DIY Budget Home Office



This is a tale of a long over due rendezvous between a girl and a room. I have had a longing for a room all my own for years.  A sort of office but with the shadow of a craft room. Some place I can lay out a project with out having to clean it up in an hour  because dinner is ready and my work space is actually the kitchen table.  It has always been a dream of mine.  With a house full of kids there wasn't really a room to spare. So I waited.

Fast forward to 2016.  My boy is graduating from college this spring and will be attending law school in a land far far away.  Now this knowledge makes me a little sad as it seems that he has grown up and flown the coup in a blink.  The excitement of seeing my son achieve a goal that he has worked so hard towards for so long is the only thing holding me back from drowning in my own tears as he cleans out his childhood bedroom.  Well its the room he ended up in after his sister moved in to his about 3 days after he left for college 4 years ago, but still.  As he is packing up the last box he looks at me and says "Well Mom, now you can have that room you always wanted".  What?... Wait?... OMG yes, yes I can! 

At long last, I have a room all my own!  Half craft room, half office... A Craftice!  Well, the name needs a little work but you get where I'm going with this.  So this is what I have to work with:

The walls are a great purple color, its a combo of many different shades that my daughter had picked out when the room was hers.  I have always loved it, its a bold color in a house full of neutrals.  The furniture has served us well for 20+ years, purchased for our first baby nursery.  The bed is going to school with my son and the other pieces will move to our guest room.  I removed most of the books and other items from the shelves but I added more zippered Reisenthel storage boxes that I have been collecting over the years.  Most were purchased from Amazon.


I have always wanted a Pottery Barn office.  You know the one with the beautiful white desks and square craft table. 



 Shocker, not in the budget!  So we headed off to our favorite budget  friendly store, IKEA!  After much research on line, I had a list of items I wanted to purchase.  As usual I ended up purchasing nothing on my list and pick out something totally different when I got there!  Things always look  different to me in person then they do on line.  I love what we found and all that is left is the assembly, totally not my department but thankfully, my husband is a wiz at assembly!  Here is everything we purchased from IKEA:




The desk and bookcase is made out of wood with a white wash finish so you can see just a bit of the wood grain through it.  The desk has two drawers on the right and a cabinet like door on the left with two shelves.  The bookcase has 6 adjustable shelves with plenty of room for storage.  I purchased 3 gray media boxes and 2 larger gray storage boxes for storage.  The swivel chair is perfect for me because it has a straight back and adorable bows on the back of the chair.  I also picked up 2 plastic potted plants for decoration in the room.  

I am loving the way it turned out!  Neat and clean with plenty of out of sight storage space.



These boxes are a perfect solution to hold my camera, planner supplies, and my ETSY store inventory.  The metal baskets were found at Target and hold some of my favorite Dollar Spot finds.  Up top are the two plastic plants I found at IKEA, the tin pots they are in were purchased at my favorite dollar spot at Target along with the middle bucket.  





There is a sense of securtity with Humphrey Bogart looking down on you while you work! The desk has a great work surface for crafts and keeping up with my blog.   My Reisenthel storage boxes hold my crafting supplies, stamps, adhesives and card stock.  



I think the desk lamp provides a bit of a vintage feel to the desk.  The pretty mercury glass cup I use as a pencil holder was found at the Dollar Spot in Target for $3.00.  Had to have one of my favorite candles on my desk, Marshmallow Fireside by Bath and Body Works.





I love my new craftice, (still not feeling the "craftice"), maybe you guys can come up with a more appropriate title for my long awaited room of my own.  I'm loving having a space to create and a space to store all of my ETSY supplies, planner supplies, blog files and camera equipment. 

I still miss my boy and would give all this up if we could go back in time a few years and he was still small.  But I have reminders of him tucked here and there and there are such exciting adventures awaiting him.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me and I hope you will remember to leave me a comment below and remember to subscribe.



Edited to include IKEA Budget Office Makeover Tour:

Love Your Life, 

XOXO,

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Family Command Center


Have you ever heard of a Family Command Center?  Sounds serious doesn't it.  A Family Command Center, (FCC) or more friendly "Launch Pad' is a spot in your home that you designate to hold the family calendar  It is usually located in a high traffic spot where everyone passes by on their way out the door for the day.  There is usually a bulletin board involved holding a collection of family schedules and important "Don't Forget!" information.  

We have had some assemblance of a FCC in our home since our children were very small.  It has been a great way to keep everyone semi organized and delivered where they needed to be throughout the week. Now that our kids are almost grown our FCC is still an important organizational tool.  




