The Kitchen Desk (surface)

I did it! I found the surface of the kitchen desk!!! It took WEEKS. I'm not exaggerating. I started working on this in the beginning of January. It just sits there everyday taunting me: I'm messy! Come declutter me! Make me useFUL, not useLESS! Finally, I've finished it. Well, only the surface. And one of the cabinets. Baby steps here! I still have the drawers and the cookbook cabinet. And the wire issue.

In hindsight, I think this desk would be more functional if the following problems were not problems and had been designed better from the beginning.

#1 The Plug. 

We planned ahead. We had a hole drilled in the desktop so that we could thread the phone cord down and plug it in to the phone jack under the desk. BRILLIANT! Then we moved in. And I realized: the electrical plug was ABOVE the desk. Why would we do this? Why didn't I notice this when we were building. Duh. The plugs are way more unsightly than the phone jack. Ugh. If I could get in a time travel machine this is just one of MANY things I would go back and change. So, any idea on how to deal with the UGLY plug and too many wires on TOP of the desk?

#2 The Chair Nook.

It made sense. Have a place to scoot a chair in. A desk. A chair. They're friends, right? But, if you NEVER scoot a chair in, the nook becomes wasted space. It just dawned on me last week that we should have made this area a set of custom drawers or cabinets for craft/kid storage. Or a file cabinet drawer. Or two giant cabinets with shelving inside. (And then maybe I could have that plug moved and get those wires hidden!!) I can dream...

#3 The Book Shelves.

I thought this would be the PERFECT place for my cookbooks. But, I don't like them there. They aren't pretty. And, well, I suck at making things pretty. (as evidenced by the lack of knick-knacks and stuff hanging on our walls) So, why would I make it harder on myself?? I think this would have been better as more cabinets with doors. I could have used the space more efficiently and I wouldn't feel like I'm trying to hide my clutter all the time.

Maybe this whole area should have been one GIANT custom wall cabinet area. With doors and drawers and shelves. Functional. For the way we live. We did a pretty good job making most of our house functional for our family. Like I said, there are a few things I would go back and change.

Oh well. In like 20 years we'll redo the kitchen and then I can fix it. Right?

This week on OrgJunkie she is in Week 6 of her 52 Week organizational project.  She posted some questions to ask yourself if you're participating.  So, here it goes:

Questions to ponder this week:
1.  What did you accomplish this week on your 52 weeks list?

I FINALLY got the surface of the desk cleared off, organized, and made functional!  What a RELIEF!
2.  Have you had a negative conversation check with yourself lately?
I'm sure I have.  I haven't really paid much attention to it but now I probably will.  I know that I used to feel like I had to live up to the "perfection" model.  But, I've come to realize over the last few years that what is one person's perfection is not anothers.  So, I've tried to learn how to "live" in our house without feeling like it's too chaotic and cluttered. Hubs likes to remind me that we actually LIVE in our house -- it's not a museum to be looked upon and not messed up.
3.  Are you beginning to see new habits developing yet?
Honestly?  No.  Not yet.  But, they will.  They are in my head.  I'm thinking of them.  I do a little bit more every week but nothing has become habit yet.  I'm working on it.  BABY STEPS!! 

I linked up here: