Peace before Perfection – my small office space

When I first heard of the New Year’s Organizing Revolution hosted by my favorite top organizing bloggers, I became so excited and so full of plans! I envisioned how the challenge would transform our two bedroom/one bath kingdom of clutter into a sparkling space full of fabulousity and function. A girl can dream, right? Still working on the fabulousity – it’s baby steps for me as I am lucky enough to have three babes at home with me most of the day.

This week my goal was to conquer our IKEA desk unit. My office is the desk in my room aka the current catch-all space in the master bedroom of our two bedroom basement apartment where we are house sitting for my in-laws. It needs to double as a quiet homework space for my 5 year old to escape her oh so curious younger brothers.

On Monday I began brainstorming what I wanted from the space. These ideas came to mind …

• Functioning printer – although running up two flights of stairs to get print jobs has helped with my fitness goals.
• Homework space for Lily
• Laptop space
• Storage for coupons, bills, etc.
• Inspirational work environment

Tuesday was work day. I tackled the leftover Christmas piles that had migrated to the desktop and sorted through any important paperwork underneath. With a clean desktop I was feeling prepared to tackle the shelves. Then life settled in. The husband went back to work, school started, lessons began and suddenly it is Thursday. Yikes!

The positives. I have a clean desktop to work from. I was immediately able to see what area I wanted to work on for the challenge. On one side of the desk unit is a white board that has previously been covered. While I did not have time for organizing the rest of the list to meet my needs – I definitely had time to work on the inspirational work environment. This is what I came up with:

A quote frame/board/picture has been high on my list of priorities ever since I read this blog post. As an English minor in college, I adore quotations and love the thought of my littles reciting the words of my favorite authors and speakers. While I have gone back and forth between picture frames/chalkboard frames/etc. on my to-buy list, I had this perfect white board right under my nose! The placing is ideal as it can be seen the moment you walk in the room.  It is right above where I work on my lap top as well as where my daughter does homework.

As I was cleaning, I discovered quite a few dry erase markers. In the past, these have gotten lost/dried out at an alarming rate! As luck would have it,  last time I bought  the magnetic dry erase markers which can now hang perfectly on my white board. Voila – problem solved.

Living in a small space has convinced me that we truly need to LOVE and USE every item in our home. This piece is one of my favorites. My husband and I bought it on our honeymoon. It reminds me that we will always back each other up. I thought the height was perfect for the space For now, I am storing the three whole punch alongside the art because it is always something we seem to be looking for. Underneath the ledge, I am keeping all of my business cards.

Creating this space was therapeutic and eye opening for me. The quote written on the white board popped into my mind as I was working. Too often I become hyper focused on an end goal – a spotless, well-organized, perfect space. I shoo the kiddos upstairs with my husband and throw myself into project after project which oftentimes leave me frazzled.

This time, my husband was picking our daughter up from school so I had our 3 and 1 year olds with me as I worked. There were frequent stops for sippy cup refills, diaper changes, toy finds, etc. I realized I had two choices – become stressed and struggle to complete the project on my own or embrace this time in my life and do my best while meeting the needs of my little family.

This little man was intrigued with the process and wondered what I was doing with his dry erase markers. He has since helped me rehang them several times. As I write this post, I realize how blessed I am to be watched by these little ones. In a few years, my little guy may not be so interested in what his mama is up to, but for now he loves being apart of the little world we share.

Today I am glad that I chose peace before perfection. My handwriting for the quote was not perfect, but my responses to my little ones many questions were more inline with the mom I hope to be. Some days you really do have to dig in and clean/organize in order to bring more peace to your family. I understand that. Other days, more patience is required as we serve families and work to create a home that is organized and full of love and laughter.

What quote should I feature next on my white board?

What are your favorite projects to work on with your children?