Seen this issue? No? Maybe it's because it's nine years old. It's my all time favorite Martha Special Issue. I remember when I got it that I was obsessed with all the cool ways to organize the ugliness that is technology at home and I also devoured the fun tech crafts and admired the spaces. Can you tell that our home office and craft area is inspired by this? As I dug the mag out to illustrate this post I found myself re-reading it again and loving it as much as the first time around.
The printer/scanner/copier which was chosen 50% based on looks and 50% on performance communicates via blue-tooth. Yay, one less cable! The electric cable runs behind the file boxes, into the corner and down the shelf below and to the power outlet. All neatly clipped in place. Ok, I lied. I only went for the looks (perfect white glossy match to my Sony Vaio) but it also happens to do a decent job. A bonus.
Here's where my Wacom Bamboo resides. We're not friends yet but I hope to become better acquainted on Monday. I'm taking a Photoshop class and we'll get some coaching on how to use the board next lesson. Can. Not. Wait! I love the way it just found itself a spot like that on top of the organizer. Perfection if you ask me.
This on the other hand is a new buddy of mine. Meet Mr Seagate. Isn't he the cutest! And I love his little perfect length cable. Can you tell I'm into the matchy matchy thing here? He's got a little white stripe down his waist, don't know if you can tell. Very becoming and goes so well with Ms Vaio. To the point here. What is he? He's my external hard drive and I'm feeding him all sorts of goodies like old photos and negatives. His faves are the old slide scans.
Mr Seagate currently resides with the rest of the techy gang in the basket just above the work top. They're a motley crew of headphones, camera cables etc and I particularly dislike Mr.H above. He's like the black sheep but I need him to run my bank errands on-line. Wish he wouldn't dress so sloppily though. Get a nicer cable dude!
Speaking of cables. I've showed you this little trick before but a post on these vile things wouldn't be complete without this little desktop hole. It's where Ms Vaio drops her thingy which then goes into…
… here. Can you tell I hate looking at cables? Can you also tell I am hardly ever at this below-desktop-level so I didn't notice those old screw holes from a roller blind thing I had going on some years ago. I could have photoshopped them out but I wanted to treat you to my imperfections. Happy?
I've mentioned it before but a huge thank you for both the Bamboo and Mr Seagate goes to my friend Carol. I got them both with a way too generous Amazon gift card on Christmas Eve after helping her with her daughter's bathroom back in October.
~
Oh, one last thing! Almost forgot. The winner of the Polli give away is Jen who wrote "Even
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cycling (as transportation and as sport), and I noticed the bread and wine in
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Remember the 10% Polli discount is still valid until the end of March. Just mention Pollifan0310 at checkout.
35 Comments
Thanks for the well-written post. I’m actually at work at the moment! So I need to run off without reading as much as I’d like. But I’ve added your blog to my RSS feed so that I can take my time to go through your site.
So very organised! I’d love for my desk to look like this, but yet to find the perfect slimline desk to fit everything in. Might have to build one! I did buy some white pots like yours last week for my sewing notions though – looks very neat and tidy!
Love this. But Benita, could you do a post on how to wrangle a TON of cables when it’s not possible to drill a hole in the desk (family antique)? I HATE THE CABLES. AGH!!
Have you tried these? http://astore.amazon.com/chezlars-20/detail/B000PZU26C I use a similar one behind Wille’s desk where there are a billion cables and behind the TV/DVD/Cable.
Hi, I use those tubes too and they are great… mostly. But what do you do when you have zillion of cables and they are all different lenghts? It’s easy to put the cables in the tubes if thay are the same lenght, but usually one atleast is whole lot longer. What do you do with this excess lenght? Do you just fold it inside the tube (this is what I’ve tried to do, but the cable easily bulbs out) or do you roll the excess to another end and hide that separately?
Hope you understand my question, don’t know if I explaned this properly 🙂
Yes, I remember this issue of Martha’s Living. I have subscribed to this magazine since (don’t remember it was in the 80s) and have most every copy!
Martha and her staff know about gracious living. I sure miss Martha’s former TV show. I looked forward to it everyday. I was like the magazine but, on TV. Her new TV show I cannot be bothered to watch it’s too mainstream.
Thanks for your blog I check in with it often (hmm, should there be an app for that?)!!!
When I first saw the picture on the magazine I instantly thought that Martha copied your work space. I didn’t realize that it was the other way around and that it was an old issue.
I love reading your blog and love your kitties!
When you get to know your Wacom Bamboo, it will become your best friend. I have a similar one (Wacom Intuos 3) at work as a mouse replacement, but when I use Photoshop, it really shines.
