From File Cabinet to Credenza (+ Other Studio Updates!)

desk | credenza | shelves + brackets | light | tray | brass frame

You know how life changes, small or large, can set off a domino effect of shifting needs in your home? When Lucy joined our lives back in January (large change), initially, she didn’t come along with too much ‘stuff’ that spilled beyond the walls of her nursery. As she’s gotten a bit older and wiser, she’s collected books, toys, and gadgets to help her develop and learn (small change).

Innocently enough, we thought it might be a good time to reorganize the fauxdena in our studio to open up a bit of space to hide Lucy’s things when they’re not being used. The fauxdenza is large enough, that it could grow with her! But that one (seemingly small) change started a quickly cascading re-organizaton of our upstairs space – including the lounge area, studio and shipping room. Whoops!

How The Heck Did This Happen? Lemme Tell Ya:

1. Lucy needs space for books and toys, so we clear some space in the fauxdenza, seen above.
2. The art and photography supplies that are in the fauxdenza move into the (former) shipping room since Kim is no longer shipping out pet portraits every week.
3. Shipping room items that we need to hold on to – but don’t require easy access to – get moved to the attic.
4. While we’re up in the attic, we get a wild notion to eliminate most of the paper files, store the majority of what we need up there and eliminate the studio’s white filing cabinet (which has started to bow under the weight of so. many. files!) in favor of a credenza/sideboard for more efficient storage. We buy a paper shredder.
5. While tackling a project for friends, we find the perfect sideboard, along with a complimentary rug (of course).
6. We reorganize everything, hide the printer inside said sideboard, and everyone is happy. Phew.

Here’s the filing cabinet before we started this whole shell game:

The new piece matches our existing dining table desk eerily well and gives the room a cohesive feel. The tiny cut out finger holes maintain the sleek look, and the soft-close hinges and solid wood construction feel much higher quality than the price tag suggests. It’s seriously sturdy. And Heavy.

To move further from the “office” vibe, we framed a big family portrait from Lucy’s six month photo session and added a few personal touches. A stack of books makes our Apple time capsule “look pretty and less obvious” (Kim’s words exactly). Our go-to candle adds a cozy scent, and our favorite instant camera is always at the ready for cute baby and puppy pics. The lacquer tray corrals the whole scene and keeps things from looking chaotic.

And now we’ve made a printer disappear! Just kidding. It’s inside the credenza. With the relocation and shredding of all those paper files, our sideboard proved to be the perfect solution to hide the printer and inboxes.

Paint decks from all of our favorite brands are stashed inside that grey basket, and all of the office organization on the left side of the sideboard leaves the right side open to stash our laptop bags and computer peripherals:

We mentioned earlier that a few frequently-used files needed to stay close at hand. We moved those files into – get this – our existing file cabinets! Kim’s file cabinet previously held pet painting supplies and mine was largely empty with a jumble of work stuff strewn inside. We now have our necessary paperwork right nearby, with less frequently used items stashed safely in the attic – right above our heads.

All of this reorganization wouldn’t have much of an impact if there were ugly cables strung all over the place, would it? Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news: Cable management is one of Kim’s greatest talents. The bad news: Cable management is her most terrifying recurring nightmare. People tend to enjoy things at which they excel, right? Think of this as the exact opposite of that. Kim’s favorite quote goes something like this: “IT’S 2018. WHY DO WE STILL HAVE CABLES AT ALL?!” The years on the calendar change, but her sentiment does not. Luckily, our friend Ashley over at The Gold Hive is also a cable management wizard and shared a hot tip using this organizer to help tidy things up and eliminate cable rage. Brilliant!

Need another fun Kim fact in your life? Comin’ at ya! My special lady is not so tall. Because of this slight vertical challenge, the armrests on our office chairs were a little too high for her to utilize them comfortably, so we unscrewed them and chucked them up in the attic with all those old files that started this whole process. Farewell.

desk | chairs | file cabinets | rug | plant wall

Last, but not least, an outdoor rug grounds the space and does a nice job easily shedding hair from our favorite fur-kids. Because it’s an outdoor rug, it’s more stiff, making it easy for our chairs to roll without the rug bunching up beneath us. Paired up with the leggy credenza, the whole space feels lighter.

The former filing cabinet and rug found new homes via Facebook Marketplace and the yard sale respectively, and they’re on to (presumably) greater things. We’re loving the functionality of the new office/studio/shipping room and wish we would have gotten around to it sooner. But hey, priorities, right?

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