Office overhaul: our computer/craft closet

Welcome to part two of my office makeover! On Monday I shared how I uncluttered my desk area. Today I'm going to reveal our newly organized computer/craft closet! It houses all of my crafting supplies AND my husband's computer stuff--cords, components, boxes, etc. Previously the space was messy and underutilized. We weren't taking advantage of the space at all. We had popped a chrome shelf on one side, but my husband's computer parts were unruly (even though I bought the reddish baskets with the hope that he'd containerize his cords):

 

On the other side we'd stashed his camp box and hadn't used any of the valuable vertical space:

I wanted the space to function as craft/computer cord storage, and I knew for that to work that we needed to get rid of that camp box, buy a matching chrome shelf, and pop it in to my side of the closet! Once we gained a ton of shelf space, I went wild and collected containers from throughout the house. Some were crowding my desk area and some were hanging out in our storage closet unused. Some are just cardboard boxes covered in cute scrapbook paper. The only new items I purchased to organize my stuff were two wire undershelf baskets for holding yarn and in-progress crafting projects. So the best part of my side of the closet is that it only cost me $9.99! After some labeling, I placed everything on the shelves. Here's how it ended up:

My husband's side was the trickier one. He has so many cords, cables, and miscellaneous computer parts, some of which are very bulky. I knew I needed larger storage options, and probably clear ones, too, since he accesses his stuff more and needs to be able to see what's where. I ended up buying four large clear file bins from Costco ($12.99 for a set of two) and two stackable blue baskets from Target ($5.99 each). We had previously organized some of his smaller cables and cords into plastic shoeboxes from Target ($5 for a set of 5), which I marked with Better Homes and Garden's rectangular pantry labels.

So I pulled out all of the baskets and boxes that were on the shelf and the husband and I sorted everything into piles. Some things went into the existing labeled shoeboxes while others went into the new clear bins and blue baskets. Once we were done sorting, I printed and laminated some of BHG's large pantry labels and just wrote on them with a wet erase marker since the official names of some of the items wouldn't fit on their template. You can get all of the labels here. And here is the lovely after:

And here are some side-by-side before and afters:

I love how bright and cheery the closet is, but more importantly how the space functions now. It's so easy for my husband to locate what he needs. He recently had to fix a broken fan in my computer, and he said it was much less of a headache because he could locate all of his supplies.

And I love how my craft supplies are no longer overwhelming my desk area. I was actually able to remove a supply-stocked shelf that used to reside next to my desk, and the room feels much less cluttered now! Plus, I was able to use the red baskets that previously resided in the closet to organize our laundry room!