Kitchen office

When we bought our house, there was a lot of things that we knew we wanted to change, but we also knew that there was so much potential. I have ALWAYS wanted a desk area in my kitchen. So I LOVED that I now have one- but it needed some work. I have taken almost 3 years to slowly make it into exactly what it was meant to be! See step by step how I have finally made it into our command central!

This was the desk area when we moved in, I could see the potential- can't you?

This was after I had made a few adjustments- I painted the back wall with magnetic paint and changed up a couple things..

And here are a few more adjustments, but I knew it wasn't done...

Now I can say it is finally the space that I have always dreamed of having! 

 I lined the drawers with shelf paper and organized them...

This one has envelopes, some cards, stamps and an address book for sending a quick thank you!

The top 2 drawers keeps all the little office supplies in order...

The label maker and post it notes

 Tools for around the house projects

 Then the bottom drawer has items that need to be filed, but I also may need to reference quickly. This is also where I keep the binder I use for meal planning.

I just used some folders and paper tape to label each one. 

 It makes it quick and easy to grab when needed!

 Next I have our weekly schedule posted. I have the kids color coded and it allows for us to easily see what we have going on each night. The kids even write in their lunch schedules for the week, so we know when they need to pack their lunch the night before.

My menu for the week is also kept in this area! Click here to see how I do my meal planning.

Then I have my laptop and my action files with our monthly calender. With the monthly calender I also use the same color coding system. Click here to see how the action files work.

On the shelf above I have all of my binders and cook books. Click here to see how I organized those.

So there you have it- our Command Station!  This area is key to making our family organized!  And I love it!  It has just turned into an area that works just like we need it to! 

Thanks for stopping by my blog!  Have a great weekend and hope you stop back again soon!

Faith

Paying the bills....

January is coming to an end, but I am going to extend my office organization through next week. I have so many fun ideas to share! Today my focus is on bill organization.

Paying bills- it's something that no one likes to do but it's a necessary evil... Having an organized system can make it much less stressful and helps the household run much smoother.  There are so many different ways to organize bills. The important thing is finding the one that works in your household!  

This is the secret to organizing bills in our household. I bought this many years ago at Target. I found one on Amazon that is similar. Click here to see. There are slots 1-31. As soon as the mail is opened, the bill goes into the slot for the day that the bill is due. For us it works perfectly. It's highly visible- with a quick glance you can see what needs to be paid. 

There is also a drawer on the bottom. We now pay bills electronically, but before that this drawer was used for checks, stamps, extra envelopes and address labels.

Since this has been our system for quite a while and is working great, I thought I could spruce it up a bit! I gave it a good dusting and cleaning and then using my Silhouette I added a label to it.

And here is it- the label just adds a little touch of fun!

Some other ideas for organizing bill paying from across blog world!

 Just click on the source to take you to the blog or website

Source: TLC Home

Source: Organized Island

Source: Echoes of Laughter

Source: Fresh and Organized

Source: Saving 4 Six

There are so many different ways to organize bills, there is bound to be something to fit everyone's style!  If you have a great way to organize your bills and want to share it with me, send me an email or leave a comment I would love to hear about it!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today. I hope to see you back real soon for even more office organizing ideas!

Faith

Portable office

Happy Friday to you!  One of my favorite blogs has started an office organizing challenge and I thought it would be a perfect way to start off the year! Click here to check out the challenge!

The first thing I need to work on is setting up a good system for a portable work area. Since I do some work from home I have been looking for a "portable office", one that can can be used anywhere from the downstairs in the home office or upstairs in the kitchen. 

So I started with this.... I bet you wonder what a dish drying rack has to do with an office...

Well this is what!  First of all the slots make a perfect place to put files 

Then the place meant for silverware works great for pencils, pens, post-its, and paper clips!

Isn't it just too cute!  Also it works exactly how I need it to. I love it when something comes together that works great and looks great!!

It can easily be picked up and taken wherever I need it to be. Everything stays organized and in it's place.

Do you want to take the Home office organizing challenge with me? Whether you have an entire room devoted to a home office or just a small nook- once it is organized and functioning at it's best, just think of how much smoother your household will run!

Thanks for stopping by my blog! Don't forget to check back next week for lots of great home office ideas!!

