Hi friends! I’m so excited for today’s blog post, which will be a little tour of my home office and all of the essential items that help make this such a great study and work space!
Part I: Where the Magic Happens
Let’s start with my desk area! This really is where the magic happens and where I spend a lot of my time as a DPT student. I have this style of desk from IKEA. It’s a double desk with a table on each side and two columns of storage cubbies in the middle. It’s the perfect type of desk for two people to share! My roommate and I split the storage cubbies in the middle and use them mainly for books, notebooks, binders, and folders.
The main theme of my desk accessories is white and gold, with a few pops of color here and there. I love drawing and having colorful notes, so I have lots and lots of writing utensils. On my desktop I also keep a lamp, an essential oil diffuser, and an inspirational desktop calendar.
On the wall, I have a few different things that make me super happy. I have a floating shelf with two faux succulents on it because - duh plants are life!! I also always keep a candle on the shelf and this one on here right now from Bath and Body Works smells SOOOO good! I’m obsessed. I always love the look of their candles too because they’re just so cute and aesthetically pleasing. The last thing I have on the wall is a picture frame with one of my favorite quotes: “Do what you love and love what you do.”
In the storage cubbies, I organize my notes for different subjects all into their own separate binders. I’m a very tangible person, so I like to be able to physically touch and hold my notes. I hand write and draw a lot of my notes and use divider tabs and transparent sheet protectors to keep them organized. For the notes I don’t write or draw myself like typed-up lectures, PowerPoints, and study guides, I print them out. While I’m studying, I will add extra notes, remarks, or highlighting to my printed notes. The best thing about using this method is that you can draw extra notes directly on the sheet protectors with dry erase markers and just erase them when you’re done! It’s so satisfying flipping through each page, finding exactly what I need based on the labeled divider, and having all of my notes organized colorfully and neatly! I also keep textbooks, folders, and notebooks in these storage cubbies.
Desk Accessories
Desk: IKEA
Lamp: Home Goods
Essential oil diffuser: Sam’s Club
Wall art + frame: Hobby Lobby
Floating shelf: Target
Faux succulents: Target
Candle: Bath and Body Works
Wall calendar: Barnes and Noble
Inspirational desktop calendar: Bloom
Writing utensil organizers: Home Goods
Writing Utensils
Paper Mate Flair Felt Tip Pens
Fine Sharpie Markers
Bold Sharpie Markers
BIC Permanent Markers
EXPO Dry Erase Markers
Midliner Double-Ended Highlighters
BIC Highlighters
Crayola Colored Pencils
Random pens and pencils
Electronics
Macbook
iPad
Apple Pencil
Miscellaneous
Whiteout
Gluestick
Storage Cubbies
Binders (notes organized with transparent sheet protectors and tab dividers)
Textbooks
Notebooks
Folders
Planner
Part II: The Business Station
Having this little business station AKA printing area can be such a lifesaver at times! If I ever need to print something out for school… I’m covered - whether it’s a signed document I need to turn in, notes, or study guides. I also have a photo printer because I do some freelance photography and sometimes it’s more convenient to print out photos for people at home. Also, I love printing out new photos here and there to hang around my apartment, on my bulletin board, on my fridge, or in my room. I keep a hole puncher, a stapler, and tape in this little area so they are handy if I have multiple sheets that need to be bound together. I keep extra computer paper, notebook paper, and photo paper in a paper tray organizer inside of the storage stand so I can refill them when they get low or need to grab a sheet to write/draw on. I also keep extra ink cartridges inside of the computer stand, along with random things like paper clips, clothespins, thumb tacks, sticky notes, scissors, glue, a calculator, a ruler, index cards, scalpel blades, nitrile rubber gloves, extra tab dividers and transparent sheet protectors, and more textbooks.
Hanging above the printing area, I have a set of anatomy posters from Amazon. They actually came in a pack of 10, including the skeletal, muscular, circulatory, nervous, endocrine, lymphatic, respiratory, digestive, and female/male reproductive systems. They are 18”x27”, double-sided (so you can hang them vertically or horizontally), laminated, and super good quality! They make the perfect decor and easily accessible study tools. I only hung up four because they’re pretty big, but I have the others handy next to the desk whenever I need to reference them!
Printing Utilities
Printer storage stand: IKEA
Printer: HP Envy 110 All-in-One Printer
Photo printer: HP DeskJet 3700
Extra ink cartridges
Computer paper
Notebook paper
Photo paper
Hole puncher
Stapler
Tape
Storage Stand
Paper clips
Clothespins
Thumb tacks
Sticky notes
Page flags
Scissors
Glue
Calculator
Ruler
Index cards
Scalpel blades
Nitrile rubber gloves
Extra tab dividers and transparent sheet protectors
More textbooks
Accessories
Rug: Walmart
Anatomy posters: Amazon
Polaroid camera sticky note dispenser: Target
Part III: The Fun Corner
Welcome to the fun corner. Here, I have a filing cabinet with a washi tape organizer on top. I loveeeee arts and crafts! So, along with my washi tape, I have lots of arts and crafts goodies in the top two drawers of the filing cabinet like paint, brushes, chalk, stickers, stationary, a label maker, and more. The bottom drawer IS actually used for filing haha. I file all of my important paperwork in colorful folders, including documents for taxes, bills, medical care, school, insurance, and so on. On the wall above the filing cabinet, I hung up my Netter’s flashcards with key rings and a chalkboard filled with tons of pictures, my student badge and name tag, and random memorabilia. I have this dry erase board from Amazon and it’s so nice having a HUGE dry ease board at home to take notes on!
Accessories
Filing cabinet: Walmart
Washi tape organizer: Michael’s
Netter’s flashcards: Barnes and Noble
Hanging chalkboard: Walmart
EKG badge reel: Amazon
I hope you enjoyed this post - thanks so much for reading! If you’ve made it this far, let me know what your favorite part of the office or favorite accessory is in the comments below! Mine is a toss up between the anatomy posters and my colorful writing/drawing utensil collection :)