... And everything in it's place

Redoing the office has been like fixing a car: it only ever looks worse before it is actually gets better. The office was a disaster to begin with, but as I started going through boxes, files, and paper it became a <insert work here that is much worse than a disaster>! I literally had to take three or four days to go through all of it and throw it out and organize it. The end result is much peace and satisfaction that occurs after a good cleanse :)

I had to start with the bookshelf because it was actually the key to cleaning up the entire room. The vast majority of junk I had on the desk (see previous blog) just needed a place to be. The previous bookshelf I actually am quite fond of. It folds up really nice and has always looked really good. The bookshelf is made of rubberwood and I don't know if that will paint well. Rubberwood has a tendency to warp when it dries. I may have to sell it or I may try to repaint it eventually, it would still be quite functional in either the office or the living room.

The before picture of the bookcase is in my previous blog, but I'll just put another one up because it's easy to do.



Not a bad piece, but (1) it was too small to fit all of my books and (2) I needed to change the color. If the size was right and the color was wrong, I would have just repainted it, but I really did need something larger. The bookcase I replaced it with was a purchase off of KSL classified. I do love that website and usually check it daily. Bookcases are quite common, but they were either particle board and the wrong color (I refuse to repaint particle board if at all possible) or real wood and the wrong size and really quite expensive. Eventually I stumbled on a bookcase that wasn't real wood, but it was already black. Plus that price tag was just right, it was only $20 and had five shelves. Had it been real wood, it would have been EXACTLY what I was looking for. Here is the after shot!






















An organized piece of art in my eyes! Now all of my books fit on here perfectly and all the random junk I had is organized in these great IKEA boxes which are also super cheap. I got twelve boxes for $30 and even though you have to assemble them, it's really easy. These are probably the best investment I have made towards home organization ever. I'm very pleased not to have shenanigans everywhere now!

Financial Breakdown
Bookcase: $20
Boxes: $30

Total Project Cost: $50

Now this may be half of what I spent doing multiple projects in the living room, but this project alone cleaned up the entire office. So it's impact on the overall room was HUGE. I can actually see the floor again :)

To having a place for everything...

Boomba