Faith

Fast Project Friday- Manuals

I had a pile of manuals that I had in a drawer- I just needed to do something with them!  It's not something that anyone needs everyday but when you need to find the manual to something, usually you need to find it quick!  That wasn't happening in this mess...

So here's the pile- first I sorted through & threw out anything that we don't own anymore-

I had an old binder & some page protectors

I put each manual into a page protector and then at the top put a tab to label what it is & put them in alphabetical order so they will be easy to find when needed.

Here is a close up of the tabs-

Then to find it a home- I thought this would be a great addition to my shelving unit that I am putting together in my new workspace!  I put it on the shelf with other reference materials

As you can see I did add a label with some scrapbook paper!

So there is another Fast Project Friday done!! Sometimes it's just so fun to be able to check an item off a list of things that need to be done & to be able to complete it in 20 minutes is even better :)
Any fast projects you are working on? How do you store your manuals?
Thanks for stopping by & have a fabulous weekend!!!

Workspace Olioboard

Happy Monday to you!  I hope you all had a great Father's Day weekend!

One of my very favorite blogs had a tutorial on olioboard. If you haven't heard of olioboard, it is a website you can go and make a design plan of rooms. It is awesome!  First off I will link you to this blog because  if you look around the blog- & I highly recommend doing so!- it is absolutely amazing and inspiring,  secondly, I will link you to the tutorial- it is way helpful if creating an olioboard is something that you are interested in doing.
 Here is a link to the main page of the blog http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/
Here is the link to the tutorial on olioboard http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com/2012/06/sweet-and-simple-style-tile-tutorial.html

And now here is the olioboard that I made for my current workspace that I am in the process of working on!


I was able to "pin" the actual furniture pieces right onto the board it is absolutely so much fun!!! I went to the Ikea website and found the furniture pieces that I had bought. I love that you can easily put items up, take them down if they don't work, move them around- and it is a perfect visual of what the room will represent!
Has anyone else used olioboard? What do you think- Isn't it exciting!!
Thanks again for stopping by!  Talk to you soon :)

Workspace progress

Hello!  This summer is just flying by!  In my home I have been working on my workspace area- this is the room in our home that we use for laundry, craft/scrapbooking, & office- this one room has a lot of uses!  My before pictures are from when we bought our house from the home inspection. So not our things in the before- but it gives an idea of what the space looked like.  

Where I put up my gift wrapping station  last week is the small wall where there was a book shelf facing toward the treadmill. Over where the refrigerator/freezer was in this picture is where we put the shelving unit in the next picture. So here is the BEFORE.

and here is the next stage- first off we changed the wall color!  The color is called Organic Garden and I love the life it brings to the space! I wanted something bright and lively for a room with so many purposes :) This is Expedit Shelving Unit from Ikea! As you see in this picture there is a little basket we have been keeping our modem, and computer stuff. We are wireless in our home, but it has been hard to find a way to house all that stuff. 

Here is all of it- not pretty is it? So I thought about what to do with it...

My solution is to hide it!  Here is my progress I have made on my shelving unit!  The computer "stuff" has all been put in the Kassett Box on the top left. There are openings in the front and back- so the back opening gave me a perfect place to pull the cords through!  The second row we installed drawers. I am in the process of taking my not so organized piles of craft supplies, office stuff, etc & finding spots for them. Once I get this shelving area complete, I will take you through each drawer & box :)

 This room is a huge project & will take me a while, but I am super excited to be working on it now! So I will post progress along the way!  I can't wait to show you the complete after!   I would love to hear projects you are working on or ideas that you have!   Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Fast Project Friday

Happy Friday!!  I have a super Fast Project for you! Under my computer desk I have outlet strip that has several things plugged into. I found an idea on Pinterest on how to know which cord is to what item. Just save the little ties that come on bread, bagels, English Muffins, etc- then use a Sharpie or other permeant marker and write on it what it is.  Super easy & FREE. Now if something needs to be unplugged,  no need to follow the cord back up to what it is, just simply look at the label and you know! 

You know how I love to label things! So I thought this project was just so fun- and it took less than 5 minutes!  Any Fast Projects you are working on this Friday, or maybe you are tackling a larger project over the Memorial Day weekend. I would love to hear about it ... Thanks again for stopping by :)