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In November, it will be two years since I moved into my office with my friend Seri and our shared assistant Abby. We call it the “Moffice” (Moms + Office) which is a term I stole from my friend Keri.

At 78 square feet, it is probably the smallest moffice you have ever seen, but it serves our purposes (getting away from the kids so we can get shit done) just fine.

We do not have the funds to upgrade to a larger NYC office (unless anyone wants to donate a few billion dollars?) but we did think it was time for a bit of a makeover.

We weren’t looking to completely renovate the space— just figure out if there was a more logical place for our growing collection of coffee mugs besides stacking them on top of a filing cabinet. And maybe, just maybe, there was a better place to put our cleaning supplies and our plastic silverware than a bookcase.

We had spent about $25 decorating the place originally so a small investment seemed doable, especially if we could get some organization experts in there to really solve our issues.

Those experts came in the form of The Container Store which now offers an in-home organization service called Contained Home. (Or Contained Office, as the case may be.)

The Contained Home Organizers can come to your home (or office) with advice, organization tips and knowledge of innovative products that create personalized solutions to fit your taste and lifestyle. In addition to reorganizing a work space, they can do things like… repurpose a space after a student has left for college, stage your home for sale, downsize for empty nesters, unnpack and organize your new home, prepare a baby’s nursery or transition spaces from toddlers to teenagers.

In this case, they can say— “On top of the fridge is really not the best place for your printer.”

We started by looking through the site and picking some of our favorite items, along with things we wanted to keep in the office— namely our faux deer head and our hashtag light.

Let’s get to the before and after pics because that is really what you are here for…

My work space:

Ilana's Desk

Seri’s work space:

Seri's Desk

Abby’s work space:

Abby's Desk

In addition to all the obvious changes—swivel chairs on wheels, larger desks that make better use of the space, using hanging desk accessories as the ultimate space saver— The Container Store also supplied us with very practical solutions inside every drawer and cabinet. Like an inner drawer for K-cups, a long tray perfect for sugars, a bin for art supplies when the kids visit, a dedicated spot for printer paper, etc.

Here are some before shots of our office’s biggest problem areas:

Before Collage

1) Coffee area with mugs everywhere 2) Shelving for cleaning supplies, snacks and kitchen items that made it impossible to get anything 3) Cords and stuff in a big mess 4) Server precariously placed 5) printer on top of the fridge.

After shots of office solutions:

1) A coffee station with internal organization for k-cups, sugar and mugs.

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2) A system that got the office accessories off the desk and onto the wall creating more table space.

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3) A printer station with a cabinet for extra paper.

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4) They used their chevron bulletin board tiles to create different designs for each desk.

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5) They used contact paper on our old fridge to make it gold, turning it from a total eye sore to my favorite focal point in the room. They also put an elfa mesh drawer system for cleaning supplies and snacks under the fridge so all the kitchen items are in one place

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6) Lastly, they made an Instagram station on back of the door using their elfa Door & Wall Rack (25% off right now!), with pretty papers, washi tape and clips to create fun backgrounds for still photo shoots.

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Even though we are still in 78 square feet of space, everything in the office feels 1000X cleaner and more accessible. But the best part is now when I want to go to the fridge, I can wheel my chair right over without even standing up.

Walking that two feet was way too much exercise, you know?

my favorite elements from the moffice (including our faux deer head and our hashtag sign which we kept from before the redo):

#Moffice Makeover Graphic

1) Hansel; 2) Pink Smartstore Tote; 3) Clear Polo Desk Chair; 4) Cord Control Mini Cable Box; 5) Graph Cord Boards; 6) Stacking Letter Tray; 7) Urbio Wall Hanging System; 8) Pink Filing Cabinet; 9) Hashtag Marquee Light; 10) Copper Metallic Garbage Can.

 

Do you want to reorganize your moffice?

Today, I am giving one lucky reader a $500 gift card to The Container Store.

To enter, you must be a Mommy Shorts facebook fan or subscriber.

Then post a photo on Facebook or Instagram of the area in your home or office most in need of reorganizing. If you post on Instagram, use the hashtag #mofficemakeover and be sure to tag/follow both @mommyshorts and @thecontainerstore.

On October 20th, I will select one photo at random to win!

winner update:

Congrats to Anne Gorge, whose home office is getting a makeover!

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Don’t Miss The Container Store’s Annual Shelving Sale!

Now through Sunday, October 18th, you can get 25% off ALL Shelving & elfa (including elfa installation) at The Container Store’s Annual Shelving Sale. From freestanding and wall-mounted shelving to commercial grade or fine lined storage, you’ll find just the solution you need at The Container Store.