Bedroom/Office Combo

Jasie Poodiak gets help organizing her dual-purpose room.

More from Mission: Organization
Filed under: Bedrooms, Storage, Organization

Jasie Poodiak's 10- x 16-foot bedroom is also used as an office and storage room. As a youth, she moved around a lot because her father was in the navy. Over those years, she got into the habit of stacking things and leaving them unpacked.

Now a mentor for preschool teachers, Jasie has workbooks, papers and materials stored in each corner of her bedroom in a variety of bags. Some things, such as her jewelry box and clothes hamper, are duplicated. Every surface is covered with piles of papers.

The boxes at the foot of the bed contain magazines that are more than two years old and still unread. Jasie needs help learning to let go of things she no longer needs or uses.

That's where professional organizer Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan enters the picture. His assessment is that there is simply too much dead space that attracts clutter. He plans to assign a different function to each wall and starts by having Poodiak sort everything in the room as either personal or professional. After the organization comes the beautification.

Her closet is a mess of its own. The doors were removed (and stored underneath the bed) to make room for more things, and large boxes on the overhead shelves sit, unused.

The bags and boxes at the foot of the bed are nearly impossible to access because of the piles of papers that are stacked on top of them.

The storage system for this disorganized room consists of bags and piles. Using a different bag for each day is how she files.

A new desk area includes a desk, good lighting and two bookshelves that house a color-coded storage system for work papers.

With new elements of color and a separate office space and sleep area, Jasie Poodiak has a functional yet stylish room.
A white and gold headboard and side tables covered with red-painted pizza trays provide welcome touches of color.

This wall is devoted to her personal things. Bookshelves run from the radiator to the ceiling, providing attractive display and storage space.

The closet gets a glamorous makeover with ceiling-hung curtains, additional lighting and small (i.e. manageable) clear storage boxes for overhead storage.

Products from Levenger:

Hideaway Desk, Dark Cherry FD1065DC
Hideaway Chair, Dark Cherry FC1015 DC
pair of Mrs. Brown's Tables, Dark Cherry FA1590 DC

Products from The Container Store:

Elfa Shelving, dark wood, chrome metal)
Portofino letter boxes
Grey storage boxes
Natural Storage boxes
Clear storage boxes
Translucent office storage boxes
Walnut tray
Stackers
Grey magazine files
Translucent portable storage,
wooden hangers
shoe-storage hangings, Grey and Translucent
Galvanized drawer organizers
White hanging file box
Black hanging file box
Natural hanging file box