When I started ‘blogging’ I was working on a laptop in the kitchen or at a local coffee shop.

As writing online turned into podcasting, then coaching, and then counselling, my office space evolved along with my career. 

Over the years, my office space has moved locations, layout and room size….

I have shared some fun stories over the years of my office space in this highlight reel. 

 

The current space I am in was made smaller a couple of years ago, when we expanded our bedroom closet into the office. 

It is one long desk with two work stations on it (for my two different jobs).

The layout worked fine for me. I found I didn’t need as much space, especially since I got a therapy office in town. 

 

However, I had brought in a walking mill into the space. I use it often but it is bigger than the space can handle. To move between the chair, the yoga ball in this space makes it feel too crowded and jammed. 

I would have to move the walking mill away from the desk in order to move my chair around it -which meant it was blocking the door. 

It was all feeling like there was less and less space for me in there. 

So, I got out the measuring tape and tried to reimagine the space. 

My goal was to have more floor space to move around instead of lining the room with furniture. 

 

This is something that happens often in my home. 

I set up the space and work in it, then I decide it doesn’t work and shift things again. 

Or as I like to term it…. REFINING THE SPACE

I think this is natural. As we spend time in a space, and maybe even shift how we need to use it, we will need to adjust the layout and function of the space. 

We can’t be too precious about holding onto our layout or furniture items if we want to have a space that changes with our life. 

 

This past spring break, I decided it was time to ‘refine’ my current office space (again)

Thankfully, I knew this wouldn’t be a tough reno in terms of any demo or construction. It also wouldn’t cost anything as we were using materials from the current set-up. 

 

I knew that the majority of the work would be DECLUTTERING, and that task would be mine alone. 

So, I wanted to bring you into the process (as I do with my RECENTLY DECLUTTERED areas), and let you know how I went about it and what I learned from it. 

 

The first step was emptying the space. 

I know I am not the only one who dreads this step because it means another part of the house becomes a dumping ground. 

Many of us know that if we make a dumping ground while emptying a space, that it will feel overwhelming, our renos might take longer, and we will have to live in clutter chaos.  Some of us even know that the dumping ground remains a dumping ground as renos fizzle out, or we just don’t return to address the stuff we emptied out of the room. 

 

One thing I have learned to do over the years is to be strategic WHILE emptying the space. 

I try to sort things into broad categories as I go:

• I was moving all the computer stuff into my bedroom
• I was filling the hallway with things that needed to be moved to the basement
• I made a pile of art/posters in the hallway 
• I made a little box to collect all the random ink cartridges that were littered in the space (and I was keeping them so I could recycle them)

• Things that weren’t moving to the bedroom or hallway, I piled up on the console table so I could sort them right there in the room. 

I knew I only had to empty the space enough to make the new desk set up, then I could put most of the big things back. 

We cut down the current desk to make a smaller one to fit the opposite wall. 

I was able to put the computer equipment back and get it out of our bedroom. 

We had plans so this is as far as I got the first day. 

 

The second day, I started decluttering the stuff that would need a new home in the shifted office space.

Because I had the goal of more floor space, I knew that I would have to rethink all the furniture I had in the old set-up. 

I didn’t want to give up the console table, and went through different ideas in my head on what to do with my three filing cabinets so I could maybe reduce them or move them somewhere else in the house and keep the console table. 

Aftter going over all the ideas and options with my husband, I came to the conclusion I would have to let go of the console table. 

Which meant decluttering the STUFF I had been storing on the console table. 

 

My approach to decluttering is usually this:

1. Make a pile of everything that needs to be decluttered

2. Have a bag for garbage, a bag for recycling, a spot for donations, and then a bag for things to go to other places. 

In this case, I had a bag of stuff to take to my therapy office, a bag of stuff to take to the basement for storage, and a pile on the floor for donations. 

I decluttered on the second day, it took me about 1-2 hours. The photos above are how I left it that day. 

 

On the third day, I started cleaning and putting things back together. 

It didn’t take me long to declutter, it took me longer to clean and put things back into the office. 

I probably spent the most time trying to figure out how I wanted to hang all the artwork I had.

 

Then, as I worked through the week and saw the space behind me on video calls, I decided I needed to bring in a plant from the living room. 

So, this is my most current version of my home office space. 

I was sad to see the console table leave, but I am able to use my space with so much more ease now. I used to struggle to move the yoga ball and treadmill around the desks, and now, things feel more spacious. I feel less strained after spending a workday in this space. 

I want to encourage you with a few things, from this ‘refining’:

1. It is important to pay attention to how a space makes you feel. I was feeling cramped and low-key panicky in the set-up I had before. Contrasting that to how much more calm I feel in the space now reminds me to check in with my body and my space more often. 

2. You need to make a mess to declutter

3. It is ok to take your time with it

4. Sort as you go

5. It is ok to let go of bigger pieces, especially when the room feels like more function than function.  This may be the best way to CREATE SPACE for the way you want to use the room. 

 

You can see all the recently decluttered posts right here. 

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