Since our kitchen is on the small side I like to utilize as much of the unseen spaces as I can.  So our FCC is on the back of our pantry door.  It is one spot everyone sees before they head out in the morning and I also like the fact that we can close the door and keep everything tucked away and private.  

Our FCC has 3 basic components, a bulletin board for the calendar and keeping invites and whatnot in sight, a file systems and an events board.  My only criteria was that everything had to fit into this narrow space.  



The bulletin board turned into a little DIY project because I could not find anything to fit into my tiny space.  I found the frame at Kirklands in the clearance rack, I removed the picture and the glass and added some thin cork panels and covered it all with burlap. (my favorite fabric of all time)  Total redo cost was $12.00.


Next up is the file system which, to me, is the most important part.  This is where the family's IN/OUT files are, there is a file for doctors and health insurance receipts, a file for coupons and a HOLD file.  If the kids have paperwork needing to be filled out and sign this is where its kept.  The 3 tier wire file rack was found at Target for about $12.00.  I added a Dollar Spot list pad and a cup to hold pens and Sharpies. total cost $15.00.


Lastly is our events board.  If you are like me, you can sometimes loose your marbles over the kids asking again and again when a certain event is taking place.  Our events board contains any upcoming party, trip or occasion that we have on our schedule for the month.  Now, everyone can see what's coming up at a glance.  This cute chalkboard was found in the Dollar spot at Target for $3.00, one of my favorite buys ever!

Our FCC has been so helpful keeping our family organized and moving out the door every morning.  Maybe it will work for you too.


  I share more about our Family Control Center in the video below


                          



Thanks so much for visiting with me , please take a minute to subscribe and  leave me a comment and let me know how you get your family out the door every morning.


LOVE YOUR LIFE,


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Erin Condren Deluxe Notebook Unboxing



I recently placed an order with Erin Condren for one of her large deluxe notebooks, you know the ones, you can personalize them even add a calendar.  With every EC order I place,  a little  debate goes on in my head to try to be sure that I spend my money wisely.  Although Erin Condren products are well crafted and beautiful, they are also expensive.  I want to try to get as much for my money as possible while making sure that I can have all the planning books I need with one purchase.  Since I knew that I would be purchasing an EC Deluxe notebook and case on line I thought I would try this year to purchase my Life Planner at Staples.  Erin Condren has a line of Life Planners, Simple Notebooks, teacher planners and wedding planner for sale across the county in certain Staples Office Supply stores.  I am lucky enough to have one of these Staples in my home town and decided to purchase my Life Planner there at a considerable savings.  I also purchased a neoprene case , both in my favorite classic paisley pattern.  There are very few difference between the Staples Life Planner  version and the version that you can purchase on line.  There is no vellum cover page and no design on the zipper pouch in the back.  You can not personalize the Staples Life Planner at the time of purchase, but you can easily personalize a new cover on line.  As far as I can see, those are the only differences.  Definitely worth the savings.

So a week or so after I ordered from Erin Condren on line, the most beautiful box arrived on my doorstep.



Erin's boxes are so much fun to open.  The boxes are beautiful and as you open it up, your purchases are wrapped as pretty as a present!  Always with some free happy stickers or note cards!  

Right on the top of the box was my lovely new notebook in classic paisley, my very favorite color choice.  I chose to include the $15 12 month calendar option. The months are all positioned in the front of the notebook followed by lined pages, blank pages, stickers, the keep it all together folder and the clear zipper pouch.  



I had originally ordered the cover shown above as a divider, I was so happy to see that the divider could also double as a notebook cover!  It should be noted that the calendar pages included in the note book do not have the dates printed on the pages.  A package of date dot stickers is included for free. However, I feel for the price of of the deluxe notebook with the calendar upgrade, the dates should be printed on each months calendar.  I love stickers as much as the next planner addict, so having to apply the date dots each month is no big thing I just think it would have been more appropriate if the dates were preprinted.




Opening the tissue paper revealed matching Neoprene case, elastics and a free with purchase journal, date dots along with some free stickers too.
   


Be sure to check out the unboxing video!
                 

                             



I am so excited to get started planing with my new notebook. At first sight, I am so impressed by the quality of my purchase.   I plan on using my new deluxe notebook and accessories to help me stay organized with all things blog and YouTube.



I will be sure to let you know how it works out!

Thank you so much for visiting, please be sure to leave a comment below and let me know what you use to keep yourself organized.

Don't for get to subscribe!



LOVE YOUR LIFE,

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