Hidden Mini Home Office - In An Ikea Besta Unit

Can you remember Big Unit? Well, we have now moved our home office-y type of things inside it. Like so...

This was born out of necessity really. We used to have a full room for an office space which housed a desk and all of my crafting things. I would craft in there and I would also work from home (before I was made redundant - boo!) Now obviously we don't need the office space for me to work at my now none existent job, and I haven't done any crafting in a looooooong time.

The room which was once the office is currently being cleared out to make way for the kids' things. Sigh. These blinking kids take over don't they?! :) More on that later though. I am sure I will let you know how that transformation goes.

So this is what the inside of this cupboard looked like only a couple of days ago.

AAAAAHHHH!!!! Does that make your eyes itch? It does mine.

The top shelf held some of the kiddos crafting supplies, and the bottom space was home to my husband's gibble. It was never really planned that way particularly. We just needed to put glue up high out of their reach and my dearest husband decided that he needed to put his deodorant on and his contact lenses in while standing at the Big Unit. As you do.

I cleared away all of that stuff and gave the shelves a good old clean. The crafting things are in a box in the old office just waiting to be re-homed somewhere more sensible, and my husband's gear has been stored somewhere more appropriate.

Here's what it looks like now!

Proud as punch I am! Let me go through everything with you.

Starting top left...

These drawers used to sit on my desk for crafting bits and pieces in. I bought them from Wilkinsons. Although I'm pretty sure they don't do these same ones anymore. However, they might do something similar.

Pretty AND functional. I keep my clips, pins, Tippex, date stamp, USB pens and blu take, etc in there. 

I made practical labels for my magazine files (from Ikea - Kassett i think). I had a huge stack of magazines in the cupboard opposite.

So I thinned them down, choosing only magazines dated within the last few months, or those with particular articles or tutorials I am interested in. 

The current projects file contains paperwork for whatever project we happen to be focusing on right now. Then the Address and Birthdays file has my birthdays book, my address book and any greetings cards I have waiting. There is one spare magazine file with nothing in it. I am sure it won't be empty for long though!

To the right of those are a few books and a super cute pen pot.

The pen pot was also from the Wilkinsons Nostalgia range of stationery supplies. I love that whole range, it's so pretty!

Guess where my family organiser calendar was from? Wilkinsons - you got it! Can you tell I love that shop, almost as much as I love Ikea? The calendar doesn't start until January and I need to go through it and add all the important dates, but for now, it just looks cute. I used a calendar hook from Wilkos too and it was really simple to stick on. The instructions said to wait 24 hours before hanging on it, but I got excited and did it right away. It seems to be holding well. 

Okay, so here's the bottom shelf. The "catch all" box is where we throw all those things that you can't be bothered to deal with straight away. Previously everything used to land in two wicker baskets on the open shelving. That was okay, but it was too out in the open. I really need to keep that kind of thing hidden away. No one wants to be confronted by a display of take away menus, till receipts and wires when they come visiting. 

See? No one needs to be seeing that.

As you can see I am not too good at stamping, but I put the wording on here myself none the less. I am telling myself I kinda like the crazy, splodged look... 

The black folder you can see behind the box is where I keep receipts. I dump them all in here out of my purse and out of the catch-all box every now and again. Then periodically I will go through and throw away all the ones I no longer need. Neat!

Lastly, but by no means least. Here is where I keep my spare office folders (punched pockets, presentation folders, etc), my gift wrap supplies (sheet wrap, tags, tissue paper) and my printer supplies (ink, sheet labels, paper). 

And that concludes the tour of our shiny new hidden home office space. I know it's compact, but it works for us right now. 

And because i like em, here's a before and after...

Thanks so much for visiting me! 

