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• Case Study 1: Kitchen
• Case Study 2: Living Area
• Case Study 3: Home Office
• Case Study 4: Wardrobe Makeover

From Spare Room to Home Office - A Transformation Story  By Natasha Bennett

Finding a dedicated space to work from home can sometimes be a challenge and here’s a story that may give some inspiration to others. Even converting a spare room can be difficult when you are working with a small space and various pieces of furniture that you happen to have lying around. That was the beginnings of my home office (see before pic), and after over two years of ‘making do’, I decided to enlist MaryAnne Bennie from in8 to help me organise my space. It needed to act like an office – time to rethink, plan and de-clutter. Despite all my best efforts, my office always seemed to accumulate unnecessary items – various catalogues and magazines, out-of-date mail and a plethora of pens seem to be the biggest culprits. The ways things appeared but never disappeared was something that MaryAnne has seen many times before. "Offices are living spaces, with inflows, workflows and outflows. Sometimes our paperwork gets stuck. Good workflow requires a designated place for each stage of your paperwork and good systems to keep the workflow going", she said. The first step was to work out what I used the room for – reading, using the computer, phone calls, seeing clients, planning renovations – and whether I was able to complete these tasks properly in my existing setup. One space that was clearly missing was a place to sit and read or research away from my desk and from that, we planned in a reading corner. A chair was purchased specifically for that purpose with regular reading materials placed on shelves nearby. Storage boxes and magazine holders were also purchased (kikki.K of course – love the CD storage boxes!) to streamline materials on the shelves with two different colours being used – Black for household and renovation items, Kraft for business related material. Existing black binders fitted this scheme and finished the look. It was important to assess the space and its uses before purchasing major storage items, not the other way around. "All too often storage items are purchased before their purpose is fully considered - often leading to even more clutter and wastage. Always use temporary storage items until your needs are fully discovered", MaryAnne advises. Other considerations included assessing what was already in the room – existing furniture and their purpose, what had to stay, what could go, where these items were placed and what scope there was to move items in the room. Small, simple movements were made that now seem logical – paper near the printer, stamps and envelopes stored together, old files archived, and new files moved to a more accessible position. A low cabinet replaced a borrowed coffee table to add more storage space and contents of existing cupboards were reviewed and sorted. The result was a more efficient and logic organisation of space. The ability for in8 to create workspace, creative space and ‘timeout’ space all in one room has led to an amazing transformation. The office now feels like a proper workspace and the confidence and ongoing strategies gained from the process have been invaluable. Written by Natasha Bennett MaryAnne Bennie is the director of in8, a company dedicated to freeing you from the tyranny of clutter by organising your home, your office and your life in8 easy steps. You can meet her at one of the kikki.K Home/Office Style Workshops in Melbourne.