five. a mess of a desk!

i share my craft desk with my kids' playroom.  i have the closet, they have the room.  i actually really like having my desk in the closet... i like that i can close the curtains if i don't feel like picking up.  but this is becoming a really, really bad habit for me.  it becomes that "place" i throw things in when i don't have time to put the item where it really belongs.  my idea was to create a space that would become part of the room's decor so that i would be forced to keep the space clean, so that i could show it off!!

wow! this is my before... holy moly... see what i mean about using the space as a quick dumping ground? boring, ugly.... hard place to be creative.

my bins on the left of the desk are actually really useful & functional, you just can't see them because of all the junk!

i picked up this adorable shelf liner paper at TJ Maxx, like two years ago.  it was in the clearance section & even though i didn't know yet where i would use it, i HAD to get it!  it was $3!  the colors in the playroom are navy blue  & green.  super preppy & cute! also they work well for my girl & boys.  i wanted something above my desk to give it some "je ne sais quoi".  this is the place i sit the most, so why not have something pretty & fun to look at & inspire!

so cute right?!? and it already had sticky on the back! brilliant!  i just used a baby wipe to clean the walls, let it dry & then started measuring where the paper would go.  because this pattern is so busy it was so easy to hang, not having to worry about lining up seams etc.  i have bookshelves on the right side of my desk so that was the trickiest part, trying to account for the shelf brackets.  i found making a pattern helped me to measure the paper well. 

i could not believe how easy this was! just peel & stick...

i decided not to go the entire length of the wall, instead just above my desk, kinda like a bulletin board.  i wasn't too concerned about the end... i have loads of ribbon i wanted to use to frame it.

i used tacky glue on the paper & the piece of ribbon & let it sit for a minute to make sure it would stay.

i chose a natural colored ribbon because of the wall color in the closet.  i used a pushpin to hold the ribbon in place while it was drying.

i am so happy how it's turning out!

now that my yummy green wall was complete, i turned my focus back onto the load of items that were living on the desktop.  i love to purge & use things i already have, so i was so excited to get this desk in check!

i found these little metal buckets that my kids probably received as a party favor & could not have been more pleased with the colors! i sorted through all the writing instruments on my desk and sorted them into pen/pencils & markers/highlighters.

i also picked these adorable little containers in the dollar section of target, but never found a use for them... ta da! i used one to house my pushpins, one for my bucket o'pens and one for my most used desk items, ie. stapler, tape etc.

my goal is to have my desk to actually use, i know, crazy right?  so even though all my little bins are super cute, i did not want them all over my desk.

i love pushpins, really, like love them.  they always come in so handy & this was the perfect place to use them.  the green & blue metal buckets came equipped with little handles, so i just stuck in a few pushpins, and up they went.  for the 2 rectangle bins, i used binder clips to the sides of the bin, opened up the other side and up they went!  i decided to keep the soft grey one on the desktop as it holds my pens/pencils & stacks of post-its.  

so just my lamp & my small bin of pens/pencils & post-its! oh & my desktop would not be complete without my grammie's button box.  on every desk i have owned, it has lived :)  she was the craftiest person i have ever known & the little button box always makes me smile.