4 ways to organize your home office with more style

Yes, it is an office, but it should feel like home.  You want the room you work in to be a little more structured and official than the rest of your house to keep you in “work mode.”  But it should never look like a cubicle.  So please, don’t shop at the office supply store for your home office furniture or decor.  Try some of these cuter, and often less expensive options for your home office organization instead.   

1. For small desktop accessories, like paper clips and pushpins, buy several dip or sauce dishes from the kitchen department instead of paper-covered cardboard dividers from the office aisle.  Not only are they less expensive (from $1-$4 each!), they are way cuter. 

   (1 Pier One 2 Pier One 3 World Market 4 Target [discontinued] on my desk)

2. Like the dishes for the small desk accessories, shop in a different department for your pencil cups as well.  Mine is on the left, it is actually a toothbrush holder, and The Hubs’ is on the right, a carved wooden cup purchased abroad. 
3. Unless you splurged on the pretty 3 ring binders to keep your papers organized, cover the ones you have in some pretty paper.  If you have cardboard boxes for storage on your shelves, you can cover them to match as well.  Target had some adorable binders for $12, but instead, I purchased the $1 version and wrapped them in contact paper that I already had at home.  You could use any wrapping or decorative paper for this and just glue it on. 
4. Books are beautiful, but if you have a lot of them (especially in a small office) they can make the space look cluttered.  One option is to organize them on the shelves by color.  There are many gorgeous photos of this on the internet, but I can’t find a single one that actually credits the where the photos came from.  I don’t want to put someone else’s work in my blog without giving them credit, so click here for some pics by way of Google.  Another is to cover them just like we did in school with our text books.  The picture below is from The Precious Little Things in Life, who also has a great tutorial on how to make them. 

So there are 4 tips for upgrading your office accessories, tomorrow I’ll be back with 4 more ways to keep your office stylish, with a couple tips on furniture to choose.  Are there any items you’ve repurposed to use in your home office?