Congratulations – you’ve made the move to a home office with a workable desk space and everything! Life is finally organized and under control…for a few days, anyway, until you sit down at your desk and realize you can’t see it anymore because it’s covered in stuff. I don’t think this dilemma is all that abnormal, in fact, I’d say the challenge of keeping a desk space clear and clean is pretty common. But that doesn’t mean a messy desk top is inevitable! With just a few tweaks, your home office desk top can be just as neat and organized as the day you moved your stuff there. Consider the following:

Move the Printer Off the Desk Top.

Printers aren’t small, particularly when you’re using them regularly. The paper tray is often out, extra paper must be readily available, and you need space around the device as a whole in order to make things work. One way to make a large dent in clearing off your desk top is to move your (unsightly) printer off the desk to somewhere else, like inside a cabinet or onto a nearby surface. This minty vintage cart is a perfect fit, as it hides the printer from immediate view while keeping it wholly accessible.

Maximize the Potential of Storage Boxes.

Using old cans and shoeboxes (covered or painted to look like a uniform set), you can easily store miscellaneous office supplies or sorted mail and other documents. This not only frees up your desk space, but it also increases your efficiency, having everything organized and within arm’s reach. Plus, it’s a functional way to add aesthetic graphicality to your space – a win-win!

Pull in a Bookshelf.

A bookshelf of any size is undeniably useful in facilitating your ability to clear the desk top. Consider pulling one into your home office and stationing it directly next to your desk. The sky is the limit as to what you can (or would want/need to) put onto the bookshelf, but the bottom line is that it will hold whatever your desk shouldn’t. And it will do so much more graciously than your overworked desk top could ever hope to.

Hang a Corkboard…And Then Use It.

When your desk top becomes deluged with notes-to-self, inspiration photos, or miscellaneous objects of sentimental or business value, it’s nearly impossible to find and/or appreciate those things. Corkboard (a.k.a. bulletin board) to the rescue! Whether covered in fabric, adorned with duct tape (shown here), or simply framed in its original form, a mounted and easily accessible corkboard will help maintain your clear desk top while keeping inspiring items within eye-shot…and arm’s reach.

Use Trays to Organize Incoming Stuff.

Creating an easily accessible and obvious “drop zone” of sorts is imperative for most people in being able to keep their desk top clear. Trays are one of the best ways to accomplish this. Whether it be a single glammed up tray to hold your keys and the day’s mail, or a stack of color-coordinated trays to sort invoices and To-Do projects, trays work because they contain the unavoidable influx of papers into manageable (and organized) chunks.

Picture sources: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.