I've linked up to these super parties:

Making the World Cuter - Monday Link Up Party
Debbiedoos - Power of Pinterest Party
We Are That Family - Works For Me Wednesdays
New Nostalgia - Anti Procrastination Tuesdays
A Bowl Full Of Lemons - One Project at a Time
Adorned From Above - Wednesdays Link Party
The Artsygirl Connection - Pinspirational Thursdays
Between U & Me - Crazy Cute Link Party
30 Handmade Days - Friday Pity Party
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating - Flaunt It Friday
French Country Cottage - Feathered Nest Friday
It's a Hodgepodge Life - Hodgepodge Friday
It's Overflowing - Overflowing With Creativity
Positively Splendid - Saturday Seven Party
Too Much Time - Get Schooled Saturday
Lovely Crafty Home - Lovely Crafty Weekend
Funky Junk Interiors - SNS

Project Planning - The Craft Room / Home Office / Guitar Room

Okay, so I have my compilation of photographs showing the areas I wanted to work on in my home. Well, the ones that came to mind as I was touring my house with the camera the other day. :)

What I really need to do is look at each photo separately and set out what needs to be done and the priority of the task. I should also maybe think about a budget, but I am aiming to spend as little as I can in each area. Probably a great reason to have a budget in itself!


The first job that needs to be done is to organise the office/craft space. 

Sigh. Remember how this used to look?


Well, life just kind of got in the way of keeping this room neat. That and the magical magnetic power it seems to have in attracting all of the homeless gibble from all over the house... Admittedly, this is a particularly messy day. The ironing board isn't usually there and neither are those clothes that you see piled up. I was having an ironing day.


This room has to be tackled first because I am going back to work!! :) My boss has oh so kindly allowed me to work from home, which means that a) I can actually return to work at all, b) don't have to commute = less time and less money and c) I get to create a cute home-office space. YEY!


My deadline is 12th September. This is my first day back. 


I'm actually trying to source a better desk than the one I have in there at the moment. This one is very cheap in construction, so it is literally falling apart. You can see into the drawers from the back and if it needs to be moved, the top of the desk comes away from the bottom part. The structural integrity of this thing is like zero. Plus, as a workspace, it's teeny tiny. I need room to spread out!


Sooo... From taking a look at my photo I can see what needs to be done:

• Design a plan for the space with working as a primary function and crafting/guitars as a secondary function.
• Take out everything that doesn't belong in there - dining table & spare chairs etc.
• Work out what needs to be stored in this space and that can move elsewhere.
• Find storage solutions.
• Replace the desk if at all possible.
• Declutter all unused craft items to eBay and put funds in new camera savings fund or towards the new desk
• Budget = as little as possible. Look in the loft for things to repurpose and try to get a secondhand desk or a table to use as a desk. 

As I think about this job more I realise that this cupboard is within that scope.

It's in the same room and currently houses the mop, sweeping brush, ironing board and hoover etc. It really does need rejigging though. I am note sure that cleaning things are best stored in the office. Perhaps they should go under the stairs instead. I don't know. I'll see how things look once i've cleared out the space in the office / craft room.

Craft Room / Guitar Room / Home Office Overhaul

Remember this?

Well, a couple of hours, a couple of recycling boxes, a couple of binbags and a couple of strops later it's been decluttered, cleaned and organised to perfection!

This room is our combination craft room, guitar room, and office space and it is actually what used to be our old kitchen. If I get some time later I'll post photos of the old room and pictures from when it was being renovated. The vintage wallpaper we uncovered is worth a post all on its own!!

So, without further ado here are the before and after photos from my latest decluttering and home organising mission:

 You may notice in that last one I had a little helper. Not much help mind - he was asleep! Tut!

Now for the after photos. Please try to ignore how wonky some of these photos are. I think some of it is lens distortion and some is just because I was stood in a cupboard to take the photo. 

Ta daaa! I am very pleased, even if I do say so myself!

The only downside from sorting out this particular room is that I found nothing that I am able to put on eBay. However, I did manage to throw away tons of paper recycling and filled a binbag with normal rubbish, so not too bad.

Remember that cupboard I stood in to take photos? It's the door to the left of the desk. Inside is our boiler and other household bits and bobs. You would think that it would be a useful cupboard, and it kind of is except it's not really big enough for the clothes horses (yes, we need two) to fit in as well as the ironing board and hoover. I do have plans though, so watch this space!