HOME IMPROVEMENT: THE OFFICE

I was recently asked if there's a room in my home that I would like to improve and straight away my office came to mind. No matter how many times I've tried to improve it; I'm just never completely happy with it. 

The room is 75% bedroom and 25% office so it's small and hard to work with because I have a double bed. Therefore, office space is limited and I could often be found working from the comfort of my bed or the dining table downstairs for a bit of extra space. Not ideal for someone who gets bad back ache quickly due to slumping. My MacBook also gets quite hot from working on my lap so it was time to think about switching up elements of the office to make it work better for me.

My last office space post featured a chest of drawers as my work surface which wasn't ideal because there was no room for my legs. It was time for me to finally buy a proper working desk!

Updating any room in the home doesn't come cheap but with saga equity release, it makes things much easier and cheaper for you to unlock a proportion of the value of your home in exchange for a tax free lump sum. Did you know that home improvements are actually the most common use for money generated through equity release? 

I took a trip to IKEA with a friend with a car (they are rare and very much appreciated) and after walking around pretending demo rooms were our house and lusting after lamps and rugs that we didn't need; it was time to check out the desks. 

The MICKE range has desks that come in different sizes so I was super pleased to find they had the perfect size desk* for me of 73 x 50cm for just £39. It fits perfectly in the corner of my office area and means I can actually work at a desk with my legs underneath like they're supposed to be!

 Due to downsizing on my work surface area, I was in desperate need for a new storage system for my makeup and beauty products; as well as underwear, PJ's and socks.  I have been dying to buy a set of IKEA's Alex drawers* which has 9 drawers; 5 smaller ones and 4 deeper ones. My car friend kindly calculated the measurements and it all worked out perfectly. I was able to have an actual desk and new storage. YAY!

They took around 3 hours for me to put together (all by myself might I add!) and it was fairly easy to follow the picture instructions. 

My storage is much more organised now. Base makeup and lip products live in the first drawer, eye makeup and pallets in the second, skin care in the third and underwear in the next two drawers. In the deep drawers, I have a drawer full of socks and one dedicated to PR samples. Then there's one for PJ's and finally the bottom drawer has my hair heat tools in. I store my actual hair products in different a different storage system.

Everything is much more organised and it makes me work more productively than I ever have before. I love having a desk to work from. I haven't worked from my bed since I improved my work area so it's been nice separating my working area from my bed which is to relax on. 

I also picked up one of those plastic plants which is making an appearance in a lot of flatly photographs at the moment. So simple yet to effective! 

Having more surface areas aswell means I've been treating myself to some flowers to brighten up the room. These lilies cost me just £3 and are still going strong after a week. There's something about having flowers near you whilst working that makes you feel a lot more motivated and positive!

... And that's it! My new and improved office that only cost a maximum of £135! All I need to do now is buy a new (and more comfortable) chair but that can be purchased later down the line. I would also like some new wall art but I need to find some that I really like.

Here's to one new happy little office! I'm super happy with it for the first time in ages! 

Disclaimer: This post is a collaboration with Saga but all words, opinions and photographs are my own.