Not your run-of-the-mill office supplies

A few weeks ago, I shared some fun business card cases, many from etsy.com. By far, I find etsy to be the best resource for non-traditional finds. Whether it's handmade or vintage, it will most likely be one of a kind (or at least very few of the same kind).

Here are some of my office supply picks from etsy.com


Some other great resources for office supplies that aren't run-of-the-mill:

• See Jane Work
• The Office Stylist's Sorting With Style
• Paper Source
• Kate's Paperie
• Muji
• Iomoi
• ProfessionGal's new shop, when it opens (I'm sure it will be on this list!)

Where do you go for office supplies?

Home office: Revealed!

It took a few weeks of waiting for our local Ikea to get the Expedit back in stock, but they finally got some more in and my home office plans were saved. You remember my mood board and how my office looked earlier this month?

Well, here's the finished product.

Not to shabby, eh? I love the new set-up, although I'll admit the desktop is rarely as clean as in the photos above (which I took in the excitement of finally getting things put away, before I sat down to actually work). Even though almost everything in this office is old, I love how it came together for a (mostly) clean and inspiring feel.

One of my favorite new additions to this space is my super-chic wall calendar, which I purchased from Sweet Musings Paperie on etsy. I loved it when I ordered it, but when I got in the mail, I LOVED it. I love looking up at Michelle's illustrations throughout my workday for a little pick me up, and there are 15 more months to go. Michelle is offering the New Professional readers 15% off on anything in her shop through October 31. Just enter NEWPROF in the coupon code box during checkout on Paypal and it will be applied to your order.

So...what do you think? Could you work in a space like this?

[Edited to add: Those boxes still between the desk and bookshelf are going to K's office...they are chock full of heavy books so he's taking them one backpack-ful at a time. Once those are gone, that space will be nice and open. Forgot they were still in the photo!]

Home office: purpose and plans

Another apartment, another home office. Couple that with my cubicle changes at my last job, and this will be the fourth work area I've worked in (and shown you) in the year-and-a-half since I started this blog (see 1, 2 and 3).

My last home office was...how should I say it...ideal. It was bright, spacious, and organized. I loved the heck out of it, and wish that I could have worked from home more instead of using it just on weekends and holidays. Now that I am using the home office everyday, I'm trying to incorporate what I loved about my last space to create a neat and productive space here.

Purpose
Daily home office, book storage, craft storage, board game storage.

Budget
As little as possible (I'm not a strict budgeter). We definitely need a bookshelf, something cheap and sturdy with lots of storage capacity. The built-ins did the trick in our last place, and we left the small bookshelves in the office—one was a Target shelf that used to be full height (broke in half during a previous move) and the other I bought specifically to fit under the long windows and wouldn't have fit well elsewhere.

Space

My new office space is at the far end of our living area, right up against the window. Since our living area is just one long rectangle, you get a straight shot to my desk from the front door. Our new apartment has some of the same charm of the old place. High ceilings, large windows, wood floors. Here's what it looks like now (pardon the boxes of books...see why we need a bookshelf?).

The plan

My plans and ideas from my office. Bold indicates new/recent purchases.

1. Glass jars for pencils, highlighters, odds and ends. I just use empty ones left over from the food we buy (bonus if they have pretty clear stickers instead of paper ones).
2. Ikea Kassett DVD boxes for craft storage.
3. Ikea Kassett magazine boxes for paper and fabric storage. ($9.99 for two; I'll get four, so $20)
4. Mid-back fabric office chair. Purchased in 2007.
5. Ikea Expedit 4x4 bookshelf. ($129 new, but I'm keeping an eye on Craigslist, too)
6. Ikea Fredrik desk. I also have the two-drawer attachment (which has since been discontinued). Purchased in 2004.
7. Office art from my old cubicle (this print from kirstypaterson).
8. Haitian steel drum bird piece I picked up on South Congress in Austin. ($24)
9. A custom Coco and Louie 16-month wall calendar from sweetmusingspaperie. ($20)

I know that a $200 room isn't in everyone's budget, but considering that the price includes a large furniture piece, I don't think we did all that badly. We also have a two-drawer filing cabinet and wireless printer that will fit in somewhere (likely with the printer on top of the cabinet).

Ikea was out of the birch Expedit when we tried it this past weekend, so the execution of this plan is on hold for now. But no fear...you'll get pics when it's all done, hopefully in the next week or two.

What storage do you find to be the most essential in your office space? Bookshelves, boxes, baskets?

In the moment

Things I love right now:

New York & Co. mod rubber band watch

Anthropologie Still Life With Pencils wall art

Merona bandeau shirred one-piece from Target
(I'm debating between pink, green, blue/white dots, and black/white dots)

Coldwater Creek ribbon detail top

Which I'd love to style like this for a subtle color-blocked look:

Mid-length Skirts by Halogen
Pumps by Enzo Angiolini

What are you loving right now?

Work of art

As you may remember, I redecorated my cubicle a few months ago, which I brought over to my new (current) cubicle.  One of my favorite additions was my tiny art print collection, including pieces purchased off etsy, an old postcard I bought in college, and a photograph taken by a college roommate (an art major).  Art is a great way to spice up any space, and an office is no exception.

My next project this summer, once I stop slacking off, taking long naps, and eating lots of fresh summer fruit (is there anything better?), is to do something with our office space at home.  You've seen bits and pieces of my apartment in my outfit pics, and I really want to show you my office  nook, but that will have to wait until another time.  Like many spaces in our tiny apartment, it is multifunction: office space, craft storage and space, musical instrument space, and donate pile space.

