A Clean Desk in Under 17 Minutes

I decided to take my own advice yesterday after complaining that my bedroom was becoming too big of a mess. So I took it upon myself to just focus on one area: my desk. I sit at my desk all day, every day, for hours on end. Between blogging, social networking, correspondence and school work, this is my true classroom/office. Here is a before and after look at how I cleaned my desk in under 17 minutes.

Before: as you can see, my desk gets cluttered very quickly.
Books, my iPad, supplies - they all fall victim to lazy organization.

And after! Everything has a place and there is a place for everything.

I purchased these Martha Stewart boxes at Staples a few months ago.
They stack perfectly on top of each other so I can store my jewelry underneath the post-its.

These don't fit in the pencil/pen caddy, so this larger box works perfectly!

Extra supplies: wall unit for my Macbook Pro, the HDMI converter
for my iPad, and my Square card reader. 

I converted some old JewelMint boxes into handy organizational boxes.
Like the martha Stewart ones, these can also be stacked. And the velvet
lining helps keep everything in place! 

The view from my chair.
It's a lot easier to sit here and work when there isn't a lot of clutter!

On the keyboard tray to the right: school work.

On the keyboard tray to the left: iPad, a notebook, and my other laptop.
Oh, and my crappy phone!

The next cleaning project to tackle? The top of my dresser. It's even worse than the desk was (if you can imagine!)

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Clutter, Clutter Everywhere!

If my bedroom looked like this I'd probably keep it clean!

I recently moved my desk into the bedroom so that we could have a bit more room in the living room for our chairs. It's worked out really well so far because I can stay in the smaller bedroom with just a portable air conditioner and not have to turn on the central air, which would cool every room in the house (including the ones I'm not in). Plus, it's nice to have a separate study space from Jeff so that we don't both each other.

The problem with it is that our bedroom is always the least organized room in the apartment. There are always clothes everywhere and our closet is packed beyond belief. I can barely even walk to my side of the bed because there is just so much stuff in the way! I really need to do something about it.

The thing is... I can never throw stuff away. And even when I've put together bags or boxes of stuff to take to Goodwill, they never end up there because we always forget to take them when we go out.

Rather than tackling everything at once perhaps I should instead focus on cleaning one small area, like the walkway to my side of the bed. Then another time I can focus on a different area, while also trying to keep the first area clean. Good in theory? Yes. With summer upon us and the weather reaching up into the 100's every day, it would be nice to have a fresh, clean bedroom that I can look down in and not see piles of clothing.

And maybe one day I'll get to tackle the behemoth that is our closet!

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Midnight Snack

Cream cheese spread on a (cinnamon) graham cracker and topped with grapes.

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Vanity Pillowcases

Do you think Jeff would notice if I casually snuck in these pillowcases onto our bed? I love the idea of these!

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Actually now that I think about it, I could purchase two pillowcases of my choosing and ask Jeff's mom to sew in the words. She has one of those fancy, uber-expensive Bernina sewing machines that do everything except command NASA flights. 

Rather than "Sleeping Beauty" and "Prince Charming" - which doesn't fit us at all - the pillowcases could say "Hers" and "His" or "Mrs." and "Mr." (someday!).  I love that personalization can be really inexpensive and thoughtful!

Photos: Pretty in the Bedroom

The other day I blogged about prettying up our bedroom with some new purchases. Here's a breakdown of what we did:

• New sheets and (2) pillowcases 
• Curtain (plus rod)
• Decorative pillow

Doesn't seem like much but the sheets alone took up more than half our budget. I think the best deal we got was on the curtain panel, and I really think it lifted the look of the bedroom considerably. It's not picture-perfect yet but I think we're on our way. 

Undressed window on the left, finished product on the right. And I love the way the sun comes through the curtain in the morning! The light is so soft and really brings out the floral pattern.
Curtain: Botanical Burnout, Target.  Rod also from Target.

Fieldcrest Luxury 450 Thread Count Solid Soft Sheet Set  in Grey, Target. 

Adding a touch of femininity to the room. The grey sheets were a compromise  but Jeff let me have my way with the curtain and decorative pillow. Ultimately I think he feels I made the best choice. 

Top: front of the pillow. Bottom: back of pillow
They aren't different colors. My camera is senile.
Simply Shabby Chic Embroidered Euro Pillow, Target. 

Credit: Target.com
View of the pillow that wasn't taken witha  senile digital camera. 

In addition to the new purchases, we also removed the tiled garden table that I had been using as a bedside table. While I'd like to have the free space available for storing extra pillows and bedding, right now it's being used for the portable air conditioner.

The bedroom hasn't received the kind of attention that the other rooms have, but I think we're now in a position to build on the few items we have purchased. We only have so much room to work with and because we're coming from two different households, we have two different sets of furniture. One of the more exciting aspects of living with someone is building everything together. I really like shopping for home furnishings with Jeffrey and I can't wait to see what else we come up with!



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