The Home Office

I have a home office. Kinda. We have a three bedroom house. Since we only have one child (so far anyway), the third bedroom is supposed to be a home office. However, it has become a catch-all for everything we can't find space for-our large library of books, boxes that we've yet to unpack since our move, craft supplies for my daughter, etc.

When I was only doing the bookkeeping for my husband's tile business, it wasn't a big deal. Because he mainly subcontracts for a larger business and has no employees, keeping the books does not require a lot of time. I could handle being hemmed in by everything for the little bit of time I spent working.

But now that I'm spending more time in the room working on my writing, I'm beginning to feel stifled. It's time to overhaul the room. I'd like to get remove everything I don't need for work, but I have a feeling that I may have to settle for corralling all non-work items to one corner of the room.

Once I have some space dug out, I can start thinking about the best arrangement of my work space. I will probably end up getting a new desk as my current one lacks the desktop space I want. It's a pain having to balance a notepad on my lap while I'm typing. So far, I haven't found the right desk that fits my needs and price range. I may end up drawing a picture of the desk I'm looking for and having my husband build it for me.

I have file cabinets, thanks to my husband. A few weeks ago, he was on his way to a job and came across someone throwing away two perfectly good file cabinets. They're the two drawer kind and even had the keys to lock them taped inside. So he loaded them up in his truck and brought them home for me.

Do you have a home office? How is it set up? What home office essentials could you not work without?

*Photo by Lauren Stephens.