My desk was one of the first William Morris Projects I tackled two years ago, and I still can’t believe I cleaned that entire thing in one day and made the desk trays. Was I mainlining caffeine?
I haven’t touched my drawers since that day, at least not to clean them. This wouldn’t be too bad except Nico knows I have a desk so he goes to it constantly and pilfers my supplies. In fact, my favorite pair of white Martha Stewart scissors and a heavy pair of brass scissors from West Elm are missing and have been for some time.
This reminds me of a story my mom used to tell about my dad and umbrellas. He was forever losing umbrellas, even as a kid. He would leave them behind at school, in the library, at the bus stop, at a friend’s house, or anywhere else it wasn’t raining. He would go through dozens of umbrellas every season until eventually, as an adult, he stopped carrying them to save money. He never figured out how to remember umbrellas existed when he wasn’t standing in the middle of a downpour. I think Nico inherited this trait with scissors. Unless he is physically cutting a piece of paper in two, they exist in another dimension. Never have I bought so many scissors as I have since Nico was born, and I’m still bitter about my kitchen shears and my favorite rose pruning shears. He swears he has no idea what I’m talking about.
This only took me a few minutes, so if you have a messy desk drawer, hop to it! I have way too many pens, but that supply takes into account the pens the boys will lose or break over the next few months. By next summer I’ll be using the burned end of a whittled twig to write checks.
If I could change anything about this set up, it’s that I have to use a utensil caddy to hold my pens and pencils because it’s the only thing that fits my vintage desk. They don’t stay in there perfectly (they kind of fly around if there are too many in there, like now) but I haven’t found a modern desk tray that fits the drawer’s shallow profile. Regardless, it’s now clean and looking (reasonably) good!
Blu-tack holds the utensil caddy in place pefectly in my drawer. And thanks for the inspiration, this is the moment to finish off the paper pile I started sorting through yesterday.
My problem isn’t with the caddies flying around, it’s with the pens inside the caddies flying because they’re really meant for silverware.
Everything in my life is neat and organized to a fault. Except my desk drawer. It’s shameful.
Not me! I’m medium neat and organized. Some things are good, some things are not so good.
You could try bundling the extras with elastics and just leaving a few loose – might help with the flying around… and I have to say I am enjoying this series of posts and finding it quite inspirational. It’s really true how much of a difference doing a few small jobs can make, plus it provides a steady drip of satisfaction to be crossing so many items off the to-do list!
WHAT? And give Nico an actual BUNDLE of items to walk away with? Never. ;)
Okay… bundle and THEN blu-tack! Or maybe it would be easier to find a missing bundle rather than individual items… : ))
Organizeit.com sells one that is only 1 1/4″ deep and then one that is 1 1/2″ deep. They are called the clutter buster drawer organizer and the seven compartment drawer organizer. I think their cosmetic organizer is only one inch deep.
Ah! Thank you!!
Swim goggles. My son’s ‘umbrellas’ are swim goggles. At least it’s not something of mine. I would hate it if my kitchen shears disappeared! I love your desk drawer, though… all of mine are pits.
Oh, well, Nico lost his swim goggles, too. :/
You’re so persuasive. :) I just cleaned my desk drawer out, but it took a solid 20 minutes, and I still have a scattering of stuff on the kitchen counter to put away. (But things that are on the kitchen counter WILL get put away or my husband’s head will explode.) There was a lot of garbage in that drawer! (Also about 40 AA batteries.)
You need a battery box! Best thing ever.
I have one (two, actually: one for new, one for recycling)! Half of the batteries in my drawer were rechargeables that escaped their package; the others were just used and not put in the box. I guess I need to put the box where the kids can reach it. Location, location, location.
That’s my all time favorite picture of you… stunning. You are so photogenic :-)
This post on a do-able, small project inspired me to do some of the filing I’ve been avoiding. Thank you!
And I have the same pen issue at my house. I finally had to move a large quantity to an area where we keep homeschool supplies.
I keep my good scissors in their sheath inside the box they came in. I’ve found that if a pair of scissors is visible it will get used for all sorts of dire purposes (chiefly using fabric scissors on paper). I once asked my husband to bring my good scissors to me at quilt show so that I could get them sharpened. His first comment was Aren’t those the ones I’m not supposed to touch?