Decluttering Session: The Desk

My husband and I got married in early October 2013, and we got the keys to our first apartment together a month earlier. We began to move things in immediately, but I lived there by myself until after the wedding. When we officially moved in together after our wedding and honeymoon...unpacking and decorating took a major backseat. 

And that's where they remained for a while.

Moving in together is hard stuff. It's hard to really work your way through the things you don't need. I'm the type of person that gets super anxious around clutter even when I'm the one who creates the mess in the first place. I also get stressed when things can't be perfect right away (I still don't know what color schemes we're going for in each room) but I'm learning to make do. We're only in this apartment for 7 more months and I want to make it feel homey since it is our first home together.

This past weekend I decided to declutter my desk area. My husband built this incredible two person desk as a birthday gift for me/us last year. It's a massive thing at 9 feet long, but it's nice to have a designated workspace together in our spare bedroom. There are open shelves underneath; we both have envisioned matching storage baskets throughout but haven't really found any yet. We're keeping our eyes peeled for inexpensive options!

Piles everywhere. I'm good at making piles of paper.

Serenity! Or as close as it gets for now ;) Let me give you a little tour!

I went for a gallery-style wall here: some pictures, a few prints, some postcards, and a bulletin board. Things like this keep me inspired and happy.

A bulletin board close up. I've had this baby since middle school! I covered the edges with washi tape to update it ever-so-slightly. On it are some inspirational quotes and some reminders of the virtues I'm trying to work on ;)

The right side of the desk! Pared way down from before. A picture from our engagement shoot, scissors in a favor cup from my bridal shower (with a button from the Met on the side. RIP Met buttons.), matchbook from our honeymoon, Eiffel tower souvenir from Paris, neon mug from Goodwill filled with change, handmade coaster of my dad and I from my wedding. 

Here's my attempt at a collection. We used a lot of glass bottles throughout our reception venue for decoration so it was time to make use of them! From left: the Coke bottle is from a trip to Greece in high school, the colored pens are in an old food jar, a vintage milk bottle, a container for thumbtacks, a vintage bottle, and some black pens in an old food jar.

The whole shebang! Ugly trashcan is now hidden under the desk. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the open shelves and probably won't be until I have containers to contain everything, but at least it looks okay for now! I also swear I have a chair, but it's a big comfy office one that doesn't look too great hiding everything in photos.

That felt good! I can't wait to slowly make my way around the apartment organizing and decorating. I was thinking about making a challenge for myself next month where I do something to decorate every single day? That would pull things together nicely! I think I'll be drawing up a list for that soon :)

Have you decluttered lately? What's your favorite organizational tip?