How to organise your home office

Guest blog by our resident interior designer Eliza.

The home office is a space in the home that can quickly become overwhelming if proper systems and organisational strategies are not put into place. Clutter can build up through items such as important documents, work papers, stationery, sentimental items, and general office supplies. Today we are sharing with you our top tips and tried and true methods for keeping an organised and clutter-free home office.

Tip 1: Decluttering Is Essential

The first step in overhauling and organising your home office is to declutter the space. This involves going through each drawer, cupboard and filing cabinet and throwing away unnecessary paperwork and stationery items and donating anything that is no longer of use. Within this step it is essential to scan any paperwork to your computer, hard drive or iCloud that is of importance and throw away the hard copy. This is for paperwork such as work documents, forms, and receipts. The only paper documents you should be keeping after your decluttering session are important hard copies such as contracts, certificates, and other significant paperwork.

Tip 2: Streamline Your System

The home office can often be used as a central hub for incomings and outgoings for the household and therefor requires proper systems in place to ensure things don’t get out of hand. We recommend having an ‘in-tray’ for each member of the family where you can drop things like bills, receipts, school forms, kid’s artworks, invitations, or any other incoming items. From there we suggest setting aside 10 minutes each week to action, respond, scan, file away or dispose of each item into its new home ensuring the in-trays don’t start overflowing. We love using the stackable desk trays from Kmart or the Ikea ‘Kvissle’ wall rack with a label for each family member.  

Tip 3: Choose The Right Furniture

When selecting furniture for the home office it is essential it not only looks aesthetically pleasing but is functional too. Always choose furniture that includes some storage, whether that is drawers in a desk or an ottoman with hidden storage. We also recommend selecting furniture pieces that have cupboards rather than open shelving to avoid an over-cluttered appearance. If you have a large open bookshelf, we suggest investing in some beautiful storage boxes to store items such as cables, stationery, and documents to ensure items stay collated and neat. This will reduce the amount of visual clutter in the space and create a more calming feel.

Tip 4: Use Storage Solutions

Here at Organised Simplicity, you know we love a storage solution and organisational product! The home office is a great place to implement smart storage solutions to enhance your everyday routines, streamline processes and make working in the space a breeze. For any drawers we recommend using drawer dividers to categories items such as pens, highlighters, post it notes, chargers, cables and more. We also love using desktop organisers to collate the everyday items you reach for to allow for easy access and clean up at the end of each day. As mentioned above we always suggest using in-trays, magazine holders and suspension file holders for essential paperwork.

Tip 5: Make It An Inspiring Space

Now that you have decluttered, organised your paperwork, chosen smart storage solutions and everything has its place, it is time to make things beautiful! More and more we are finding ourselves working from home, so it is essential that we make the space inspiring and a joy to be in. We have a few simple tips for up leveling your decorating in the home office in an affordable way that can make a big difference. Firstly, have fun with colour coordinating your stationery, file holders, notepads and desktop accessories. Kmart and Officeworks have a gorgeous range of colours and patterns to suit any style at great prices! Next, add some colourful or calming artwork to your walls to help inspire you when you find your eyes wandering and your mind drifting off throughout the workday. Lastly, add plants to shelves, the desktop, or a large floor plant in an empty corner of the room. Plants not only add a pop of colour, but they breathe life into the space and help with filtering the air quality.

If this post has inspired you to reorganise and revamp your home office space then get in contact with us today. We’d love to help you create the organised working space of your dreams that not only helps with your work life, but your family and everyday home systems too.