Our office was the place where everything ended up...it was jammed with furniture on all four walls and stuff stacked all over the place.
I had been wanting to get in there and get rid of stuff but it took a visit from my sister to get me motivated and moving.
We got rid of the big, cumbersome, not-even-real-wood computer desk that was taking half of a wall and blocking a window in this room.
Photos were taken as I was 'panning' the room from door on left (wall 1 - windows are wall 2) to right and back to the door - the room is less than 10 x 10 feet square.
Photo: The tabletop sitting on 2 two-drawer filing cabinets and a bookshelf unit sits on top of the table - the work space is now bigger and takes up less room than before!...the paper shredder is hidden in the cubbyhole under the 'desk'. You can't see the door, but on it are pinned a huge calendar and a big map of the island.
We had a dining table (still in good shape) also in the room with milk crates stored underneath filled with files and old papers. We took the legs off the table (and stored them for future use) and sat the tabletop over two 2-drawer filing cabinets and sat a folding bookshelf on top - I have more room now not only on the 'desktop' but am now able to have two complete windows...and much more floor space.
Photo: (wall 3) New cabinet on corner came with doors. I still need to install them. New baskets for storage. The bookshelf was on the 'next wall' and was moved to this one - amazing how just that change added floor space to the room. This bookcase holds all of my garden, herbs, spice and veggie cookbooks; my Cuban cookbooks and small collection of Spanish, Portuguese, Caribbean cookbooks.
Swapped locations of two bookcases (one wood and one bamboo/rattan) and bought a cabinet we had to put together that fits perfectly on one wall that also has the wooden bookcase. Shopped around for storage baskets at several stores and found the best deal at Ross'...got 6 baskets for what 3-4 (depending on the basket styles) would have cost from Target.
(Photo: (walls 3 and 4) The corner cabinet stayed in place - holds office supplies. The bamboo bookshelves on right used to sit on the wall on left. It holds the complete collection of Hawaiian cookbooks.
A couple of years ago, I started going through all of my cookbooks and culling them. I sold some and gave some away...the rest of my cookbooks are housed in the hallway.
Photo: (wall 4) Hawaiian cookbook collection in the larger shelf unit and reference books, dictionaries (English, Spanish and Hawaiian) in the small corner bamboo unit...for the time being, my camera case is perched there until it can find a permanent home.
I have been going through files and paperwork and getting rid of old stuff...several loads already...usable things were boxed and given away through our local Freecycle group, the rest of the stuff was thrown away, mostly old papers I shredded and things that no longer worked.
Still need to go through the 3 small two-drawer filing cabinets and get rid of stuff stored there since we moved into this house 13 years ago!
Found a couple of things I had been looking for a while... YAY
I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel...
I am nowhere near finished...there is a box full of photos I need to sort and save, somehow. There are 5 large boxes of magazines and newspapers which I need to go through and clip out articles I have written and place them inside clear plastic protective sheets in the 3-ring binders that are sitting now on the shelving unit on top of the 'desk'. Each publication has it's own binder.
...but at least, there is plenty of room now to walk and work in this room...so much more pleasant... and the project continues....
