Concealed Office Storage

Like the idea of concealing office storage (and injecting some color into the space!) with a beautiful curtain:

From the launch issue of a new online mag - 91 Magazine.

 photography by Lisa Cohen

Stylishly Organized: Picks from Sugar Paper

Had the pleasure of stopping by the lovely shop Sugar Paper in Brentwood late last week after visiting the House of Windsor with my pal Irene, and spotted these pretty little lists made of 100% recycled paper. Perfect for staying stylishly organized:

to do list, market list

image credits: 1-nuevo estilo, 2-via modern hepburn

Stylish Binders

I use 3-ring binders for storing and organizing everything from project files and business receipts, to magazine tearsheets and recipies. I currently have basic white inexpensive ones in a variety of sizes, which I keep lined up in an office cabinet. For binders I use frequently, I'm thinking it'd be nice to upgrade to something that's stylish enough to leave out on an open shelf for easy access. Russell + hazel binders in a fun color {as seen below} would do nicely.

image credits: 1-russell + hazel, 2-country living via everything fab, 3-from the russell + hazel 2010 catalog via dress design decor

Organized Drawers - Clear Dividers

When it comes to organizing drawers, dividers are key for keeping like items together and neatly contained {so they don't spill over}. My favorite are clear organizer sets, like this one, this one, and this one, that can be arranged whichever way fit best in the drawer. Since they're transparent, they're also great for showing off a pretty drawer liner.

image credits: 1- from the June 2009 issue of Instyle Magazine; 2-Better Homes and Gardens

Beautifully Organized Space of the Week

This week's beautifully organized space is from the home of interior designer Amy Meier. Since she and her husband eat most of their meals on their patio dining table, Amy used the "dining area" of her small apartment to create a fully functioning office for her design business.

A large Ikea bookcase provides easy access to fabric samples and papers carefully organized into a mix of woven and wire baskets, bins, and fabric covered binders. A magnet board next to her metal desk serves as a place for Amy to post pictures and paint and fabric samples that inspire her projects.

A trio of white shelves and a three pocket file holder take advantage of wall space and provide a place to hold a multitude of items including fabric covered albums, leather boxes, and sketchbooks.

All photos by King Au for Better Homes and Gardens

Beautifully Organized Space of the Week

This week's beautifully organized space of the week is the home office of interior designer Melissa Warner.

Metal locker baskets with labeled tags contain and organize her many fabric swatches. The bookcase makes use of vertical space.

On the other end of the room, closet doors covered in a bold over-scaled poppy print wallpaper make the room feel lively and hide more storage. A skirted glass-topped table provides a surface on which to lay out swatches and plans for her designs, while a Lucite chair helps keep the space looking uncluttered by taking up little visual space.

images via House Beautiful

Beautifully Organized Space of the Week

This week's beautifully organized space of the week is from the home of fellow design blogger, Bryn of Bryn Alexandra Interiors. Bryn recently created four beautiful bulletin boards to post and organize her inspirations, sketches and fabric swatches. I love the idea of having multiple boards -one for each project. Great for us visually oriented types!

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Bryn's blog. She's a very talented interior decorator in Charlotte, North Carolina who regularly blogs about her design projects, DIYs, inspirations, and pieces of her life :-)

Portable Storage Baskets

A tote basket is a beautiful solution for containing and conveniently transporting files and/or project supplies from room-to-room.

image via domino

I'm loving these hand-woven fair trade imports from Tango Zulu:

From left to right: Water Hyacinthin Honey Large, Rectangular Bolga Basket in Natural Large, Oval Bolga Basket

P.S. You can also use 'em as market totes, magazine holders, picnic baskets...there's a multitude of uses!

Beautiful Storage: Semikolon

home of Sabrina Linn as seen in Canadian House and Home

Chances are you've seen Semikolon boxes before. Maybe in inspirational images like the one above, or at the store {Container Store and Barnes and Noble carries them}. I had seen and admired few pieces myself here but never paid attention to who made them. When I found out a company called Semikolon made them, I immediately popped on over to their website and was in awe at how fabulously extensive their collection was. Being the geek that I am, I get excited about things like this!

They make a nice variety of pieces most which come in a choice of several beautiful colors! Here's a quick look at a few:

L: desktop file; R: document box

L: accordion file; R: magazine box

multimedia box

document box

L: photo library; R: photo box

Find Semikolon products by googling them - different retailers and online shops carry a different selection.

The New Desk & My Home Office

Remember the new desk I was excited about getting delivered? Well we finally got around to setting it up, taking a few pictures, and posting my old one on Craigslist. The old one was a birch veneer Ikea desk I had since college and definitely showed its age. This new one isn't much fancier or much more expensive, after all we're still very much on a budget. However, it's white, clean, simple and works much better with the decor of my humble little home office {a.k.a. the corner of my living room}.

We had to include Little Foot in a shot, as he's a curious little guy and typically likes to be by my side when I'm sitting at my desk :)