Three Steps to Organizing a Home Work Space

If you work from home, pay your bills electronically, do some blogging or study at home, you could do with a dedicated work space!

Photo by Alisa Anton

Although we have gone through a few attempts to set up a home office in various places in our home, I have recently needed to think again about how to do this effectively. I started out with a desk in our bedroom - this was a temporary fix but it was not calming to have a reminder of work that needed to be done. Next I tried a small corner of the living room - but the area was too small and drafty and didn't work well as there was not much space to spread out papers. When we re-organised the living room I moved the printer to our outside art room/music studio. This area was initially a great place to work, but we found it was not easy to have to go outside in the late evenings to work there and it was too far away to always have a good internet connection. I was tending to set up on the coffee table or dining table each time I needed to do some work. Time for a re-think!

The following questions have helped me to re-assess our work space requirements:

1. What purposes will we using this space for? What will we need to fulfill those purposes?
We need our work space to accommodate our home admin, my blogging and homework for my daughter. To do these things we need a desk with drawers for homework supplies and lots of work surface space. We also need enough light to work at night and a good internet connection.

2. Who will be using the space? When will it be used?
The whole family will use it at different times of day from mornings until late evenings.

3. Where is the best location considering the above requirements?
I have decided to move our work space back to the living room as it is the largest room in the house and the place we spend most of our time as a family. I have chosen to use a long console table as a desk so it is not too out of place in our living room and gives plenty of room to spread out paperwork. There is a also a wall light above the console table so it can easily be used at night. We will try it out as a solution, but so far it is working out well.

What are your thoughts on creating a work space at home? Where have you located your work space? If you would like to read my previous post about creating a home office click here.

"The Inspired Room" Book and a Kitchen Re-Organization

I was so delighted to receive a copy of Melissa Michael's book, "The Inspired Room" as a birthday gift. As the title suggests, the book really was an inspiration for re-thinking how we use our home and has helped me to feel motivated to re-arrange and tweak things to work better and feel more cozy.

In her book she writes, "A kitchen nourishes your family in many tangible and intangible ways, so improving the physical space to make it more inviting is worth considering as your budget allows." On reflection, I realized our kitchen was not functioning well. I had found myself avoiding going in there because it felt cramped and dark and a bit disorganized. It was time for a re-assessment of what worked and what didn't. With the help of my husband, we did some re-arranging and now it is functioning so much better!

We did the following "baker's dozen" changes:

• Moved the microwave to an unused corner next to the kettle to better make use of the "dead space" there.
• Moved the bread bin and toaster to the counter space where the microwave used to sit so the space next to the stove is now free and can be used as an extension of the prep area.
• Replaced the toaster that didn't match the rest of the appliances.
• Removed the tray and tea-set that was not used daily but took up a lot of space.
• Moved the dish washing liquid, hand soap and cleaning sponge to the counter top in a old pie plate so the windowsill is clear (and my daughter can reach them). I need to put these in more attractive packaging at a later stage.
• Consolidated the various bowls of fruit onto one single large platter that can be easily cleaned and fits the corner of the kitchen. I may also add a pot plant next to the fruit platter.
• Moved the scale and weights from a high shelf onto the counter top where they are easy to use.
• Introduced a recipe stand that I had been previously unable to use so now I can have a recipe book open for inspiration.
• Introduced a small chalkboard with a fun cooking-related quote.
• Replaced the mismatched recycling basket with a collection of matching baskets on a high shelf so recycling does not sit on the counter top. Thanks to my mom for the shopping trip to find and buy these lovely new baskets!
• Put away medicines/vitamins as well as the spices. The different packaging and colours of these things were visually distracting.
• Replaced the small clock on the windowsill with a new wall clock. (Another birthday gift!)
• Space is now available for my new bread machine (also a delightful birthday present!) and a food processor that I have ordered with a birthday gift voucher from a dear friend.

So with a bit of  inspiration and some thought (as well as a whole lot of kitchen-related birthday gifts!) I really love spending time in our kitchen now. And all this took only about two hours!

You can follow Melissa Michael's blog, also called The Inspired Room, if you too need some home inspiration!