Ah the desk. It’s more than just the thing we obsessively tidy when we’re procrastinating. More than the receptacle for our massive cache of stationery supplies. No! The desk is where we plan and create, where we express ourselves, whether through our great literary opus or our emails. So it deserves a little care, a little style. Here’s how to have a chic and organized desk.
How to have a chic and organized desk
1. Don’t use your desk for storage
On my desk I have my Mac, a Sonos speaker, a glass container full of pens, a couple of Moleskine notebooks for my current projects, a designer lamp, and a small succulent. My binders, research books, art supplies, and spare stationery all are stored on bookshelves or in a cupboard elsewhere.
This creates a feeling of space and order. C’est tres chic. It also affords plenty of space to spread out my materials when I’m working.
If your desk houses your files and folders, office supplies, household bills and paperwork, then how can you feel chic as you work? How can you feel organized or motivated or creative?
Stop using your desk as a depot. Find places to store all your stuff – save your chic and organized desk space for a few elegant essentials.
Speaking of which…
Stop using your desk as a depot. Find places to store all your stuff – save your chic and organized desk space for a few elegant essentials.
2. Choose elegant accoutrements
To add a touch of chic to your desk, select your desktop items with care.
This is no place for that ancient, scratched, flickering lamp with the frayed cord. You can do better than the chipped, ugly mug to hold your pens. This is where you work – provide yourself with stylish tools that are a pleasure to use and look at.
Plus, if you’re like me and you overthink everything, then you’ll be spending a lot of time staring blankly. Why not have lovely things to stare at!
I suggest you choose a color scheme for your chic and organized desk area. Mine is mostly white, pink, and rose gold.
- My desk, chair, and Sonos are white, as are the pot my succulent lives in and the slim desk organizer that allows my notebooks to stand upright.
- My Moleskine notebooks, highlighter, and post-its are all pink.
- My iPhone, iPad, and pens are rose gold.
Having everything in these few colors makes my desk feel chic, calm, and elegant. It also helps me weed out new purchases – a lamp that only comes in lime green? Mais non, merci!
Having everything in a few colors makes my desk feel chic, calm, and elegant. It also helps weed out new purchases – a lamp that only comes in lime green? Mais non, merci!
3. Put everything away when your workday is done
Of course, you’ll want to spread out over your desk when you’re working. Messiness can be part of the creative process, and while you’re engaged in a project you shouldn’t feel restricted, you should arrange yourself according to your personal modus operandi.
But there are several reasons to re-compose your chic and organized desk before you finish up.
For one thing, do you want to face this mess when you return tomorrow? Wouldn’t you rather be greeted by a chic, organized desk? If the first thing you must do before you can start is navigate through piles of clutter, then you can virtually guarantee your day will begin with procrastination.
Also, if you work from home then you’ll have to look at this untidiness after work hours. Why not let your chic, organized desk look lovely whenever you walk past?
But perhaps my favorite reason for tidying the desk at day’s end is it’s an excellent shut-down ritual. It creates a psychological boundary that says, I’m now completing the work part of my day. Again, doubly important if you work from home.
Having a chic and organized desk adds a great deal of pleasure to my work life. It motivates me, too. I love coming to my desk each morning. I love being here, tapping away at my keyboard. I love tidying up as I finish for the day, leaving everything chic and organized and ready for tomorrow. I’m not saying a good supply of dark chocolate with almonds plays no part, but the desk helps, too.
Tidying the desk at day’s end is it’s an excellent shut-down ritual. It creates a psychological boundary that says, I’m now completing the work part of my day.
Do you have a chic and organized desk space? What are your tips?
