A mess on the table. It happens to the best of us! I’ve been working hard on organizing my stationery throughout the home and I think I’ve come up with a good system. Like many people, we have multiple “drop zones” in our house, but I’ve found that assigning a purpose to each space has made our lives easier.
Table (similar) | Folding step ladder chair | Vase | Faux Peonies | Bird Prints (similar) | Copperware | Copper canisters | Candlesticks (similar) | Picture Light
For example, we collect mail and random supplies in two places — one in our kitchen and one in our home office. Both spaces are near the entrance, but have very different purposes. Today I wanted to take you on a mini-tour of these two spaces, to share how I made them work for us.
What we keep in our kitchen table
Our kitchen table basically has three different drawers. One is dedicated to electronics, which includes our charging cables, air tags, electric lighter – things like that.
Leather table mat | Bowl (similar) | Bradley Beige/Midnight Runner
It’s like there’s plenty in one drawer! I think of this as my outgoing mail space: it has all my fun calligraphy pens, envelopes, stamps. Whenever I see a cute card, especially a birthday or “thinking of you” card, I grab it to keep on hand. I’m always so touched by friends and family who send cards — I want to be more like that, and posting stuff means I’m more likely to. I also have a little note paper to write notes for the girls lunch boxes.
The last drawer is a drawer for all things, like small bills (for the tooth fairy or babysitter), checks, stickers, sunglasses. At one point it was my tape drawer, but I had to upgrade to a bigger box! I also keep all our gift cards there because we forget to use them if we don’t know where they are. I have grocery list paper and our weekly meal planning menu forms. There are also girl job listings here — they love to know what their jobs are and check them out. The one I bought came with so many refills. It’s also kind of funny – one item is “self-disciplined inclusion”. What?! I wouldn’t say it’s the best, but I use it. I usually fill them in on Saturdays.
One thing I finally got rid of? Manuals. I had so many manuals for every kitchen appliance. Guess where you can find them now? Online. I give you all permission to recycle those papers! Warranties are different now, but you can fill out many of them online.
So, the kitchen table is really everything that will allow you to make the home work more easily.
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What we keep in our office
Bubble Chandelier | Ceiling medallion | Velvet Club Chairs | Polly Blue/Sand Rug | Stand | Table | Chair | Urn (similar) | Coffee Table Books | Vase | Marble Bowl
Interestingly, the office desk has no drawers, it’s a table! So we made it feel like a table by adding stacks of books and a mirror that holds a tape dispenser and a pencil cup with scissors.
Mirrored Tray (similar) | Acrylic tape dispenser | Acrylic scissors | Vase | Faux Hydrangeas | Marble vessel | Still a coffee table book
Then we created a storage solution in the bookshelves on the side of the entrance. In those drawers in the office, we have samples that we review for work projects, file folders that hold vendor information, plans, and other key information—everything from the big, bulky stuff.
This space is truly an inbound business mail zone. This is where we store the bills we have to pay. But it pays to keep it tidy — don’t let a messy desk stress you out! All mail no receipts are on my kitchen table — things like invitations, cards, magazines.
So, while the kitchen table is more of a “pleasure and entertainment” zone, the office is actually more of a business center of the home. Having two separate organizational spaces for the home office has worked well as a system for us! How do you keep your home office organized?
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