( from my IG story )

For my long-time readers, you know Arkansas holds a special place in my heart. It’s where this little blog got its humble beginnings and where we lived for 6 truly amazing years. Doesn’t take more than a call from friends to twist my arm for a visit, but this time it was an organization project that called me back to my second home.

We managed to work it out perfectly so I could work for 2 full days and then stay on to enjoy the 4th of July festivities with friends. It was an incredible trip all around, the kids had an amazing time and we are so sad to be flying away…as I type. But the memories and this newly organized office space won’t let those sad vibes stick around very long!

THE PURGE

I won’t share the before before’s out of respect for this sweet mom of 2, but she and I both agree it was definitely out of control. She could barely make a path from the door to her desk. These things happen when you’re a dedicated mom of 2, wife, attorney and teacher. On top of that, her home office was the convenient location for larger items to end up when they didn’t make sense anywhere else. The garage is 2 floors down and moving these oversized items was difficult. Sometimes it just takes unplugging from it all, getting the kids off to summer camp and pressing that reset button….with a good friend by your side to help.

She has a beautiful, huge, home office that includes a sitting area, office nook, walk-in closet and full-size bathroom. Hello, it’s the south – everything is bigger and more spacious here! I was so proud of her when we managed to knock out the entire purge process in 2 hours. Seriously, we were making a massive Goodwill run by 12 on day one. In addition to the donations, I contacted a local hauler who will be coming later this week to pick up larger donations and furniture items that were taking up most of the floor space in here and the closet.

After donations were purged and the larger pieces were moved out of the space, here’s where we were…

THE GAME PLAN

From here, we came up with a game plan. This was easy since she had a solid idea of what was / wasn’t working and what she hoped for. We decided to:

• add on to the current large wall shelving
• remove the short shelf near the desk to add something taller
• remove the risers on top of the desk since she needed more work surface to spread out
• create zones in the walk-in closet for fragile holiday items and her teaching supplies (she’s an AP high school teacher with lots of books!)
• update the placement of wall hangings and the desk wall organizer

UPDATED WALL SHELVING

On day one, after we purged the space and while she was getting her 2 kids off to summer camp, I ran to The Container Store to purchase an additional section of shelving for the long wall…

( shelving )

Thankfully, they had everything in stock. If you can imagine, I don’t like leaving a space undone. ha!

This is seriously a new favorite for me. It requires no tools for assembly – just set up the frame and add as many shelves as you wish, in whatever configuration you choose. The shelves and frames come in a variety of colors as well. Love this system so much!

Once the shelves were up, we placed her teaching books in zones and added some of her special family decor…

I also added a matching black frame to the far wall. Coming together!

ORGANIZED DESK SPACE

On day two we focused on her desk space, which was transformed quite a bit thanks to a free-standing elfa system. It required another Container Store trip, which we both had no problem doing along with a coffee run…

( join the fun on IG! )

( shelving | storage boxes | magazine files | paper sorter | basket )

Much more space! And if you can believe it, this is the first time I’ve assembled a free-standing system. You’ve seen many wall-mounted elfa’s here on my blog, but never a free-standing unit. So so easy to assemble for instant new vertical storage!

We left that large space above the printer so she could open the top completely for making copies. She already had the colorful storage boxes so we re-purposed them for labels, planner supplies, office supplies, journals, apple cords and more.

Her desk is now wide open and ready for a new school year! Someone’s ahead of the game – it’s only July…

( desk )

Just removing the desk risers and minimizing the wall organizer helped a ton. She still has plenty of organization space for pens and other items. And who doesn’t love the Martha Stewart Wall Manager System? Wish she would bring it back one day – it’s so versatile and simple, yet pretty above any desk.

AN AREA TO RELAX & READ

Here’s a view back toward her sitting area…

The couch pulls out to a guest bed so she’s ready for guests too!

Not pictured here is her walk-in closet which was a bit tight to photograph, but trust me – she can walk in, find it all and it looks great!

We ended up with so much free time that we tackled her son’s room as well – in just 4 hours time! So proud of her hard work for 2 full, long, exhausting but very fun days.

Still dreaming about this bold office chair, which she said she purchased from Home Goods in case anyone else has heart eyes…

SHOP THIS SPACE

If you’d like to shop this space, you can find most everything right here…

Anyone else getting their home office organized this month? Before August approaches and school is back in session? I can tell you she feels amazing having this big project behind her and I was grateful to help!

Happy July everyone!