This office is off the kitchen and living room in this client’s house and the “perfect” room to be used as a catch all. Don’t want to take this upstairs? Throw it in the office and close the door. Don’t know what to do with it? Throw it in the office and close the door. This needs to be donated but I’ll do it later. Throw it in the office and close the door.
This is pretty standard in many houses. It’s easy to shut the door on the mess and then not think about it… except that it’s always there in the back of your mind and when you open the door again it can feel overwhelming so you just close the door again. This usually means it’s time to call me in so we can tackle it together and get it done.
In this case, the client has a big project coming up so we are getting her spaces dealt with so that she can put all of her extra energy into her new adventure rather than coming home from work and seeing unorganized areas that she feels stressed out by. The office has a ton of great storage so that was the easy part but it needed proper organization. We took everything out, sorted, decluttered and made piles of what was going to go back in the room, what needed to be put elsewhere (Christmas decorations, costumes, outdoor gear) and what was going to be donated. One of the things we did that made a huge impact really quickly was match the food containers with lids and got rid of any that didn’t have partners or were broken.
We moved a few things around and were actually able to create room to move lesser used items (kitchen appliances and platters) from the kitchen into the cupboard that would still be easy to grab. We also started a back stock area so extra cleaning supplies weren’t getting lost under the sink and repurchased when they weren’t needed. The pull out shelves in this cupboard are perfect for that. One item she is going to add is a bin on the top shelf to store the wrapping paper in, making it easier to grab, and not lose it all the way in the back.
Work out gear and weights were also being stored in here but they were just on the floor and in the way so a cart for it all was also ordered and will be set up soon. It will hold weights, boxing gloves, yoga mats, ect. and have wheels so it can be moved out to the living room when she uses it and then put back easily. In order to fit it, we did have to rearrange the cube shelf from horizontal to vertical (one of the best things about the cube shelves is that they are very versatile). The other bonus is that standing the shelf on end cuts down on flat space that can end up cluttered because you can just toss items on to it and not deal with it.
There was still some paperwork that needed to be filed but now with a lot of open, clean space it makes it easier to get this done and having this room organized is making it easier to keep going with the rest of the house. Once you start and see the benefits in one room, you will want to keep it up and deal with all of those areas that are cluttering your mind.