Recipe for a Vintage Home Office

Borrow elements from your kitchen and other rooms to create pretty and practical solutions for keeping your desk tidy.

By Oma Blaise Ford

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Corner Office

Top Drawer Storage

Fork Clips

Cup Compartment

Under Wraps

Ottoman File Cabinet

Decorative Pin Boards

Silver Service

Moonlighting

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Corner Office

Put the "home" in home office and turn your desk into a favorite destination. This cozy corner is hardworking but just as beautiful as any other room in the house, which might even help you get everything on your to-do list done.

Get the Look
-- Turn favorite photos into bulletin boards to keep things in sight and top of mind.
-- Fabric-covered pin boards add pattern and color. Assign one board to each family member or use one for each filing category.
-- A shallow-depth lamp with a half shade saves desk space.

Find a professional organizer in your area.

Top Drawer Storage

A vintage muffin tin keeps small items separated and contained in a desk drawer. For deeper storage, try a popover pan.

Fork Clips

Use mismatched forks to hold business cards, receipts, and other notes. Hang them on self-adhesive hook-and-loop fastener dots.

Find a professional organizer in your area.

Cup Compartment

Keep everything from pens and cards to paper clips and tacks in pretty teacups or demitasses. Elsewhere, use small bowls, tumblers, or bright mugs to hold thumb tacks, paper clips, pens. A picture ledge mounted on the wall keeps them in reach but off the desk.

Under Wraps

A food dome and platter make bill-paying an occasion. Store your checkbook and calculator under the dome. Drawer pulls make clever hooks for reading glasses and keys. Use curtain clip rings to hold papers.

Find a professional organizer in your area.

Ottoman File Cabinet

Tuck a file box under an ottoman and stack storage boxes on top to create an instant credenza. Cover box lids with pretty paper. Use a napkin ring to collect coupons.

Decorative Pin Boards

Pin boards in collected frames turn desk clutter into eye candy. Have photos printed on canvas at shutterfly.com and pin directly into the fabric, or back with cork for extra grip. To create fabric boards, adhere fabric to self-adhesive foam core and insert in frame.

Find a professional organizer in your area.

Silver Service

Put seldom-used silver pieces to work to organize mail, clips, spare change, address books, gadgets -- even a collection of fortune cookie fortunes.

Moonlighting

A metal lamp works overtime as a magnet board. Photo stands put business cards, pretty pictures, or to-do lists at your fingertips.

Recipe for a Vintage Home Office

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