Peace of Mind Organizing

Worth repeating: Shifting your perspective by shifting your furniture

5 November 2015

Nearly three years ago, I moved my desk 90 degrees. The impact was immediate and amazing! I’m still loving the placement of my desk, so I thought I’d repeat the post I wrote about it in 2013.

I’m not somebody who switches furniture around. I know there are people who consider that fun, but I’m not one of them. I typically agonize over the placement of furniture and once it’s done, that’s that.

I’ve been in this home office (in what was a bedroom of our house) for 12 years. I rearranged the furniture in it in 2005, after a feng shui consult.

This year, I decided that another change was important. I’d heard a speaker say, “Change your space as you change” and that made an impact on me.

Trouble was, I didn’t have a clue as to how to change my space. (Space planning is not one of my strengths.) Then I read the description of the Workspace and Studio Redesign program from Jen Hofmann of Inspired Home Office. That really resonated with me and I signed up.

We had three terrific phone sessions. She helped me create a vision for my space and realize that what I was after was a clean space, clear of non-essential items. I decluttered my desk and then the rest of the office, to great effect. At our second session, she suggested I try the desk rotated 90 degrees, so that the left edge, rather than the front of the desk, was against the wall. She also suggested I rotate it another 90 degrees so my back was against the wall.

I got out the furniture movers, unplugged everything and gave it a try. I immediately liked the first iteration, the 90-degree rotation. I tried the 180-degree rotation, but it did not feel right at all.

So with the desk turned 90 degrees, so that I’m now facing the door and a set of bookshelves, I set about plugging everything back in. I realized that if I moved a fabric-covered computer desk upon which a laser printer and scanner rested so that its back was to the front of my desk, I could hide all my cables.

Oh my goodness! My quest for better cable management was complete! I can’t tell you how exciting it is that my cable mess is all but gone.

Here’s a before photo, taken after the initial declutter, of what my desk was like against the wall.

Here’s a photo I took today to give you a sense of the new placement of the desk.

And here’s a photo taken from the door, to show how relatively cord-free the space now is.

It’s been just over a week and I’ve found this shift quite interesting. I love having a fresh perspective on my office. Above my monitor I see the top two shelves of my bookshelves, so I moved to the top shelf the copies of the books I’ve written. It reminds me of my accomplishments and gives me confidence to glance up and see them.

To my left, on the wall, underneath the fabric-covered bulletin board that was already there, I mounted a magnetic strip so that I can post my daily task list and my weekly social media checklist. I also mounted my bingo board on the wall next to the bulletin board. I store the magnets for covering my bingo squares on the magnetic strip. And I hang my bluetooth headset from a hook on the magnetic strip.

Behind me, on the radiator in a desktop organizer, are the items I used to keep close at hand on my desk. I feel like my desk has become a cockpit, with everything right where I need it.

Since everything has a place, I’ve had absolutely no difficulty putting things away. My desk is effortlessly clear at the end of each workday and, pretty much, throughout the workday. It may just be the novelty of the situation, but I’m really enjoying how easy it is for me to keep this clean. There’s just no extraneous stuff.

Same goes for the floor of my office, which traditionally gets pretty easily cluttered. I now have less floor space to clutter up and it hasn’t even been a bit tempting to put something on the floor instead of putting it away.

I did have one little problem caused by turning the desk that I addressed in a stroke of brilliance (if I say so myself). I’ll describe in Wednesday’s blog post.

I’m still in awe of the difference this change has made. I love no longer facing the wall. I love the fact that everything is so neat and that I’d rid myself of the extraneous. I love that everything in the room represents who I am and where I’m going, rather than who I’ve been.

This is powerful stuff. If you’ve been tempted to switch things up in your office, I urge you to give it a try!

Tagged with: clean desk, clutter clearing, declutter, decluttering, desk, furniture, home office, jennifer hofmann, worth repeating

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