The Portable Path to Order & Happiness

I have a beautiful, antique desk from my grandma.  It is charming and it sits in my living room and I do use it, for storing files and bills I’ve paid . . . but I don’t use it on a daily basis.  Why?  Because I love my kitchen and end up stacking everything on a sweet little corner of the counter.  I have a fear of putting things away until I’m done with them.  Doug shoves things into drawers and I take them back out and arrange them on the counter.  Papers from school, piano music, bills, notes from friends or family, torn pages of to-do items, grocery lists, dental appointment reminders, recipes torn from magazines and so on . . . the pieces of my life that I need to keep visible.

But I also really, really love a tidy space and do not enjoy waking up every Saturday morning to this:

Enter the portable desk–a reduce-reuse-recycle solution to the age-old problem of paper AND a great place to store all my beloved, decorative office supplies.  I made a list of the items that tend to hang around and the tools that could contain them:

• files & papers
• bills
• photos
• magnetic surface
• cork board
• pens, tacks, paper clips and other supplies
• whimsy & hope

Starting with a cool-old-narrow-distressed door and adding some Benjamin Moore love (Oceanfront 660) to the panels:

Collecting came next:  I scavenged through my own garage and went shopping in my dad’s, as well.  Some of the spoils:

Antique muffin pan cut into a single row

And the finished project, in a happy corner of the kitchen.  Our home is small and the beauty of my new “office” is that it can move to an out-of-the-way corner when we’re having company over.  Pick it up and go.

Check out the individual pieces:

Magnetic strip

Not sure what this was originally . . . now it is my pen/supply holder

Strips of cork for my favorite photos

Muffin tin holding paper clips & tacks

And the best for last:  baking pans that my dad cut, folded & stenciled.  Perfect, perfect, perfect.

 Hometown Perch is thrilled to be a part of the Creating with the Stars contest, hosted by East Coast Creative.

 11 winners will be chosen by East Coast Creative and their Blog Stars.  #12 will be chosen based on the number of clicks a submission receives.  Help us rise to the top!  Click this link, scroll down and click our thumbnail, #323 Portable Office.