bullfrogs & bulldogs | office organization

office makeover reveal!

January 30, 2012 By Bullfrogs and Bulldogs 26 Comments

The day has finally come and I’m excited to reveal to you what I have done to revamp our home office. It’s amazing what a difference a few little changes really makes! By painting the trim alone, the room looks so much brighter. The office is naturally one of the darkest rooms in the house because of where it is located. The only time we get somewhat okay lighting is in the mid-afternoon for about one hour. When I painted the trim white, it automatically felt so much warmer and cheery.

So here you have it. Without further ado…the scary before pictures.

See, dark, scary, cluttered and totally unorganized, huh?

My overall goals for this little revamp were to get us more organized, add some warmth and life to our office, and incorporate a place for my craft and project supplies. I can say that this was achieved and I’m really happy with what I’ve done!

And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…or at least the moment I’VE been waiting for:

Our New Office

I removed the sliding closet doors which were unattractive and kept falling off whenever you tried to open them. I realized the closet is usable space and decided to add a few things such as a wall mounted ‘to be filed’ letter bin, my inspiration cork board, a chalk board ( I painted an old picture frame, spray painted the glass with chalk paint and viola!), and hung up a peg board for more storage. But, I need your help! What should I do with the peg board? I would love for you to comment and either provide a link to a fun idea or offer up one of your own!

To help get the business organized, I went through all the files and separated them accordingly which allowed for me to use the label maker. I LOVE the label maker!

And I hung up the wall mount letter bin and labeled each slot, ‘to be filed’ and ‘magazines.’

For the pre-existing bookcase, I eliminated about half of the books that we kept on there. These will be incorporated into the giant bookcase we will get for our basement refinish project which will be featured in the future! I added more storage boxes to keep my craft and project supplies organized and a couple baskets for additional storage.

and a cute basket for storing gift bags and boxes…

Aside from the trim, I also added reclaimed barn-wood shelving behind my desk (which I made), a few bright pictures, and a burlap letter M (in which I also made and is the first initial of D’s last name…one day mine, hint hint wink wink babe).

So there you have it! It goes to show, even a few subtle changes can make a room look completely different!

I still have a few more things to add to the room but those are for future projects not too be rushed! ie: Find the perfect rug, refinish a new office chair for my desk, and install shelves for D’s side of the office. I’ll update as I go, I promise!

I’d love to know what you think!

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Filed Under: DIY and Crafts Tagged With: Burlap letter, DIY reclaimed wood shelves, office makeover, office organization

office organization inspriation {how’s that for a tongue twister!}

January 12, 2012 By Bullfrogs and Bulldogs 6 Comments

I just finished painting the trim in the office white. WHOA! That was quite the task! But, it looks 110% better and I am daydreaming what the whole house will look like with a lovely shade of white framing the windows and walls. I can’t tell you what a difference the white makes. It’s bright, it’s cheery, and when I walk into our office, I get all warm and fuzzy inside because it doesn’t look like a scary dungeon anymore.

As I start to wrap things up in here {still have a few days of sorting, filing, labeling, and touch ups to do}, I still need to think of a few organizational ideas for some of the loose odds and ends. So, what else do you do when you need help? I sat down today to do a little cruisin’ through ciberland looking for some ideas to incorporate into my own plan. I thought it would be fun to share some of the office spaces and craft rooms I’m gaining some inspiration from.

Cubby Unit with Old Mason Jars: We all know how much I love Mason Jars. If you don’t remember you can read here! I’d love to incorporate something like this for all the odds and ends I can’t find a home for. I think it’s the perfect spot for buttons, loose nails and whatever else that is small and I need to store.

Source: Nest of Posies

Pottery Barn Daily System: I have to admit, I’m obsessed with this whole look and want to recreate it exactly. But instead I’m taking bits and pieces from it. But if I could, I’d snap my fingers and magically every single aspect {including the reclaimed wood wall} would be in our office. But I guess that’s why they have stylist, right?

Source: Pottery Barn

Frames on the Wall: Let’s face it, I have way more wall space in this house then I even know what to do with. Isn’t this a clever and pretty way of hiding it while adding color and your own personal touch?

Source: Primitive & Proper

Wall Organizer: This is an awesome idea for storage of extra pens and ribbon! All made from scratch with a little wood and stain for next to nothing. I like the sound of that!

