Small Office Tips to Keep Clutter Down – Carving Space out of an Entryway

Small office tips using not one single piece of actual “office” furniture! Carving out a space in our mudroom/entryway/dining room for my office was not the easiest of tasks. Over the years my office has moved all over this house. It went from a dedicated room in the back of the house (which I hated – its now our awesome guest bedroom), to on a table in the living room (which was great but not sustainable) to finally finding its home here.

(Teaming up in our DIY Blog Hop this month, check out all of the office projects following my post. If you’re interested in joining us click here for more info!)

Oh for hind sight how I would have designed this house a little differently! But I truly believe that NO MATTER HOW MUCH TIME I SPENT ON IT I will always have regrets in some way or another now that I’m actually living here.

If I had known I would even have this space (which used to be a floor-less wood shed!) I think I would have enclosed part of it for a dedicated office and moved the coat closet. But when adding this space to the home became a reality I was already several months into renovating with a set plan I’d worked on for years.

Regardless, I still love the space as it is!

Probably not surprisingly there isn’t a single piece of office “furniture” that I’m using in my office. As far as small office tips goes I can’t recommend this lol but I’ve never had any problem making a piece “work” just because I love it and have it even though it may not always be ideal.

(You guys all know one of my favorite things is using what I have instead of buying new!)

My desk is an old kitchen table that I pulled out of a shed and refinished years ago.

My chair is an old banker’s chair my mom bought for me as a gift from a thrift store. (TOTALLY IN LOVE WITH IT!!!!) As you can see though, it is not the most comfortable lol nothing a couple of Walmart pillows didn’t fix though!

The bench beside my “desk” my grandparents’ made many years ago that I stenciled and created a tufted seat for.

The biggest point here of my small office tips required me to spend some money which isn’t at all what I EVER like to do. However, my kitchen table “desk” just does not provide a lot of surface area so removing a ton of cords helped so much!

So, I purchased a wireless mouse and keyboard, and a new monitor (a gift from my sweetheart Lodi) with built in speakers. (I also purchased a mat to protect my hardwood floors of course too!)

WOW how that improved everything for very little money!

I don’t do a lot of printing but, fortunately, my printer was already wifi ready so it got stashed beneath our entryway storage/plants table. Totally handy when I need it and totally out of sight and out of the way otherwise.

I hate having my desktop on the floor under my desk but, in this case, it worked out simply better that way. That, combined with the removing of all the other cords created some actual surface space for us.

My small office tips wouldn’t be complete without my admitting that I moved my desk around in this space about a thousand times lol

My worst problem was my east and west facing windows. I simply COULD NOT have my desk facing either or I would have such a bad glare that my computer was almost unusable for several hours on sunny days.

So my desk would either be facing our coat and shoe closet or, the obvious choice, into the dining room.

But I really wanted to break this long space up and, also, cover up the back of my monitor as much as I could.

Which left me the idea of giving us even more storage by using an old dresser as a room divider. My favorite of my small office tips: dressers DO NOT need to just be used for clothes of course! My grandparents’ bench provided all the “mud room” storage we needed while this dresser gave me all of the office storage we needed!

I also love that this dresser provides our perfect landing zone for my purse, our mail, keys, wallet etc.

Until the dresser came into play the landing zone had been the dining room table which drove me nuts.

One of my favorite small office tips (or any office really) is indirect lighting. It’s much easier on my eyes when I work for long periods of time having a soft lamp close by than the over head lights. (Check out how I transformed that lamp here.)

It also provides the perfect welcome home, we have that lamp on almost all of the time!

As with everything else in my office even our pen holder wasn’t made for its current job. The coffee cup I’m using as a pen holder my Mom purchased for me over 15 years ago and is one of my little keepsakes that I get to use and see every day 🙂

We keep the pen holder stashed in a soft sided little “tray” by the lamp with a note pad. The tray also provides a great landing for incoming mail.

All in – with the elimination of cords, putting my desktop on the floor and adding some easier-on-the-eyes lighting my office is a comfortable space that works great for us!

This Month’s DIY Blop Hop: ENTRYWAY PROJECTS! (Click here for our upcoming themes and more info on how to join us every month!)

Chas from Chas’ Crazy Creations – How To DIY A Can Organizer for Supplies

Kristin from White Arrows Home – How to set up a Workspace for Kids

Andrea from Design Morsels – Rugs that Work in an Office (and those that don’t!)

Mary from Life at Bella Terra – My Home Office Space

Kippi from Kippi at home – Home Office Storage Ideas

Niky from The House on Silverado – Home Office Makeover

Amy from Health Home and Heart – Create a Command Center to Reduce Clutter