Tuesday 6 May 2014

A New Use For Desk's Keyboard Shelf

Hi honeys

It's been too long since I've done an organizing post, so I thought I'd show you what I did with the pretty much wasted space under my desk, also known as the keyboard shelf.

Ikea Stodja Cutlery Drawer Insert As Stationery Organizer


I adore my little desk, it's very small and fits just neatly into the corner of our living room, but it has a pull out shelf intended for a keyboard, mouse mat & mouse.  Whilst this was needed back in the day when we all had desktop computers, in todays age of laptops, tablets and smart phones it tends to be wasted space.  So, having decided I wasn't happy with this waste of valuable desktop real estate (well it is a very small desk) this is what I did.....

On a trip to Ikea, land of wonders, my own personal happy place, organizing heaven... sorry, got a bit carried away just then. I really do genuinely love Ikea though, even planning a trip there makes me stupidly smiley happy :) So, among others things (more of them in future posts) we bought a STÖDJA cutlery tray.

STODJA  Cutlery Tray From Ikea
Image from Ikea website, you can find this amazing organizer here.

I know it's intended to organize cutlery & utensils in a drawer in the kitchen but with its high sides and five perfectly sized compartments it makes a fabulous home for what would otherwise be my assorted desktop clutter of staplers & staples, erasers, pencil sharpeners, scissors, pens, gel pens, colouring pencils, glue sticks, tippex (corrector pens), glitters, highlighters, stampers & inks, hole punch, and there's even room for my spare phone sock and a darling little pen stand in the shape of a turtle :) Phew, that's a lot of stationery and as you can see it all fits wonderfully.

Ikea Stodja cutlery tray used to organize stationery and make use of pull out keyboard shelf in desk

The high sides of this organizer absolutely keeps everything all contained, and thanks to the compartments, in their respective places so that I know exactly where anything is when I need it and there's no worry that anything will escape down behind the desk.

I really am pleased with this project because it's brought so much order to my desk and it's made working there a joy.

Ikea Stodja Cutlery Tray Makes A Perfect Stationery Organizer At A desk

So, over to you honeys.  Do you have a pull out shelf on your desk you no longer use for it's intended purpose? If so, do you have another purpose for it?  It would also be a great place to store extra paper for your printer, or even to place your laptop at night for safekeeping and to keep your desktop clear and tidy (for those like me who are a teeny tiny bit OCD about these things :)

Do let me know your thoughts in the comments section below, or just say hi :) I hope you're having a great day honeys, thank you for visiting, sending hugs xx

3 comments:

  1. I love the pen drawer Idea, I have never thought to store my pens like that!!

    http://everyonewantstosmile.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/travel-inspiration.html

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  2. Hi Emma, thank you so much for stopping by, I love that it keeps all of those little things that usually get lost, together. For instance, whenever my stapler ran out of staples it used to take me forever to track down where I'd put the box of staples to re-fill it (because I'd have "put them somewhere safe so I'd remember" lol) Best thing is that the Ikea tray I used is only £1.50, such a small amount for something so useful :)

    I love your blog! I just added your post on random things to make you smile to "stumble upon" I hope that's ok? It's such a wonderful list, it should be shared, just like smiles :) Thank you so much for leaving a comment, it's so nice to hear from another blogger. Sending hugs, x

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  3. Great utilization of space! Repurposing the under-desk area with a STÖDJA cutlery tray from Ikea is a clever solution. It's fantastic how a small change can enhance both functionality and organization. Well done!

    In case you need info about hooker furniture collection take a look at here.

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