Office Tour
As a creative who follows many others on social media, I’m often curious to see the behind-the-scenes of business operations, and more specifically, office set ups! This blog post will take you on a tour through my home office, detailing my set up and organizational practices that keep me (mostly) put together.
Let’s start with my main shelving unit.
This IKEA shelf serves as the main hub for shop inventory and shipping supplies. Having products and shipping mailers housed on open shelving makes the order fulfillment process that much easier and quicker.
Top three shelves
- A6 cards – small storage baskets
- Enamel pins – Clear stacking storage bins
- Tissue Paper packs – white metal bins
Bottom shelves
A small amount of mailers and boxes are kept here for easy accessibility when shipping, while the bulk of them are kept in my storage closet as back stock. I also have my Rollo label printer housed here (which I’ll have to go on a rant about at a later date because I absolutely LOVE it.)
Onto my “Shipping Station” / Desk Situation…
To the right of my shelf, I have a large U shape “desk” that I’ve configured from 39″ and 78″ IKEA Linnmon tabletops. (They’ve discontinued the 78″ and now sell it as Lagkapten, which is very similar.) I’ve also attached an IKEA Alex drawer unit to the tabletop for added storage.
All orders are complementarily wrapped in Buffalo or Winston tissue, so the right side of this desk is reserved for large stacks of each. The left side is utilized for trimming custom orders, so I have it set up with the below:
Drawer Unit Storage
My drawer unit houses order inserts, stickers, and miscellaneous shipping supplies like bubble mailers and tape. This makes for easy access while prepping orders to be shipped, and keeps my desk (mostly) decluttered.
On the Walls
One of my favorite things in my office is my magnetic/glass dry-erase board. It’s extra large at 4′ x 3′, and I love that its functional while also not sticking out like a sore thumb as a traditional dry-erase board might.
I also have an IKEA Skadis pegboard which houses supplies like shipping tape, Xacto cutters, business cards, packaging stickers, and a hole punch.
Storage Closet
This space is worthy of its own post, but for now I’ll give you the condensed version. The shelving unit in my closet is primarily used for shipping supplies and backing boards for packaging prints. As I run out of the supplies that I keep on the main shelf behind my desk, I pull from here to replenish. I also have an assortment of USPS boxes for shipping larger orders, replacement labels for my Rollo printer, shopping bags for in person markets, and a bin for keeping vendor samples so that I can easily reference back to them when ideating new products.
Purchasing shipping supplies can be stressful and daunting, and I’m always curious to see where other people source theirs from. Let me know in the comments if you’d be interested in a breakdown of what I use for my business in a future post!
Print Storage
To the right of my closet, I have a tall IKEA Alex drawer unit that houses prints. It fits 8″x10″s (both un-matted and matted) and 11″x14″s perfectly.
My Desk
It’d seem logical that my desk is where I work most, but the truth is that it’s often an extension of my shipping station and primarily used for matting and packaging large prints. Rarely do I sit and draw at it, as I much prefer drawing in coffee shops, on the couch, and even on the floor.
I often use the wood grain of the desk as a backdrop for some of the photos you see on Instagram, and for filming process videos with my phone mount to produce time lapses and reels. My chair is the perfect mix of comfortable and practical, and I love how it swivels for easy access to things on the shelf behind me. Also pictured is my plush area rug that perfectly fits the space and adds a cozy element when I’m on my feet shipping orders for hours at a time.
Print Station
The last corner of my office is the print station where I have my Canon printer atop two wide IKEA Alex drawer units. The drawers are filled with spare ink cartridges, matting materials like linen hinging tape and custom cut mats, and LOTS of paper. I love how wide the drawers are because they perfect fit matted 11″ x 14″ prints and protect them from collecting dust.
That’s a Wrap!
I hope you enjoyed the tour, and if you’re a fellow small business owner, I hope you found the information helpful. If there are other topics you’d like to see a blog post on or if you have questions about this one, leave a comment below!
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