What Lurks Under the Stairs . . .

. . . in our case that would be a home office. In a small house you need to utilize every little bit of space you have and under our staircase is about 18 square feet!  For a very long time we only had a bookshelf in the space. It's all we needed there.  But after the birth of our 2nd child and the loss of an office we needed this space.

I initially used the small desk I had and then added other features (work area and small shelves on the walls).  However, the mismatch of stuff never made it feel comfortable.

The desk stuck out farther than the wall. The books on the shelf covered the pictures and the filing cabinets were turned inward so I definitely found them difficult to use.

I finally decided to make a change; starting with outward facing filing cabinet and moving computer to other side. And while looking through other furniture items in the house, I strangely enough found I had a shelf (that the TV sat on) that had been painted the same color as the other desk items AND fit perfectly in the space.  After sending a load of crap to the recycling (such as 20 year old graduate school acceptance letters), I have a cute (note kid's artwork), functional (notice the baskets acquired at Hobby Lobby for half price), decluttered (no more books covering artwork) space.

I truly love the baskets. I have one filled with stuff Rob needs to go through but is now hidden. A repaint job of the walls will make this complete.

PS: If you are wondering about the oddly placed carpet, our dog Chammy has difficulty with the hardwood floors.