Operation: Organization Glam and Organized Desk Area by The Pink Clutch

Operation Organization Back to School Edition Series at 11 Magnolia Lane

Hey, y’all! I can’t believe that we’re almost done with Operation: Organization {Back to School Edition}! My kids started back to school yesterday, and I am so glad that I took a few days (OK, a few hours) to get things organized around the house. But after seeing all of these amazing ideas, I’m ready to really get to work!

Today we welcome Paige from The Pink Clutch Blog. She has a great idea for color and design, and you will love the way that she’s made her work area look glamorous and stylish! Here’s Paige:

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Glam & Organized Desk |The Pink Clutch Blog

With another school year encroaching upon me I knew I needed to out my organization hat and get myself ready for another year. This year I have a senior (we call it the “s word” around here), a seventh grader, and a fourth grader … all in different schools and adding in one new school to the mix.

Not stressful at all.

Three schools, with three administrations and three sets of papers galore. Lord help me! I needed to revamp my system of paper storage … like STAT!!

(via Pinterest)

Using this amazing picture above I found on Pinterest and an unused space in my kitchen area I revamped my space into this …

Glam & Organized Office | The Pink Clutch Blog

And I love it!! It looks good and its amazingly functional for the drop zone just inside the garage door where all the papers seem to land! And yes, that is a chalkboard back splash … just waiting for someone to write all over it!!

A candle for my serenity and plenty of pens for signing papers and marking my calender. I use a different color sharpie pen for each child and for myself. It’s easier for me to know where to be and for whom to attend. And my favorite Palm Beach map from Palm Beach Lately!

Binder clips, push pins, plenty of space for mail for me to file and cute tape to close notes to teachers!

The black and white binder is for the house projects. I have divided it by room and it includes to dos, paint colors and fabric swatches and contact information for vendors. The orange notebook is my prayer parent notebook for fourth grade and the pink notebook is for my Bible study notes. On the bottom shelf I have two boxes, a black tole one and a Kate Spade black and white dot box. Both of them contain letters and cards from my Nana. I have kept every single one she ever sent me and have boxes of them all over the house! xo

The ghost chair is perfect for this space. It doesn’t feel bulky and I just love how surprisingly comfortable they are. Thank you Whole Paycheck for your amazing 50 mm roses. They are worth every cent of the 14.99 I pay for them to be HUGE and last three weeks!

These notebooks are lifesavers for me. They are filled with all the important papers for each child; report cards, awards and special papers from each year. The house binder contains take out menus, neighborhood phone book, emergency numbers, important information about kids (allergies, drs numbers, etc) and all the information a sitter would need. The top two binders contain the middle child’s entire special ed life. Every single piece of paper at my fingers in one second by date order. (One day I will write a post about having a special ed baby!)

Vintage brass mailbox for the mail the kids bring in from the bus. I can not stand any paper on the desk so they are told to place it here. They think I am weird and I let them. We also have a policy for papers that need to be signed. They leave them for me on the desk. I spot them in 2.2 seconds and sign and return them STAT. I do not like any random papers lying about. It makes me crazy.

And ps. I may be super type A.

But you probably already knew that!

The rest of the papers we need to keep are filed directly to the left of this cute little revamped desk area in a hanging filing system. One cubby for each child and each subject. They place their crud on my desk. I decide if we need to keep/trash and then I file it accordingly. All paper is contained at all times!

Behind the desk is the rest of the school organization area. These two baskets house anything random they have from school. Little Bit’s basket currently contains a happy for a friend, a deck of cards, extra headphones (in case she loses her first pair) and her thankful journal. Her brother’s has his thankful journal, a rock (or six), one or two random pens and I am sure something I can’t identify.

Above the baskets is the bulletin board for party invites and school flyers they want to keep … you know the talent show and the like. It is still filled with fun summer notes, cards and pics at the moment!

And underneath is every single thing we use for school. If we own it, it lives here! And it’s labeled to cut down on the … do you know where the fill in the blank is?? I love this system. People ask me all the time if I home school when they see it! Bless them … that would be a NO! That isn’t my calling. This just works for us when it comes to housing 19,000 colored pencils and every other school related supply. It doesn’t matter if your babies are 7 or 17, they still use colored pencils and glue sticks!

Follow along on The Pink Clutch for the before and after of the desk area … it was a hot mess of scuffed black and granite tile just days ago! And for all the sources and details!!

xo,

Paige

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The entire Operation: Organization {Back to School Edition} series is here:

Wednesday, August 6th–Sam at Simply Organized

Thursday, August 7th–Emily at Eleven Gables

Friday, August 8th–Amanda at Dixie Delights

Monday, August 11th–Julie at Less Than Perfect Life of Bliss

Tuesday, August 12th–Megan at Honey We’re Home

Wednesday, August 13th–Rachel at Useful Beautiful Home

Thursday, August 14th–Paige at The Pink Clutch Blog

Friday, August 15th–Terry at 11 Magnolia Lane

All of the participating bloggers will be pinning their favorite projects to the Operation: Organization Pinterest board, and you can follow that {here}.

Thanks for stopping by–