Finally, the After

So, four months ago my friend Samantha issued a challenge on her blog to find the messy Hub of my home, photograph it, and commit to making it better. My desk is definitely the most chaotic place in the house:

Then, less than two weeks later she posted the results. And guess what? Mine was the only one that didn't have an after picture. I have hung my head in shame ever since. I've tried a few times to tackle the mess, but other things always seem to be higher on the priority list. But earlier this week I decided that I just simply couldn't tolerate the icky feeling I get when I sit at my computer anymore. Overall I have become a better housekeeper in the last year and one thing I get done almost every day is making my bed. Having that one place in the house that is orderly and welcoming really helps to cheer me up and soothe my nerves. I really need a place like that out in the open where I spend most of my time.

After spending nearly two hours late the other night, I went from this:

to this:

Ahhh, I can breathe! The idea for the wall hanging file holder came from Samantha, who suggested I get stuff up off the horizontal surface of the desk. That has helped a lot, along with purging paper (read a great post on controlling paper clutter here), finding a permanent home for stuff that has been lingering on my desk for months, and getting real friendly with my trash can. The hanging file holder also gave me the push I needed to finally hang the wall shelf that I bought shortly after we moved into this house a year and a half ago!

I know, I know, there are still Christmas decorations on the shelf. But the little angels and the JOY just make me smile and they totally go with the color of paint on the wall. I think I'm going to leave the angels out permanently and put up a picture frame and one seasonal item. But for now, we can all giggle at the juxtaposition of Christmas and Valentine's Day on the same wall.

One change you may have noticed is that in the first picture there is a dark grey printer sitting adjacent to the keyboard. It's my Canon Pixma iP4300. Love, LOVE that printer! Well, I've got this little trouble maker that goes by the name of Mackay and a couple of months ago he did something to make My Precious quit working. My Mom came to the rescue by letting me borrow an old HP printer of hers until I have the money to get mine fixed or replaced. It's the white one you see on top of the desk. And it's sitting atop the premium horizontal space of my desk so that Mack doesn't break it, too.

Now, who wants to place bets on how long my desk will stay looking like this?