With the amount of time that most of us small business owners are working from home, it’s easy to have our homes and businesses feel as though they’re closing in on us. I can personally speak to how necessary it is for me to have little organized pockets in my own home in order to keep me working efficiently across all fronts.
I won’t harp on the fact that the messes just seem to grow exponentially while working from home – especially with small children. Now more than ever, it’s important to create organized areas within our home that help us move easier through the day.
Today I’m going to share some big and small solutions in your spaces that will not only help you feel more in control of this “at home” thing – but solutions that will also help you to keep style and design nice and high on your priority list. As we do 😉
With the amount of time that most of us are working from home, it’s easy to have our homes feel as though they’re closing in on us. Now more than ever, it’s important to create organized areas within our home that help us move through the day.
One of the biggest things I know about myself is that I’m a mobile worker. What does this mean? It means that I can work just about anywhere – where so many designers I know, need a designated desk/office/space to work from.
One of my favourite places to work is in my kitchen! I have a little area on my countertop, beside the large window where I set up to work (usually with two laptops – but that’s a different story) I recently came across a wonderful little box that has a drawer and now at the end of my day, I can put any stationary, mail to deal with, etc into that drawer box and tuck it away! My laptop(s) sit on top and voila! The office part of my kitchen is neat, tidy and mostly hidden! This is just what works for me.
Let’s look at some other areas in our homes that may help to ease our entrepreneurial overwhelm if they were just a little better organized.
The entry to your home, whether it be into a mudroom or through the front door to a tiny closet – it’s imperative we have places for everything so it’s easy to run out to a consultation or for our little ones to be self-sufficient.
More and more we’re seeing lockers being used in mudrooms and it’s for good reason. Lockers in residential settings are usually custom, built-in and BEAUTIFUL. Built-in cabinets or lockers in your entry can hold a huge amount of “stuff” and keep it easy to grab and go for any family member.
Something that I adore in our mudroom is a “command center”. Now, this doesn’t need to be a giant “farmhouse” looking board with a calendar, mail slots and whiteboard – it can be simple! Like this beautiful acrylic and brass one from Magnolia.
Since I already use my kitchen as an office; I need its actual purpose to be organized as well.
One of the biggest bursts of effort I put in, which had the biggest payoff, was organizing the pantry and the fridge! There is nothing worse than ending an hour-long zoom call at 1pm and scrounging through endless condiment bottles and peanut-free school snacks for something to eat. That kind of ravenous hunting is what led me to implement an easy-access system very similar to this one by The Home Edit and I haven’t looked back.
Lastly, If you’re anything like me, you probably have an office that is more of a paperwork and sample dump zone.
While it’s certainly next on my list to tackle, I am completely inspired by this amazing She Shed that Rachel Moriarty did recently for the One Room Challenge – https://www.rachelminteriors.com/post/one-room-challenge-reveal-she-shed-project
It’s definitely not practical for us Canadians, as we would only be able to use it a few months of the year, but I adore the organization there!
Ultimately, organization leads to efficiency and that’s nothing new.
We are creatives (that’s also not new) and as such, we can struggle with putting our spaces in the priority queue, but it’s imperative that we have an organized mindset in order to organize the world around us.
So if that means working on two laptops from your kitchen counter or creating a she shed oasis – make your little organized pocket in your home, don’t compromise on style or function and live a beautiful life.
Since 2015, Tanya has been wearing multiple hats for Mydoma. She was our first hire at our humble beginning and has grown to be an essential member of our team. Not only is she the creator and admin for our Facebook community as well as the creative lead for our social media, Tanya is also an interior decorator and creative director for Ekko Design Build, the Ottawa based firm she owns with her husband.
Tanya never turns down a challenge and enjoys helping designers, decorators and parallel fields to find their target audience and learn to market to them. If you’d like to talk to Tanya about her experience and how she might be able to help you excel, send her a message in our orange bubble!
