Operation: Organization–Organized Office by Dixie Delights

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to the third day of Operation: Organization {Back to School Edition}.  Today, we’re happy to welcome Amanda of Dixie Delights, who has joined us several times before as a guest blogger.  Her organized garage is to die for, and her holiday open house was one of the most-visited on our holiday home tour.  She always has very well-thought out and planned rooms, with lots of attention to detail.  You’ll love what she has to show us today!  Here’s Amanda:

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With a new school year upon us, I spent the last couple of weeks of summer organizing my very own desk space, as well as spaces for each of the littles.  If you’ve followed along with me on Dixie Delights, you’ll know that this entailed relocating the toys to the basement and transforming the play room into a family office.

This was one of the very last rooms to tackle in our home of five years and, as we’ve done all along the way, before starting we put together, edited, and mulled over our goals for the space.  Here’s our original bucket list:

• A neutral, relaxing and elegant space that flows with the rest of the house and looks nice from the foyer
• Use furniture we already have in the attic, including a day bed OR two slipper chairs, a coffee table and a large mirror
• Two custom desk spaces for the littles (and adults alike) that will fit a computer, books and school supplies
• Comfy seating area for reading and studying
• A totally renovated closet space for our office supplies, materials, crafting and party wares
• No TV!

First things first, I think the key to a smooth school year with two young elementary aged children is an organized mommy!!  I finished up my very own desk space in the room’s closet last month.  You can find all of the details and sources here.  I was able to empty out TWO other closets to perfectly put all of the materials and tools for crafting, entertaining and my etsy store in its place in the new space.

I repurposed all of our toy baskets to store everything from paper party plates to favor boxes, paints, glues and all sorts of craft materials.

And one of my favorite features is the roll-out homework cart for the littles (pictured left)!  It neatly holds all of our markers, crayons, stickers, papers, scissors, pencils, erasers and notebook paper.  Everything has a place, it’s easy to get to and there’s no question where it should go when we are finished with it.

Now, the desk areas for the littles are not quite complete, but I’m excited to give you a little sneak peek!  There are two side by side units with closed storage, basket storage, bulletin boards, dry erase boards and computer desks.  There is a basket for the week’s homework and projects, a basket for school work to save and a basket for notes home from the school/teacher about events, dates, etc.  I cross-my-heart-promise that more will come on these little desks just as soon as they get back to school and I have time to tie up a few stray ends!!

As for the room itself, we’ve been using for reading and computers for a few weeks and just really put it to the test with back to school homework due on the first day (for both kids…ugh!  already?!)  I have claimed one chair as my own and we already spend more time in this room that I ever imagined.  There’s no TV, it’s comfortable and it’s light and bright.  My oldest loves to curl up with a book or sit in a chair to write (did I just say love?!?  More like chooses this spot when forced to do his summer writing homework), and my youngest sits on the little footstool and colors, draws and cuts to his heart’s content.  They both have enjoyed having easy access to the computers and I love being able to monitor just what they are looking at.  (I share my computer with the little one and Honey shares his with the older one.)

When the littles are around, the space typically looks well used, well loved and a bit topsy turvy.  But it cleans up nicely and can still look great seeing as it’s the first room off of our entry way.

This was by far my biggest endeavor as far as organizing for back to school, but one that will pay off for years to come!  Follow along at Dixie Delights to see the rest of the room finished up and to find all of the sources and details!

xoxo,

Amanda

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–