Workspace Makeover

Before the quarantine started I felt the urge to rearrange and redecorate my room. I have to do this a few times per year and love experimenting with new setups, decoration and putting things I already own into a new context. Today I thought I am going to take you through the process of redecorating and rearranging my workspace/desk area. The new semester starts in two weeks and I know I will be spending a good amount of time at this desk, so let’s do this.

The vibe

This time I wanted to go for a more minimal vibe with a few plants and little details that bring the whole area together.

Separating Areas

Since I have a big desk I like to separate different areas through different bases. This way my desk doesn’t look like this huge piece of wood but more separated and organized. My desk mat is out of one of the cardboards which is in the bag of a picture frame. I wrapped it in brown paper and think it looks perfect as a desk mat. And it was cheap too!

The second area is where my pencils and stationery goes. I bought this pencil holder a while ago at Ikea. To make it look more like an area I put a long piece of wood underneath the pencil holder which also kind of acts like a tray. The third area is a little crate which will hold one of my plants and a candle.

I love the layering and separating areas so much because that way not everything stands boringly next to each other. Areas are fun, make sense and help your desk look more organized.

Plants

You know how much I love plants and now that spring is around the corner, they’re even more fun. They are so happy and are growing so much. Best time for a plant lover!

Plants are also the key to make your desk look more put together and simply more alive. If you compare the first few pictures with the ones following you get what I mean.

What I tried this time is that my plants create a frame around my workspace. I used one big plant (my favorite Calathea Orbifolia) as an eye-catcher. The other two plants complete the frame. I really like this look, especially when taking pictures. The fairy lights add the finishing touch to the frame.

Also, if you are wondering, I put a little plant bench underneath my desk. It’s right in front of the window and they get lots of sunlight. I really like how it looks.

Knick Knacks

Of course, we need some knick-knacks, am I right? My knick-knacks for this setup are empty jars, candles, a calendar, notebooks, my planner, fairy lights and an old diffuser. The empty jars are great for adding some decoration without making the space look too overcrowded. The candles add this nice touch of coziness, the calendar was a present from my host family and I love being reminded of them every day. My notebooks and planner simply belong on the desk since I use them every day. Fairy lights are another amazing decoration which makes everything look a lot cozier and welcoming. I wrapped mine around a stick I found on a walk. Like I mentioned before, it completes the frame and is definitely one of the finishing touches which showed the most difference. You might know that I own an electrical diffuser but it’s at my apartment, so I had to improvise and found this one in our basement. I love the colors and think it fits perfectly into the whole setting.

Some more tips

. My feet are always cold, so I put a tiny rug underneath my desk so that I can place my feet on something warm and soft. Seriously, a game-changer.

. Stick to a color palette. I’ve used a lot of brown, beige and green tones because I like them the most and they are very calming to look at. You can find another few ideas for sticking to a color palette here, here (love this because of the accent color)and here.

. Make it practical. I am not a huge fan of unnecessary decoration. In fact, the only ‘decoration’ on my desk are the jars. All the other things have a purpose and that way your desk is not overcrowded with unnecessary things and you don’t get distracted.

. Make use of the things you have and be creative. For this make-over, I just used things I already owned. I saw a desk mat at Ikea I really liked. It was also brown and would have looked amazing. Instead of buying it, I just got creative, used the things I have and I really liked how it turned out.