Feminine Desk Organization Ideas

We don't have a home office in our apartment. However, we do have a desk behind our couch, so I'll call that our "desk area". I have not honestly given much thought to this area until recently. Maybe it's because, since I've been home more lately after having my second son, I've been giving more thought to how our home is decorated, and I've found a few things lacking. My husband loves the industrial-looking desk he purchased for our place a couple of years ago. He also has a very industrial-looking type lamp that clips to the desk, and I know he takes great pride in it. While it's cool, for a guy, or perhaps a bachelor pad.... I am getting fairly tired of it. I would love to have a more feminine, pretty-looking space to work in when I do log onto our laptop computer, or even just for sitting at to work on crafts, do the bills, and so on. But how do I break it to the hubby, that I'd like to reevaluate this space? I honestly don't know how well-received it's going to be. I'm sure going to try though, because he's had it his way for almost three years, and I'm ready for a change! The following are some fun ideas for a feminine desk space that I've come across recently.

Silk flowers in a pretty little vase seem to make a desk so attractive and welcoming! I would love to have a similar arrangement. Real flowers would be even more amazing, but knowing how fast they'd die on me, it would be better to get fake. Then they'll stay pretty forever! If I can, I'm definitely going to incorporate these into my new, feminine and beautiful work-space. I find flowers to be so peaceful and inspiring, don't you? I think roses, peonies or gerbera daisies would be the three contenders for my silk floral inspirations.

As I've been scrolling around on the internet looking for desk ideas, I've noticed a trend that I think I'd like to duplicate: strategically placed shelving. Installing shelves above the desk seems to really maximize the space, and I don't know why I never considered it before. It's such an easy fix to having a smaller space! Right now, my husband and I have photo frames hanging above our desk, but I would love to find a new home for those soon, and put in some shelves. Small bins or other receptacles can then be placed on the shelves, which can contain anything from pens and pencils, craft supplies, office supplies... or any other odds and ends one might want to hide. I think it will be a great way to make our space look and feel more organized! One can also use that space to put photo frames on, or anything else that would make the space feel more fun!

I've been really noticing the intentionality behind every piece in these trendy workspaces. This is a big deal for me, because my "desk area" is more like organized chaos at the moment. Currently on my desk: the clip-on, industrial lamp (groan), two cups containing pens/pencils (no rhyme or reason to the cups, either), two boxes of play-doh (obviously I either have children or just really love soft child's modeling clay), a book about going on a bear hunt (great one, too), a couple of photo frames, my purse, a spool of ribbon, an old wallet, a ceramic train that I need to finish painting with my son at Color-Me-Mine (he did not want to sit still and do it at my friend's daughter's birthday party), and a Dwight bobble head (I'm a big fan of The Office TV show). Oh, and a piggy bank...and of course, my laptop. This is after I cleaned off a massive stack of papers/bills. So... if you actually finished reading that, wow! Thank you for sticking with me. But what this tells me, is that I am really not being intentional about this space. There are several things here that clearly don't belong. I would love to have a clean, clutter-free space where I could possibly have ONE framed inspirational quote that would set the tone for my work-space, as the photo shows above. It could be a favorite scripture quote from the Bible, or just something beautiful and inspiring, that would uplift me and encourage me in the morning (or evening) when I sit down to write. Sometimes it's really difficult to be intentional about spaces when you have an active family, and everyone is constantly dropping their stuff everyplace. However, I do have a goal in mind to gradually achieve this intentional and peaceful (and un-cluttered) look.

The chair I'm currently sitting on is much less than ideal. I'm thankful for it, don't get me wrong. However, it's wicker in the middle, and that wicker has since broken through (not by me!) We put a chair pad on it, so we can still sit on it, but the chair itself is broken. It's a beautiful, vintage kitchen chair, or at least, it was. Now, repairing it would probably be more money than it's worth. I would love to donate it, but we'll see if that can happen! In the meantime, I'm going to dream about what a beautiful, feminine chair I could place at my new desk someday! I think the chair is a really essential piece in the whole desk area/work-space deal. It has to be comfortable, and stylish, and affordable, but also pretty and feminine, and inviting you to sit down, take a load off, and do some blogging, or catch up on emails, or what have you. For myself, if I could have an upholstered chair with a floral pattern, that would be so lovely. But even just a plain, functional desk chair that supported my back and neck would be grand at this point!

I got so caught up in all the other elements of my office space, that I nearly forgot about the desk itself! Romantic or "shabby chic" themed spaces are often white, off-white, gray, and so on. I doubt I can be so colorless or neutral in my own space. My sons would probably draw all over my desk and ruin it if it was white. However, perhaps I can be very careful about hiding all the permanent markers in a box that's very high up on one of those lovely shelves I discussed previously! At any rate, I would love to purchase a white desk for my own space. Or, perhaps another fun, feminine color such as sea foam green or teal, or even pink... but pink would not fit at all with my other decor. At any rate, if you do purchase a desk for your home office, make sure you not only consider the color and style but also the storage the desk can afford you. I currently have three desk drawers at my disposal. This is not really enough for an artist/crafter/hoarder... like myself... oops, did I just say hoarder? Anyhow, if/when I purchase a new desk, I will definitely make sure it has plenty of drawers to accommodate all my needs. If all that play-doh could be neatly tucked away into a gorgeous, romantic-looking desk drawer, that would be divine!