The Practical Cloffice: How to Achieve A Functional Workspace

Welcome to 2020. When home, work, school and play are required to coexist within the walls of our home.

This is basically a Simplicity Coach‘s dream come true. Needing to reduce clutter visually and in storage components. Create functional organization. Blend multiple purposes into one room or space.

AND make it look nice!

Challenge Accepted!

Closets are one of my fave spaces to tackle. Who says a closet needs to be cluttered? Stuffed to the brim? Unorganized? Boring? No matter the closet location, we always focus on a few main goals.

Create a happy space where eye level hits.
Cleared floors and top shelves whenever possible.
Cohesive organization, implemented in a practical way.

Too Little Space? Or Too Much?

When moving into our new home, this closet was overwhelmingly HUGE, and as practical minimalists, we honestly didn’t have enough things to fill the space!

With all this empty spaces came a lot of indecision. I had moved things around in here so many times. It always felt lackluster, like the closet was missing its purpose.

Finally, our hand was forced when 2020 hit and we needed a spot for a home office. Our normal traveling office storage in our kitchen is super functional for daily needs. But with the shift of work-at-home and school-at-home, we found ourselves needing a quiet, private place to sit certain times of the day.

Meet The Cloffice

After much negotiation between the hubs and myself, we decided to try our hand at a closet / office shared space. With a few little tweaks, some furniture shifting, as well as strategic storage placement, it’s now no secret which room is my favorite in our home. Our Cloffice.

Since setting up the space a week ago, I literally cannot stop sitting in here! It’s so nice to be tucked away while the kids are playing right across the hall. I’m still so easily accessible if they need me, which they do often! But having a little space for my own has been so nice.

We didn’t go too crazy with storage or decor in here. And during this makeover I actually spent a grand total of $0.00! Everything you see here was shopped from our own home. The desk was moved in here from our old guest bedroom (now the little girls’ bedroom). The chair is an extra from our dining table.

Our books + a few old picture frames (older than our marriage actually!) fill in the gaps on the office side of our closet shelving. My camera bag now sits on the top upper shelf, away from little curious hands! Much better choice than my dresser drawer.

The right side of our shelving still operates as functional storage for our wardrobe. A mix of shoes, accessories and sweaters + sweatshirts fill this space.

This shelf is actually one of my favorite ‘decor spots’ in our home. By grouping color families together, the space looks full of character, but still unified. It’s so functional because we wear these items every day. And we actually wear them more now than ever, because we can easily see all of our options at a quick glance.

It was fun to mix in some meaningful personal items too! On top of a repurposed wood slab from our wedding decor, I have a little jewelry box to hold my Apple watch bands for easy swaps. The purse Eric gifted me on our honeymoon in Italy sits on display. While some bangles from our travels finish off this spot of sweet memories.

My goal with the shelving was to keep it looking fluid, functional and full without being too busy.

Playing With The Elements

Sticking with a few similar textures and colors helps to tie the whole space together.

Books, grouped by cover colors, then stored pages out
Color coordinated clothing, stacked evenly
Repetitive textures, raw wood pieces, book pages and leather
One primary accent color, camel
Multiple groupings of matching items, photo frames, book stacks, wood slabs

Using similar staging pieces in multiple areas of the cloffice helps to tie both areas together. Another wood slab sits on the desk as a natural boundary for holding a wooden frame, some greenery and an alarm clock.

GOING SIMPLE TIP :: When working from home, set office hours. Use an alarm clock on your desk to help you know when to clock in. And more importantly, when to clock out!

Because we still hop around our home for work, school, and home office needs, this space needed room to flex for each of us. A home for our ‘traveling office’ trays fit right into the desk cubbie.

We each actually utilize this tray set up to hold our office/work/school basics. Its nothing fancy, just half of a laptop box. But its the perfect size to hold our basic essentials as we flex from our office drawers into our work spaces.

For more home office tips, check these resources!

Paying attention to placement as we merged the spaces together made all the difference. We had a few extra scrap pieces of shelving in the basement. I brought one up and wedged it between our shelving and desk to create the illusion of division.

Also, focusing on where our eye would fall and staging key elements in those hot spots helps create an illusion of decor, even if its with practical pieces like this button + lace blouse. Pretty to look at, and also functional as it merges the clothing rack to the work space.

Do you have a space where function and beauty need to coexist? There is no reason for our homes to be busting at the seams. If you are looking for a way to simplify your life and home, in a practical sense, I may be able to help! Learn more about what Simplicity Coaching can do for you!

Now accepting virtual clients globally!

Utilizing the Marie Kondo method, we hang our clothing darkest on the left, and lightest to the right. This gives the feeling of a lighter, larger space as you enter the closet, as your eye ends on a lighter note.

And in full Amy transparency my friends, Rome was not built in a day! I am still on the hunt for the perfect hampers! And I am super glad that I have not pulled the trigger yet because with the shift in this new space, our needs are totally different!

I am currently scoping Marketplace for the perfect stand alone hamper rack. Whenever I do find it, I will be sure to let you all know.