Okay folks, since my office is the cleanest it has ever been, I finally took some photos! I know it's sad, really, that it never is really clean. But doing six years of QVC with all the product, and boxes, and page packets (for the show), and on and on and on . . . I could never keep up with that. Then I made the switch to designing for KOTM and never really recovered from the last job. Sure I'd get things better, but never has it been in this pristine condition because I could never take the time to do what really needed to be done, which was overhaul the darn thing. It's sad, really. But boy do I feel good now! I still need to sort through some drawers, but that will be something for another day. Please ignore the ugly brown 1979 carpet that we need to replace. ;)
So, let's take a little tour. Here's what I walk in to every day (minus the chair that I pulled back out of the way so you could see the office.
About a year and a half ago I used to have an office hutch along that back wall and into the corner, as well as two half hutches along the left and right sides until one day I felt like I was just too closed in, so I took them out and visited IKEA for the small drawers on the desk and cupboards. The desk I got several years ago from a place called Coppehagen West. I needed something inexpensive and this is very IKEA-esque. (We've only had IKEA for a couple years.) I'm really more of a country girl, but this suited my needs. It was always easier to add as I go, and as you'll see, I kept buying more and more white drawers because again, they were inexpensive.
This is what's to the right of me when I'm sitting in my chair. Starting at the left of the picture: I keep all my scraps in those drawers, sorted by colors (whites/tans, reds/pinks/oranges/yellows, blues/greens/purples, blacks/browns. I keep an assortment of files, office supplies, and scrapbook products in the tan drawers. What you don't see is I can roll those drawers out and in the corner are all the albums I've collected over the years and haven't used yet. It's a LARGE stack. ;) Next set of drawers are all stamps as well as the bottom of the rest of the drawers. The other drawers have some American Crafts products, Li'l Davis and QuicKutz dies.
My two printers are an Epson All-in-One CX5800F and Epson Stylus Photo 1400, which is a 12" photo printer. Love that! Oh, and something else I love that's sitting there is my Genesis Trimmer!
This is how I like to store my dies, in these Rubbermaid drawer organizers. Back in the day, I decided I didn't like having to pull the dies in and out of sleeves when I used them, not to mention the binders just took up so much space. So I switched to this method. Saves a ton of space and it's so much easier getting them in and out! I was going to put little dividers in them so I knew which alphabet was where, but I uhhh . . . never got around to it. :)
This is at the back of me when I'm sitting in my chair. It's also to the left when you walk into the office space (first picture). These white cupboards I bought at Home Depot and they are perfect for the 12" stuff. It used to be jam-packed with paper until last week. Before that, I used to keep all the QVC show page packets in there. I have another one to the right where I used to keep all the QVC product kits, but now it's just more storage. As you can see though, I've got a lot of extra room now! I kept my staple company products, like My Mind's Eye (that whole second shelf on the right!), Chatterbox, Scenic Route, Basic Grey and a few others. Still puh-lenty of paper! I kind of went with the philosophy of cleaning your house, only it was if I haven't used it in two years, I just ain't gonna use it.
The drawers on the left are full of product too.
As you can see in all these next photos, I love using drawers and bins to sort my stuff. I love having stuff put away. As much as I love looking at cute stuff on shelves and baskets and stuff . . . it just gets too dusty for my taste. I like having everything closed up. This particular bin in this photo I got from Roberts Crafts. I think it was called an Art Bin. All the others I usually buy are just .99 or 1.99 plastic craft bin. I usually take the lids off most of them and lay them in shallow drawers.
This is in the drawers to the left of the cabinets.
This is in the tan drawers--lids on, of course, since they are stacked. I love those Making Memories little bins, but I haven't been able to find any for quite some time.
just another example.
This is my ribbon storage, but this is one of the things I really need to regroup on. I've gotten lazy about keeping it up. But the bins work really great here doubled-up. As you notice in the next picutre I can slide that bin in the back to the front and have more ribbon stored underneath it.
And this is what I look at every day. I love all the flowers sitting in those apothecary jars, they just look so pretty. The jars I got from Thai Pan for $1 a piece. I also love seeing the rainbow of Bazzil cardstock behind the flower in the center cabinet. That's all just my little bit of color. Now that I'm all clean and organized, perhaps I can focus on adding some artistic touches to the place. I think about it often. :)
Well, that's it. That's my office. Maybe someday when I grow up I'll have a real studio with colored walls and fun art and everything. ;)