The best part of our office nook is the five windows that surround the alcove (it's nearly circular shaped, making it so pretty but just that much harder to use).  Thus we only have one wall to do anything with.  After five years, I've managed to get all of our college and my graduate school diplomas framed, but I'm not so sure what I want to do with them next.

I've been scoping out some fun office art, and here are some of my picks.  My favorite source is etsy.  You can get great stuff for good prices straight from the artists, and the options are just so much wider since any artist can place their work on there.  For poor folks like us, it's our only chance to really own an original (you never know who might be an art superstar someday!).

Clockwise from top left: Moderncanvas, artstudio54, elgarboart, keepcalmshop, John Lawrence, visualingual

Some tips on choosing art:

• Think about what you love. There's likely to be some art incorporating whatever it is.
• When you're traveling, keep an eye out in galleries for new artists, especially local ones.  It's really nice to have some connection to your art.  For example, for my first birthday after getting married, my husband got me three Mike Goddard prints.  We fell in love with his fun paintings on our honeymoon in Tahoe, and coincidentally enough, have run into his work in galleries in various vacation spots.  
• Prints and posters are a great affordable option to getting art.  The added bonus is that they're not too precious, so you can experiment with display more.  Ikea and Aaron Brothers have a great selection of smaller prints to browse through if you don't want to take the online route.
• Make your own.  Our living room is surrounded in photos of the beautiful Lake Tahoe area that Kevin and I took on our honeymoon.  We even had one cut in half, blew each half up to the largest size Shutterfly would print, and framed them into a two-panel display above our couch.  Again...memories are good.  And we are decent photographers at best. If you aren't a photog, chances are you have a friend that is...ask them if they would allow you to blow up one of their pieces as art (with due credit and possibly some compensation of course). 
• Consider the feel of the space.  Do you want the art to be calming or inspirational?  This is basically how I chose my cubicle art: inspiration first, followed by humor and personality. 
• If you're filling a space with more than one piece, consider how they go together.  The easiest way to mesh a few disparate pieces is by making sure there is a similar vein of color that is common to all pieces. Other commonalities that can create cohesiveness: scale, framing, and media.

Our dream is to eventually own one of John-Mark Gleadow's bookshelf giclees.  We first saw his work on our recent vacation to Key West and I really really really wanted to buy one. But being on vacation, and keenly aware of how much the vacation cost in the first place, I just couldn't justify the purchase at that time. But you can bet that I have a target for my spending-money-savings to hit.  That would be an investment piece that we would put in our office of a future home.

What do you have hanging on your office walls? Do you hang your diplomas?

Cubicle makeover: Part 2

It's been a few weeks since I shared with you the first part of my cubicle makeover.  Part 2 takes place in the nook above my computer.  Here is the before picture to jog your memory:

In this photo, the shelf above my computer is completely empty.  Before that, it was full of photos, cards, etc. (basically everything you see on the larger shelf to the right of the photo).  It was getting way too cluttered and distracting, so I moved all the personal stuff to a different shelf.  But emptiness is also distracting (not to mention boring).  I decided to put that area to use.

Here is the after:

Changes:

• "A curious mind knows no limits" (etsy seller kirstypaterson).  I knew I wanted something inspirational but not cheesy, and something typographically set, rather than a painting or drawing.  This fit the bill to a T.
• Reasons to love type letterpress (etsy seller afavorite).  I love good letterpress, but they are generally pretty steep in price.  These are small and sweet, and tongue in cheek.  The full set has nine, but I only got two: "Bad breaks can be edited" and "It's understood you don't communicate with dingbats."
• Piano photograph.  This photograph was taken by my college roommate Hannah, an art major, of her younger cousin.  She gave it to me because I used to be a piano performance major in college (well, for the first year or so, anyway).  This photo represents a lot of my past--good friends and fun hobbies.
• Architectural chairs postcard.  I had this thing in college where I collected postcards and would put them on the wall like little mini-posters.  I've held on to those postcards and started using them to actually write on and send, but kept this one because it is just so graphically appealing.  Since I do some basic design (mainly layouts for documents that are mainly text), it keeps my mind a little open to all the different possibilities for a single item.
• Personal shelf.  This (plus a few more picture frames) used to be on the shelf above my computer, but now sits behind me.  I've edited the collection down to two photographs, my Dodger Jack-in-the-Box antenna ball, and my NYU sticker.  All of the cards and odds and ends were given to me by coworkers, for Christmas or just for fun.  And my various conference badges hang on the left (I'm sentimental like that).

Finding art for my cubicle was a lot more difficult than I imagined. I wanted something office-appropriate: inspirational but not necessarily faith-based.  Sure, there were a ton of options along the" Reach for the moon; if you fail you'll still be among the stars" and "Keep calm and carry on" veins, but they just didn't strike my fancy (or fit my personality, for that matter).  The one I settled on really fits, especially since I'm known for asking lots of questions (another journalism-school habit that's stuck around).  Etsy was a great resource, since everything there is unique and carries the personality of its maker, but it took me quite a while to sift through it all.  And then framing.  Geez, framing is expensive.  I've taken a liking to a local art shop that does custom framing, and even though I don't ever get custom frames, just getting plain frames and mats really adds up.  But they really do make a big difference.

What types of art do you put up in your office?  Where are your go-to sources for buying art?

*****

On a side note, Monday's outfit was listed on Girls on the Grid's Must Reads of the Day yesterday!