Gitter Done – Office Organization

Warning: the pictures you are about to see Are. Not. Pretty. In fact, some of them are just plain scary. I’m going to show you my office and it’s all Donna’s fault. She has these “Gitter Done parties.” For some reason, I feel compelled to pick up Miss Funky Junk’s gauntlet and try to Gitter Done. She was the motivation behind me getting this project started. She’s such a nag (in the very best possible way)! 🙂 

Anyhoo, I saw her Gitter Done was starting again and I thought about how much my office needed my attention. I quickly got over it and had a million excuses reasons why I should put off this project. However, Hubs forced my hand, so I bring to you my office reorganization project.

It all started with these plastic containers. Years ago I had the brilliant idea to store my craft supplies in these containers, which worked really well for a long time. Fast forward to today where I share a work office and craft room and these drawers are bringin’ me down. They’re cheap and ugly. They no longer open up the right way, and they are the first thing I see when I walk into my office.  
Meh.

This desk was our inheritance from Hub’s grandfather. The desk is really too tall for me, but since it’s the only desk we own, I make do.

My desk is a mess. I know this. I dream of, try to have a neat desk  but the reality is that I’m a creative person and this is a very low priority for me. I do like to have a neat desk for my work space, but lately my desk has also doubled as a craft area, hence the mess.
I’m ignoring working on this problem.

We’re continuing around the room from the door in a counter-clockwise direction.
Before you wish for better, clearer pictures let me just say the dark, crappy pictures are really a kindness to you. This mess doesn’t look any better in Technicolor.
Seriously, I don’t even know why I’m showing you.

I made these are burlap curtains to give the room some privacy from the street. These are the only windows on the front of our home and it is ridiculously difficult to get the lighting right to show  you the curtains. If I can get some decent pictures, I’ll do a tutorial on these.

Buried under all that junk is a light table from one of the newspapers where Hubs used to work. They no longer use light tables for paste up at the papers and I welcomed a free light table. Right now it serves as counter space in my craft room/office.

The improvised home computer desk. It’s a cork board on some storage boxes. I didn’t want to set up the home computer in my office because I didn’t want to share my space. I set this up under duress thinking the boys would give up and not want to use the family computer. Sadly, this has yet to happen. Sigh. Fine. I’ll share.
grumble grumble grumble

A. I have moved 3 times in 3 years and I know that come January, I’ll be moving again. My burnout levels are high and my motivation is low when it comes to organizing and unpacking and storing and finding a home for every little thing. Don’t judge, okay. These types of decisions wear me out.

B. I’m currently a seminary teacher. For those of you who know what that means…’nuff said. For those of you who don’t know what that means, I get up at 4:45 a.m. every week day to teach an hour-long religion class to 12 high school students, one of whom is Buddy. Exhausted is my default setting these days.

C. I currently have 15-20 projects either in progress or patiently waiting for me to get to them. I’m easily distracted and if the choice is clean or create….well, you can guess which one is going to win. 

Here’s what I’ve managed so far:

This old table has been repurposed into a desk for the family computer. This is where the craft organizers were. I had planned to refinish the top of this table, but then Hubs stuck it outside and the rain warped it. I doubt I’ll ever spend the effort now.

I moved the file cabinets over to this side of the room. I feel less boxed in now. I’ve organized some of my office supplies (which were in the storage totes holding up the family computer). The basket on top of the file cabinet holds my current crochet project. The disco ball is patiently waiting for winter so I can focus on it again. I’m trying to get some big furniture projects completed while the weather will still let me. Indoor projects are currently on hold for bad weather.

The light table still needs work. It will have to wait for another Gitter Done day. 

Seriously, don’t judge me. I’m a work-in-progress!

The behemoth his and hers dresser is the real reason for my reorganization. This was kiddo’s dresser, but we ended up moving the boys around and this dresser no longer fits in the room. It will make a great craft supply home. It needs some love, but I’m willing to live with it for now. I still need to move all the supplies into here, so, again, that will be in part 2.

For now, I’ve got a cleaner, more open office. This space will never be cute. It’s a functional office/craft room. I have some cute-ish elements and for now, that’s enough for me. I’d rather focus on the rest of my home.

Thanks, Donna for helping me Gitter Done.