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Tips from two home office designers
Feeling that perennial January urge to organize? We sought out two home-office mavens for their advice on how to declutter, reorganize and energize your home office area. Feeling that perennial January urge to organize? We sought out two home-office mavens for their advice on how to declutter, reorganize and energize your home office area.
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THE DESIGNER
Chris Plantan, former architect; founder and president of russell + hazel, Minneapolis, and brand manager for M.O. office products.
PLANTAN'S POINTERS
• Try to create as much flat surface space as you can for desktop filing, layout and writing.
• Only keep those things that you use at least three times a week on your desk top. Otherwise, store the items in files or drawers.
• Clear acrylic desk and product organizers are a cheap way to lighten up your desk.
• Try nontraditional desk accessories, which can be more interesting to look at: cake stands to elevate items from the desktop, painter's trays for In boxes, mason jars to hold supplies.
• Don't create temporary piles; they become permanent clutter. Give everything a file, but don't label it "miscellaneous." Be specific.
• Use a wheeled office chair for ease of movement from desk to table.
• Open your mail over your garbage can (and shredder) each day.
THE DESIGNER
Karen Law of Contained Design, Minneapolis
LAW'S LAWS
• Keep the tools of your trade -- files, computer, paper, telephone -- no more than 2 feet away from your desk.
• Before arranging, consider how you use your home office. For paying bills? Or running a business? It will define how you organize.
• We only use about 20 percent of our files, so dump or recycle as many as possible.
• File vertically. Alphabetize, and choose simple categories.
• Personalize your space. It belongs to you; it should look like it.
• Create in and out boxes and use them. Don't use your in-box as storage; use it as a daily sorter for filing projects and to-do items.
• Measure your space. It will save you from buying six totes to store files when you have space for only four.
• Take 10 minutes at the end of each day to see what you can clean out or file. It will save you hours at the end of the month.
BEST IDEA
Understanding what you need to keep. Store the rest. And only have what you're working on at one time at arm's reach.
Makeover
HOME OFFICE
BEST IDEA
Rolling trolleys. They give you the flexibility to take everything out of boxes, having it at your fingertips, rolling away for storage.
My Style: Functional and fun
My Style: Creative, contemporary
and personal
I shot this outside Riverplace in N.E. Mpls in June 2008. Jerry Botts
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