TWEAKS+inspiration : From Office to Adventure Land

I've finally finished turning my office into my study or as P calls it, "Adventure Land." It's really just a 15 x 13 bedroom on our main floor. After working years at home (which my company always encouraged), I was ready to turn my home office into a relaxed, creative space. Let's see the before and after.

When this room was my office, those white boxes (IKEA $16.99 for 3) were filled with supplies. Those shelves are now filled with books from my bedroom (which is now book free).

A couple of years ago, I wanted to rid my office of electrical cords and cables. A $30 trip to IKEA and a little time was all it took. A basket holds an IKEA cord management box filled with wires.

Now, there's no visible cords under my work counter. Yahoo!

When I was working, my monitor and printer were on my desktop. IKEA's cord management bound the cords on my desk. It's so worth taking a little time to get cords organized.

A table free of a computer monitor, desktop printer and all those work bits and bobs. IKEA cardboard magazine files ($0.99 for 4) keep all kinds of reference materiel and paint fan decks organized for easy access. They are casually labelled with post-it notes. The white Container Store boxes hold stationary and greeting cards, labels, scrapbook items.

Behind the closet doors, my "storeroom." When we redid the laundry room, we ended up with this extra shelving which just fit into the closet. I did spring for plastic liners (www.shelving.com) so things don't fall through the shelves. When I worked out of my office, this was my "file cabinet" too.

Now that I'm not working 8 to 5, my closet has been pared down. Magazines and paper go in the bins and get sorted every once in a while. The little drawers (Michael's) are so handy. I finally realized I don't need scissors, a stapler etc to be out all the time as I only use a couple of times a week.

As for bigger decor items, I just chucked them on top of the cabinet.

Now there's space to get out the sewing machine, work on my laptop or spread a project out on the table (formerly my desk). And a place to sit and think. I'm noticing that I'm in this room more now that it isn't so "office" oriented. And these days, almost nothing make me happier.