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Solutions for cluttered home offices

Most people who have an office elsewhere wouldn’t dream of letting it become a total mess if customers could drop in at any time.
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Interior designer Tammy Haywood shows off her latest home office upgrade for a client in Maple Ridge.

Running a business from a home office has some real advantages–short commute, very relaxed dress code, easy access to amenities – but there is one disadvantage that may make things more difficult than necessary, and that’s the lack of public scrutiny.

While most people who have an office elsewhere wouldn’t dream of letting it become a total mess if customers could drop in at any time, a lot of home offices are disaster zones because the owner is too busy to worry about order or the look of the place. After all, “No one but me will see it anyway.”

Well, that may be, but a messy office can be a real time waster in terms of productivity, and if it’s not a pleasant space to be in, chances are you’ll avoid it.

There are solutions for both problems, however.

Tammy Haywood, owner of Pitt Meadows-based interior decorating firm Stylicious, has some tips on how to tidy up your home office and make it feel comfortable.

Recently, she had the opportunity to redo the home office for busy real estate agent Kelly Fry, whose office was the victim of a busy mom, wife, business woman and community volunteer.

As a result of her time crunch, Kelly’s office was cluttered, disorganized, full of stuff that didn’t belong in an office, and dated. She didn’t want to spend a lot of money, but was open to ideas about how to make over her workspace.

Tammy started with de-cluttering. This meant moving children’s toys out of the small office space so it could be better used for business purposes. Other items were sorted for relevance – stuff that didn’t belong, or that was dated, was boxed and stored elsewhere, while business-related materials were organized so that they could be easily found when needed.

All surfaces were scrubbed clean to brighten them, and then colourful storage solutions were created to house things like paper, office supplies, receipts, business cards, electronics and software; even a few inexpensive boxes were purchased, as was a storage shelf to help get things off the desk.

“The bookcase was overflowing,” says Tammy, “so we sorted books into three piles. One was to be stored close in the bookcase, one was to be stored away in the garage, and one was to be dropped at a thrift store.

“We grouped books by subject or by author, depending on how my client would look for them and stored them in inexpensive magazine holders, labeled them and put them back on the shelves.”

In addition to getting organized, Tammy’s mission was to help Kelly create a welcoming office, and to that end they made some cosmetic changes, including new paint to create a feature wall, and replacing a light fixture and old Venetian blinds to update both. Red accessories to complement the green paint were used to brighten things up. Also, a desk lamp with electrical outlets in the base was added to provide task lighting and easy outlet access for plugging in phones and the computer. Finally, the old glue-encrusted garbage can was replaced.

The result of all this was a functional, delightfully decorated office that was inexpensive to achieve. Now Kelly is happier in her office, and able to tackle her busy life with greater ease.

 

Homemade cleaners

Interior decorator Tammy Haywood offers tips for your own home office makeover success story.

• Remove clutter.

• Sort for relevance. Some things can be donated or stored elsewhere. Outdated materials can be tossed.

• Group like things together.

• Use matching and color coordinated storage boxes, holders, binders etc. It creates order and harmony, and makes the area look and feel more productive and organized.

• Don’t forget about color and texture. Both create interest, and keep the area from feeling too cold or sterile.  We created a complementary colour scheme of red and green by painting a feature wall green and accessorizing with red frames, flowers and artwork. We used white and black storage boxes, but the black storage has a basket weave finish to create texture against the flat surfaces of glass tables, file cabinets and bookcases.

• Replace anything broken or badly dated with new or updated pieces.

• Clean all surfaces, and windows for freshness.

 

– by Robert Prince, a local freelance writer.