Ideal home office

[pitterwoo]

Inspire me with your home office solutions. What do you love for keeping organized? Decorating ideas or pictures? I am going for gender neutral and I like a fair amount of color.

H is a chronically disorganized person so I really want to set up a home office space that is functional for both of us and at least somewhat more likely to stay neat.

We're moving the desk area upstairs to a guestroom from where it is now in a corner of the dining room.

[pitterwoo]

That's pretty sweet asdfjkl

[TBM]

I think it is really hard to organize someone whose brain works differently from yours.

DH and I struggle with this, and I am determined to help him figure out something that will work for him. I have even considered hiring a professional, because he has problems with organization and clutter at work too.

[pitterwoo]

Oh yes I totally agree TBM. I try to really work with him on systems that make sense to him. He's still messy though.

[TBM]

May 29, 2013 19:27:16 GMT -5 pitterwoo said:

Oh yes I totally agree TBM. I try to really work with him on systems that make sense to him. He's still messy though.

Some people need a certain amount of messiness to function.  DH needs to find some kind of balance, because he is not completely functional with his messy office. 

My business partner likes things to be tidy, and used to drive me crazy because she would put away things we weren't finished with, and would put them places just to make it tidy, not necessarily in a place that made sense.  If she had left things out where we could get our hands on them when we needed them, and waited to pick up until the end of the day, I would have been more productive.  I felt like it wasted so much of our time and found it frustrating.  We had to work hard to find a system that sort of worked for both of us. 

[boiler717]

1. Huge workspace to spread out papers.
2. Lots of hidden storage so I don't have to see any thing.
3. Quick access to papers
4. White board
5. Bookshelves
6. File drawer

[boiler717]

Oh, and a comfy spot for reading

[new2this]

Ditto the PPs about figuring out what works for each of you. We have a desk with basically no drawers. I love drawers. I need drawers. But if DH has drawers things spiral out of control into one explosion of messiness. We compromised. No drawers on the desk itself but we have an Ikea system called Besta. It has 4 drawers on the bottom with a door on the top (and shelves behind the door). It's one of their customizable systems so you can choose whatever works for you. It has been a life saver for us. It keeps things organized and hidden yet still available. It's a nice warm wood tone. We have a separate 2 drawer filing cabinet. We have baskets on top of the Besta cabinet that we use as a drop zone. DH can just drop papers in one basket for me to deal with. Random stuff goes in another basket. That way it doesn't stress me out if he doesn't put something back in the right place. We have a bulletin board and white board on the wall.

[pitterwoo]

that sounds like a good system new2this. I like the basket drop zone idea. H appears to have a fear of filing. True story. Luckily he can handle drawers. To much of a flat workspace is dangerous though because he will just pile it up.