Source: The DIY Files

If you have some fun ideas you’d like to share send them my way! And I’d love to know, what is your favorite part of your office or crafting space?

Filed Under: My Top Favorites Tagged With: Nest of Posies, office organization, Pottery Barn, Primitive & Proper, The DIY Files

update on project organize office!

January 9, 2012 By Bullfrogs and Bulldogs 2 Comments

I realized that in my post last week about organizing our office, I left out one very crucial thing. PHOTOS! Who doesn’t love a little before and after and in between action?

So here they are ladies and gentlemen. A little dark but well, that’s our office for ya, dark. I think you will get the picture though on what exactly I am dealing with.

So last week I began by creating a list of everything I’d need to get organized in here. My ultimate goal in organizing each room in the house is to do it as cheap as possible. Yep, I’m frugal and proud of it! I am a firm believer you can revamp a house all the while keeping the cost low. It just may take a little extra creative thought and possibly consulting my ever talented Interior Designer mom. (Hey, it pays to have an Interior Designer in the family!!)

Here is my list of wants and wishes for the new office:

Remove closet doors {check!}

Paint closet walls {check!}

Paint trim white {check!} Just adding this one yesterday

Shelves for wall behind my desk

New lamp for desk

New desk chair

And of course, rearrange a few things to get a better flow

With a little thrifting and a lot of paint, this should all come together very nice. With adding painting the trim to the project, I’ve decided to give myself a little more time. Another week.

In the meantime, here are a few photos to give you a little sneak peek! I’m so excited with how everything is turning out!

And…the start of the trim…this is the primer.

Stay tuned for another sneak peak tomorrow!

Filed Under: DIY and Crafts Tagged With: office organization, pefect little finds - DIY

oranizing project number one: Office

January 3, 2012 By Bullfrogs and Bulldogs 1 Comment

One of my New Year’s Goals for 2012 is to get more organized. I moved down to Oregon sometime at the end of May last year and I still feel like I haven’t unpacked completely. For example, there is a huge box in the garage full of items that were suppose to go to the Goodwill back in the first week of June. Now it’s even bigger because every couple of days I walk through the house and pick up something I feel doesn’t have use anymore and walk it down to the basement and place it in the ‘Goodwill’ pile. Well, first I asses it and make sure I can’t make it into something else. But, most of the items have been sitting in that pile for a couple of months now and I’ve realized it’s time to get down to business.

One. Room. At. A. Time.

Starting now.

I’m taking the next two weeks to organize our office. In my previous post about my goals of 2012 I said I was going to work on one room a month and I think that is very doable. In fact, Ibelieve I could probably do TWO rooms a month. Whoa!

Now, I understand it may not be exactly where I hope it to be by the end of these two weeks because for starters, I still have several things to get for this massive office project to get done but it will be a whole hell of a lot more organized then it is today. And my anxiety level will subside. At least until I start on the next room.

So here is what I am looking at:

* D and I don’t have drawers in our desks so a lot of things just end up piled on top. It’s frustrating and gives us both the overwhelming need to pick up our trash cans and push everything into it in some dramatic fashion.

Project: Figure out a way to reduce the pile up on our desks.

* We had one of those old1970′s gross brown sliding doors on the closet which gave me the creeps so I decided to take them off. Now I am left with a lot of clutter fully exposed and realize it’s unexceptionable to me.

Project: Organize closet so it is efficient and usable.

* I also want to move my sewing machine and craft supplies upstairs cause let’s be honest, I never go down into the basement where it currently lives because it’s dark, dank, and cold this time of year and a little on the scary side. No, I take that back. A LOT on the scary side.

Project: Create a ‘crafts’ space in the office by putting a desk in the closet for my sewing machine and all my supplies.

* D is running his families vineyard and future winery, Omero Cellars (I guess this is where I can give a little shameless plug) out of our home office and our file cabinet is rather messy. It’s time to label, label, label those files so everything is extremely easy to find.

Project: Create a working system and organize the file cabinet

For the most part, this is what’s needed to be done. Like I said above, I may not have it 100% finished by the end of these two weeks because I still need to find a desk (preferable and old one I can refinish) to put in the closet as my craft table but it should be pretty darn close.

To start things off, last night I finished painting and stenciling a desk organizer I found at the Goodwill some time back…this summer. It felt good to finish it and I really love the way it turned out. It’s not perfect but well, neither am I so it’s fitting. And it get’s me one step closer to being organized. Amen!