Even with the short cord, having Mr. Seagate’s identical twin navigating our desk was driving me crazy so my husband married him to Miss Dell’s topside with a piece of velcro. They are living quite happily together and the velcro makes it possible for both to go out with friends if they are so inclined. 🙂
Love this post! I love when you show us how you organize things at home you have such a talent for that! I can’t stand cables either and boy are mine a mess, I’m going to try some of your techniques and see how they work! Really beautiful workspace!
I, too, chose my printer based on its white glossiness! I absolutely love your home and aesthetic! Right this very minute I’m channeling you and organizing my office.
🙂
Actually I didn’t realise it was that inspired when we built it but it must really have been at the back of my mind all those years before building ours 🙂
I too have every single issue. The first one came out in Dec 1990. I lacked that one for many years but got hold of one on Ebay a few years ago, my collection is now complete 🙂
I do exactly what you dom fold it inside of the tube. Sometimes I add cable ties to keep the tube together. Not great if you need to get in there but for cables that are staying put where they are it’s works fine. I sure prefer having one thick sausage to a bunch of spaghetti.
This is one of the funniest posts ever… Mr & Ms! So inspiring and so clever 🙂 We about to embark on a new home office build-out, and your “happy couple” are a perfect inspiration.
I love it! You have such a knack for making spaces flow together while feeling calm and being efficient, too. Not such an easy task.
I have this magazine, too. I love the organizing soft-cover book and all the baby magazines, too. They will never get thrown out!
Oh, I love your white tv (I remember seeing a picture from the holidays, I think)! I am looking to get a new one as ours is doing crazy things with the colors, but it’s not easy to find a white tv over here (west coast, U.S.). Any tips?
This is the only issue of Martha’s I have kept! It was a great one.
What, no white Samsungs in the States?! Maybe LG makes one?
I always like looking at your photos. They are so tasteful. And I love seeing your space so organized and white and green. *sigh* Thanks for sharing.
I also saw some possibilites for my desk, too. Thanks for that, too.
I’m off to find a copy of the magazine! Wish me luck!
Wow. Found a few, but postage from USA is high 🙁
Wish my space looked like that… unfortunately i can’t add shelves to my corner…
Beautiful, beautiful organization!! I’ve a quick question though….on the very bottom lower right corner, are those like mini shelves? Or, is that an “on it’s side” box with some kind of opaque-ish shelves, or pullouts? Hard to tell exactly how it’s been concocted, but I love the way it looks and want to do the same. Oh, and you’ve probably already said, but where can I find the tins that are shown as options for Carol’s daughter’s bathroom? Thank you sooo much, Benita :):)
Hahaha!!! I have that issue at arms reach, along with all my other ‘recycle them and you will PAY’ Martha special issues. 🙂
I just found that issue a couple of weeks ago again.
In fact that was the issue that co-incided with her
CBS show and ironically I won the grand prize to
be on her show but had to forfiet it due to caregiving
and schedule. But I did get the 2nd prize in lieu of it.
Yeah, there’s nothing here except black. I googled white tv’s and turned up nothing. I’ll just have to admire your white tv from over here :).
I found the organizer in the recycling area at work, it’s metal and I added the milky white perspex sheets. It had those vile looking black trays when I found it..
All the sources for Phoebes bathroom can be found here: http://chezlarsson.com/myblog/2009/10/phoebes-bathroom.html The tins are from IKEA 🙂
Too bad you couldn’t go… was the 2nd prize any good?
Har exakt samma Wacom Bamboo som du och älskar den lika mycket som jag älskade den gamla versionen jag hade innan dess. Använder inte mus alls längre om jag slipper – så mkt mer ergonomiskt med pennan! Och helt oumbärlig för Photoshop-jobb!
Åh, jag längtar efter att testa ordentligt. Har provat lite men känner att jag behöver ställa in en del innan det blir super. Kul att du har den, jag kanske kan få rådfråga dig sen om jag inte fattar allt och kursen är förbi?
I adore this post! It all lokks so great! I am just starting something similar at home. For the moment white notebook, white desktop, white screen and am just searching for white printer – so this posting just on time :-)))
I am also amazed how well equipped are you! Now I feel even more like a technical zero!
What is Mr.H above? I buy all the time online, but we don’t have this in germany, you just type in your bank card nr.
I hate cables too but you already know this 🙂
Mr H is a fairly new thing. I don’t use it much when buying online but need it for paying bills, transferring money from one account to another etc. There’s a card which looks similar to a credit card that goes inside and you have a code to punch in. It’s all to make online transactions safer. I personally don’t like it much and preferred the system they had before but what there’s nothing I can do about it.
The 2nd prize was good too.
$500 in HP money.
But I couldn’t buy a laptop for $700
and pay the difference. So I ended up
purchasing a refurbed desktop which
eventually gave out on me…
Its such a great issue.
I absolutely, unequivocally, favour these posts. I don’t know what it is, whether it’s your extraordinary sense of order and organization, or my not so noble drive to peek into other people’s lives. Either way, please keep posting. I love your office.