quarters - made primarily for quilting - but I wanted just a bit of each color. I saw this idea on Pinterest and went with it! Originally I had planned to use this on my magazine folders but changed my mind. 

Source

I got all the frames from a friend's garage sale - which she would NOT let me pay her a penny for them so they were FREE. I took them apart, cleaned them, labeled the glass with the frame, spray painted them with some black paint I already had. Then, I took the fabric and put inside each one of them. I laid them on the floor where I wanted them to go and used my velcro wall strips to hang them - SUPER easy. Oh my goodness, WAY easier than trying to use a hammer and nail and get them exactly even. I measured a bit but it went up fast and easy. 

The large OMF Headquarters sign I used my brand new Cricut {hubby got me for my birthday} and had this board left-over from my family room wall that just didn't work. I spray painted it black and then cut out my OMF letters on my Cricut. Ooops! I learned the hard way that I did it wrong. But, it was the ONLY yellow vinyl I had, so I found some turquoise instead. It WORKED and I like it better!

Whew...that's it! That's all the behind-the-scenes and cost of everything. I hope I answered ALL your questions on how I did everything. Feel free to ask any more....

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DIY Showoff
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Home Stories from A to Z
A Bowl Full of Lemons
At the Picket Fence
Serenity Now

OMF Headquarters: the organizing

I can't reveal my fabulous office and leave you hanging, can I? There is so much in the office to show you that I purposely had to have a separate post on JUST the organizing!

So, last week I revealed the whole office in all its glory! Now, up close, I'll show you how I keep my desk and everything else organized in there. My desk is very important and must do a lot. When I got ready to paint it - the beast - I decided I was getting rid of anything that wasn't necessary. That meant that my hubby's stuff in the desk was going to need a new home, too!

I'm going to start with the middle drawer. I've used small ramekins to hold my pretty paper clips and small binder clips and other small but important things. 

I have my pocket digital camera and it's components in a box lid and then my other baskets holding necessary cards in one and my picture hanging strips in the other - which, by the way are AMAZING and I used them exclusively for hanging everything in this new office.

The drawers on the top left are organized simply - the top, with basic office needs {stapler, scissors, hole punch, tape, etc.} simply lay in there neatly. The drawer under, I have a drawer divider that I used to divide up my "bill paying" drawer, which holds my checkbooks and deposit envelopes {and a cute owl wallet for use here and there}.

My file drawers are the two least exciting drawers. But, I fit a small filing cabinet FULL of files into my two bottom drawers. I got rid of all kinds of stuff so that I could get rid of the cabinet and keep it all in the desk. The best part: I now file much better because it's right next to me. I hate filing, so I need as few excuses as I can get!

My right drawers hold my label holder and some more binder clips - the other one holds all my stationary for writing cards and such, using an acrylic hair accessories organizer. 

On the top of the desk is the large hutch. I use the back of the door {of course} by putting cup hooks on them and using a binder clip to clip things. I have one door that holds invitations to things I don't want to forget and the other door holds my daughter's "art of the day" {yes, she LOVES to draw constantly and give to Mom}. By the way, she knows that she has to take down the old stuff and get rid of it so we don't get overloaded with too much. 

So, next we move on to the middle of the hutch. I got these beautiful office storage boxes in turquoise to add a pop of color while organizing all my camera equipment discreetly. I need to get at this stuff frequently and hide it in here, or I can throw it into my camera bag easily.

On top of my hutch, I have cardboard magazine files that I've covered with the same fabric I used on the magnetic bulletin board. Then, I asked seejanework.com to send me some of their pretty organizing goodies for my office and they sent me these fantastic clip-on label holders - which you can use for these magazine holders and for binders, too.

Other areas around my desk that I organize are some magnetic clips from See Jane Work, a pretty "ocean" basic binder also from SJW that I'm using for a family binder, vintage wire wall pockets from SJW filled with garden delight file folders they sent, also. I finally got this cord wrap to keep my cords neat, too. 

The last area I have organized is the printer stand. You may remember that I mentioned that we had to make this from two pre-fab bookshelves screwed together. My list of needs for this room, was to have a place to fit my printer, shredder, receipt scanner AND my laptop and camera bags. Well, I did it with this printer stand! The handbag storage bin I got is large enough to fit these two bags. Whew!  That's pretty much IT for all the organization! I hope you enjoyed it and got some great tips or ideas for organizing your office or drawers!

 

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