I have been working from home for almost a decade but not always with a space that was right or big enough or even comfortable to work in. About seven or so years ago I rented an office with friends which was amazing. Not only because it separated my work from home life but there was company too. Sadly for most of us the company part has been missing this past year, and the novelty of the WFH situation has long worn off. I’ve moved around the house with my laptop for some variety; the sofa watching Netflix (not productive at all), the dining room table for a bit of space and when the weather allowed, the front steps. The underlying issue with not being able to work from one place was that my little box room/spare room/home office was just chaotic. Home office organisation was needed, badly. Clothes rails, boxes of things that were not being used, and way too many beauty products – just too much stuff. And I do not deal well with mess. During my week off social media I spent a few days just reconfiguring my work space coming up with some storage solutions (with no shops open a lot of research and improvisation was needed). While I was buried in recycling, I came up with a few ideas that you might find useful at home.
Repurposing a wardrobe
I have a small built in wardrobe in my box room that I decided NOT to use for clothes. By removing the hanging pole I was able to fit in a storage unit from IKEA to create some shelves (this unit was and old one I had in the garage) to store all my styling kit, steamers, and all my beauty bits.
Hang your tools
I have quite a few electrical goods (straighteners, curling tongs, hair dryers!) and I had been just putting them in a box where they were getting damaged. So, I hung some 3M hooks that attach to any surface with adhesive (that can be easily removed). These hooks are super and will hold about 3kg on the medium size. So instead of the box, I’ve hung up the tools!
Make Up Storage Made easy
I like to have a place for everything (even make up). What I used to do was separate all my make up into categories and put them in see through wash bags. But, a few years ago I discovered Her Clutter Box which I have been using for my make up, but, there are plenty of similar perspex boxes that you can get on Amazon, and when the shops open again, Penneys have some brilliant, and affordable make up storage solutions that can be stacked.
Seat Storage!
I have a big office chair that I bought years ago that takes up a bit of space at my desk so putting in a second chair for my dressing table wasn’t going to work (the dressing table is also a desk!). I discovered these small stools in Dunnes Stores, that have a box lid for some extra storage space that I have put my tripods, backdrops and some of my photoshoot kit into. I have the “cube” style but they also come in double this size in a couple of colours.
