This footprint redesign project came about as a byproduct of my April goal to create a sustainability video for YouTube, which I just could not seem to get started. I struggled to find a spot in my house where the background worked. Thus began the drive to redesign a space that would operate efficiently as an office, as well as serve as a “recording studio” for making content for my business, The Sustainable Organizer. Yes, even a professional organizer must stop, reflect, and redesign their own space in order to operate more efficiently, since taking over another room in the house or moving to a bigger house are not options.
My challenge was to transform my office area into a multi-use space that would operate efficiently on a daily basis with little to no investment.
There were some non-negotiables during this process:
1. A budget of fewer than one hundred dollars
2. Plants and plant lights must stay
3. Layout needed to be open and inviting for me, as well as guests
4. My fur baby’s dog bed needed to stay.
I believe this is a problem that many folks regularly face in their homes. That is, they need existing areas of their home to provide multiple functions, such as homeschooling, exercise, and entertainment. One of the first steps in doing this is to really examine what you need the new space to deliver, or what success looks like when you are done. I needed my space to operate as a home office, zoom conference room, and recording studio, without worrying about what was in the background. To do this, I cleared the entire space out and took measurements of all the items that needed to reenter the room, in order to make sure they would fit in the space that I was envisioning. Since I was doing this alone, it took a bit more time than I thought, but it all worked out, and I like the flow much better.
Read the rest of the article at The Sustainable Organizer