A Tale of Two Desks (& a giveaway!)

Confession time.

My desk is a downright cluster. A messy, dusty, unorganized platform for junk mail, important mail, notes, coffee rings and usually a toy or three. If you'd rather shield your eyes from the first photo, I totally understand. As an old friend of mine would say, sweet baby Jesus in a stroller, here it is...

I TOLD YOU IT WAS OKAY NOT TO LOOK!

But, now that your eyes have been burned and you can never un-see this disaster, I have good news. In the name of organization, of turning over a new leaf and "refreshing" my blog, I have attempted to get my desk to match the pretty new site re-design you see before you.

Because right now this little space is drowning in chaos and threatening to take me down with it.

So, while I was busy switching out clothes for the girls, donating what's outgrown and getting our closets in shape for the new season ahead, I attempted to do the same thing with my desk. My precious little tiny space in this little apartment we call home. With the help of The Organizing Store, fresh flowers, a quick trip to Staples and some "repurposing" around the house, I came up with this:

A bit of an improvement, no? I feel like I can breathe again. Initially, I reached out to The Organizing Store because just looking at their site got me inspired to get my act together. From makeup organizers to sweater boxes, to letter trays and toy storage... The Organizing Store HAS IT ALL. I could peruse their site for hours (and I certainly should for other areas of our home). They were excited about this little project, too, and sent me the Network Desk Collection, by Design Ideas to get me started. Very kind indeed.

I knew I needed more pops of color in a room with no windows, so I purchased The Organizing Store's pink Frisco paper storage box to file blog-related papers (FYI: it's seriously pink. Wasn't expecting thus embracing my inner Elle Woods).

Other pops of color include my can't-miss-it Staples paper shredder in orange and my Yoobi stapler in bright blue (it's possible this is meant for children but I really liked it so kept for myself. Also does Millie really need her hands on a stapler at age almost 5?) The bulletin board tiles/future inspiration board came from Staples as well. I really liked this 4 pack option (also super cheap, like under $15). The framed group of photos from my IG feed is from Pinstagram. Kind of love being able to see my kids again.

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a place for all the different facets of my life... there's a place for bills (yay, bills!), Millie's school-related items, blog-related documents, notecards, etc. Oh, and pens. I now have a pen holder. I unearthed a silver Ikea storage box (so old I can't find a link for it) from my closet which is now the perfect place to store notecards. When in doubt, use what you have, right?

And flowers. Fresh flowers. A must for any desk.

So it's nothing fancy, by any means. Who knows, maybe one day we'll have AN ACTUAL OFFICE for this type of thing, but for this moment in time, it's a perfect little "nook" for moi.

To celebrate having a place to actually write cards again, The Organizing Store would like to give a set away to one lucky reader -- how fabulous is this "potpurri" notecard collection from artist Inslee Haynes?

photo credit: Inslee.net

Easy enteries via Rafflecopter below and I'll pick a winner next week. US residents only, please. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: As mentioned, I was given a desk set to review by The Organizing Store. The Yoobi stapler and Staples paper shredder were given to me previously. All opinions expressed, however, are my own.