Our home office is one room in our house that we could not do without.
However, the room is just a small extra bedroom and the closet is even smaller — so I knew it would require lots of organization to function at maximum capacity.
We needed our closet to function in 3 very specific ways:
- House all our gift wrapping supplies
- House all our paperwork
- House basic tools and craft supplies
Since the closet is SO small I decided to removed the door to give us easier access to our “stuff”. Here it is…all 3 feet of it!
ZONE 1: Gift Wrapping
Location — Top Shelf
I have 4 large bags and 2 boxes that contain all my wrapping supplies:
- Bag #1 — Large bags
- Bag #2 — Llarge boxes
- Bag #3 — Small bags
- Bag #4 — Ribbons & bows
- Box #1 — Tissue paper
- Box #2 — Smaller boxes
I labeled each bag and box with cute tags that I made from construction paper.
Zone 2: Paperwork
Location — filing cabinet
In the center of my closet is a large 4-drawer filing cabinet that holds ALL our paperwork.
- Drawer #1: Personal paperwork
- Drawer #2: My business paperwork
- Drawer #3: Hubby’s school paperwork
- Drawer #4: Craft paper, cards, envelopes, etc.
I use the tabs down the center for our main categories, and the tabs on the left for subcategories.
For example:
If the main category is be “utilities”
The subcategories would be each of the different utility companies we work with (DTE, AT&T, Consumers Electric, Allied Waste, etc.)
This system works wonderfully for us.
We also keep a small fire-proof safe on top of the filing cabinet for important documents and information.
Zone #3: Tools and Craft Supplies
Location: Peg board
Inside our closet, on the right side, I installed a small section of peg board to house some of our smaller tools and craft supplies.
Our larger tools are either in the shed outside or down in the basement but I like to keep these tools on hand for more regular use.
This section of the closet would otherwise just be a bunch of wasted space
So there you have it… 1 small closet transformed with virtually no out-of-pocket costs to fit 3 distinct needs in our home office.
Micah says
Omg! You have no idea how helpful your website has been for me! I have looked everywhere for organization tips that fit my small apartment and I haven’t found anything that fits so well. My apartment has nearly NO storage. I have a small pantry, a small laundry closet with washer and dryer, and then one closet that is supposed to serve as my closet, and everything storage. I just moved in and was literally drowning in all the stuff that I couldn’t store anywhere. But these tips are working for me!! I even downsized my drawers the way you did and it saved me SO MUCH space. I can’t believe I never thought of any of this. Thanks so much!
Andrea says
Thanks Micah — so glad my tips have been helpful for you as you!!
Kathryn says
I am inspired to 1. Determine our needs for a space first, 2. Use what we have, 3. Make it functional. Thanks for this post.