Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
elizabeth10029

my (wonderful) new desk

elizabeth10029
17 years ago

Aboiut a year ago I started lurking here and then got up my nerve and began to post my organizational problems with the goal of designing a desk to solve those problems. I got a lot of help from posters here.

My wonderful new desk incorporates what I learned in discussions here over a period of months.

There are two thin narrow pencil drawers which need to be there for structural reasons but otherwise no drawers. On either side of the central work space are compartments that open from the top. If I leave things on top I can't get to what is inside -- a self-correcting organizational aide.

I learned during the course of the conversations here that am a horizontal pile person and so I have Container Store size boxes to put in the storage spaces and pile things there. I have taken someone's suggestion and put each paper or set of papers in sleeves but I leave them loose, not in a binder.

I was having trouble keeping my professional work separate from my ongoing personal stuff I need to deal with intermittently during the day. Solution: Personal stuff is on the right and professional stuff is on the left. A no-brainer.

Each night I leave the desk clutter-free, push my keyboard and mouse in the slot under the pencil drawers and you would never know that during the day all the stuff was spread out and messy.

I'm thrilled. Thank you all.

Comments (8)

  • quiltglo
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Finally, a solution which works. I always knew the horizontal piling concept, but really didn't have a vocabulary for it. I thought all of that was very interesting. My husband is a horizontal piler also and works off of a table now instead of a desk. It is working much better for him.

    Be sure and post us a picture.

    Gloria

  • talley_sue_nyc
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oh, hooray, I'm so glad it's finished, and that it's working for you!

    I'd love to see pictures.

  • Julie_MI_Z5
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    CONGRATULATIONS! Isn't it amazing that "desk" means different things to different people? I'm happy you found a system that works for you!

  • Maura63
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just recently read that thread -- and I think many of us gained some insight about ourselves through that discussion.

    I'm glad you are loving your new workspace and would also love to see a picture!

    Maura

    (I've gone back and forth between vertical filing and horizontal piling and now incorportate a bit of both. For me, it's not so much the "system" -- but the maintenance of the system, that I struggle with.)

  • marge727
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I wonder if horizontal pile persons marry vertical filers. That would be a new category for those searching for love and romance.

    Thanks for the ideas, I need to do my office at home really soon. can we see photos Elizabeth?

  • liz_h
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Congratulations on finding a system that works for you! I just found and read that thread - lots of things for me to think about.

  • elizabeth10029
    Original Author
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I have been away from my computer and just logged on this morning. Since a couple of posters mentioned reading the original post, I re-read it.

    I am amazed yet again how well this thread worked for me. I can pinpoint exactly where my thinking moved forward and how I formulated the next question after others asked questions of me. This process worked magic on my thinking. The evidence of success in controlling my messy papers will take a few months to confirm but if I can do it, I credit this forum and the extended back and forth dialogue.

    As I re-read the posts, I kept a list of things that I might be ready to try now, for instance I think I might be able to color code those sleeves for easier retrieval. That requires categories and a system. I may start a new thread. I am now ready to think about the boxes which go in the desk -- the container store brown ones are working fine but the idea of using craft store boxes (thanks Elisabeth-Pinelake) and covering them sounds interesting right now.

    Update on some of the OP issues: The ideas for storage came from this forum. The extended similar conversations I had with the artisan who built the desk were about ergonomics and location. We measured and measured and measured again to get the most comfortable dimensions for me to work without strain and to be the exact distance I like from nice warm radiator and take into account the light which I care about so much and give me the surface work space I craved. As we got the right dimensions, the desk grew to 66 inches and a few inches wider than originally designed. Interior designer now says it unbalances the whole room and it needs to go somewhere else in room. I said no; it stays. That is where I like to work and so the room will have to stay unbalanced. (That is too bad because one of my goals for the whole project was to have a harmonious and balanced living space but first things first.) It may be possible to tweak the rest of the room but that is a project for the fall.

    My IMAC computer which I like so much is sounding like a dying beast right now. I may have to replace it soon. (Almost four years old.) The upside will be the chance to have wireless keyboard and mouse.

    I have achieved "visual calm" for that whole work space and the idea of visual calm is now a part of my vocabulary and thinking everywhere.

    In the OP, I obsessed about beautiful boxes. I bought a set of three nested early 20th century Korean Stationery boxes -- cardboard, painted, a bit fragile but beautiful. I keep things in there that I need to have at hand but not open everyday. They are stacked on the bookshelf.

    I realize I have other minor tweaking to do and I bet this forum would help, but this post is already too long.

    Again I want to thank everyone for serious time consuming efforts to help me. I do hope the original converation is helpful to others. Interested readers seem to have found the original link -- I have linked it below but am not sure it will work. ("Messy Papers" got it for me in a search.) I agree it makes pretty good reading if desk organization is on your agenda.

    Here is a link that might be useful: How do you store your messy papers? I must (!) solve this.

  • susanjn
    17 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You've inspired me Elizabeth. I'm going to go back and reread the original thread. The link is below.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Original thread