Organizing a Built In Office IKEA Hack
Thanks everyone for your kind comments on my last post. It all seems a
bit unreal but I’m sure by Monday it will sink in!
I’ve been slowly doing some organizing the last few weeks to get prepared for
the photo shoot with Style At Home magazine. One little thing that was nagging
me was the state of our home office. This built-in office is an IKEA hack and
it's functioning beautifully. We have lots of storage but things always ended
up just piled on the desk – fabric scraps, papers, magazines.
The metal bins are easy to pull out and I could use the label holder on
the basket if I wanted to be even more precise. The best feature though
is that I can see what fabric I have at a glance. Plus, with the limited
size of the basket, it discourages me from hoarding even more!
I also decided to do something with all those magazines I have lying about. I have dozens upon dozens of magazines stored EVERYWHERE around my house… these are just the Style At Home ones ;)
Now, with the painted office chairs, the entire room looks looks brighter and whiter. The mix of colourful books, green wall and cabinetry has given us a fresh and lively space to work in.
Built-in Office Organization
Getting organized in the home office takes a bit of planning. You want to have things organized in a way that makes sense and keeps things accessible.
IKEA offers lots of organizational products to fit their cabinets,
shelves, and storage units. What you use should suit what you intend to
store. Office organization should also be attractive and easy to use.
Here's what we've done in the office.
Want to see how we put this built-in office together using IKEA
products? Check out this post, this post, and this post too.
Fabric Storage:
I've started sewing more lately and enjoy making things for Chloe. My fabric stash is growing and I needed a way to keep my fabric neat and orderly.
I got these metal bins at Loblaws. They’re perfect for holding my
fabric. The deep size allows the fabric to be stored upright and I can
see all of the patterns easily. I love the look and clean feel
of metal bins and how polished they look with the white cabinetry.
Magazine Storage:
I also decided to do something with all those magazines I have lying about. I have dozens upon dozens of magazines stored EVERYWHERE around my house… these are just the Style At Home ones ;)
I had some old cheap Ikea magazine holders but was tired of the pattern
on them so I covered them up with Chloe’s art paper. I like looking
through the magazines seasonally so I separated them into four boxes and
made up these labels on my computer. Seasonal decor ideas don't tend to
get dated so looking at seasonal ideas collectively over the years makes
sense.
Vertical Storage:
It took a bit of work but putting this IKEA Home Office for 2 together
made great use of this small space. We really wanted a built in office
look on a budget and an IKEA hack was a great solution.
Affixing the Expedit bookcases to the wall
really took advantage of the vertical wall space. You do want to spend
extra time and attention on ensuring your bookcases are secure and
well supported when doing a 'hack' like this. Check out
this post
for the details on how this built-in office came together.
The mix of open and closed storage keeps things interesting. We used
the closed doors to hide less orderly items like my camera and lenses.
The doors also help prevent things from looking too cluttered; the
doors provide give your eye a place to rest and add some nice white
space to the room.
Now, with the painted office chairs, the entire room looks looks brighter and whiter. The mix of colourful books, green wall and cabinetry has given us a fresh and lively space to work in.
With everything organized, I can say this home office transformation is
finally complete. Here's a quick look back at how this room evolved:
See how we built this office in
this post.
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