Office Depot sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Having an organized printer station plays a big part in my level of productivity and success in my small home office. I’m sharing with you some of my favorite home office setup ideas for a super efficient printer area in this first post out of a 5-post series about transforming my pretty she-shed into a fully-functional small business home office!
Who’s ready for round two of the she-shed home office transformation??
I’m so excited to share with you that I’ve been given the opportunity to partner with Office Depot to share with you their amazing Workonomy services for small business owners through an upcoming series of five posts!
During this series we’re going to get my she-shed home office set up and functioning like a well-established business – rather than the mess of papers, empty file cabinets, and cords galore it is right now. 😉
Creating a small home office that functions efficiently is tough, but with the help of Office Depot, I’m going to walk you through how much easier it can be!
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If you’re new around here – let me give you a little backstory.
Last fall we transformed our backyard shed into a beautiful space for me to run my small business (blog) out of. We literally turned a generic shed into a fabulous cottage-style retreat with blue shiplap ceilings, lovely chandeliers, and more.
The best part was that it gave me a place to “go to work” and escape the distractions of being in our home while I worked on the business.
It’s been six months since I started working out there, and I’ll be the first to tell you that it didn’t take me long to discover that there has to be a balance between having an office that’s pretty and an office that’s functional…
Our goal was to create a beautiful space for me to work in, and we did that. What we didn’t do was consider how furnishing an office a certain way can make or break it’s ability to function well. We didn’t consider the simple interior office solutions that could help me be extra productive.
So that’s what we’re going to do over the next several months!
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Let’s begin by taking a look at the space before we begin so you get an idea of the work we have cut out for ourselves. 😉
Here’s how the office looked last week:
If you’ve seen the original reveal images from our she-shed, you’ll notice I’ve removed the fancy desk (which was STUNNING, but way too small to work on) and added a blue rocker fore reading and a small bookcase under the window for my printer(s).
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I realize my long desk has A LOT of stuff on it – which we’ll organize in later posts in the series – but the big issue we’re tackling this week is the printer situation…
Yes, I had 3 different printers in there – none of which actually worked consistently. 🙁
My Efficient Printer Station
In order to tackle this corner, I started by removing all the old printers and the metal rolling cart.
Then, to create an efficient home office printer stand out of the bookcase under the window, I thought through which of my office supplies would be most utilized in-tandem with the printer and placed them in the bookcase under my new, fabulous, all-in-one HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 printer from Office Depot.
I decided to stock the bookcase with printer paper, envelopes, scissors, a stapler, and a 3-hole punch, in addition to some books and a closed box for my photography equipment.
After a lot of organizing and a few simple DIY projects, here’s how my home office printer station looks now:
Cute, right?! And super functional too!
To say I’m thrilled to have a new HP printer would be an understatement. I had honestly been using those other three half-working printers for years and I am so excited to have something that’s reliable and designed with small businesses in mind.
I’ve been amazed by the functionalities of this HP OfficeJet Printer . Not only is it truly an “all-in-one” meaning it prints, scans, copies and faxes, but with the HP Smart app I can connect it to my computer or phone wirelessly and print from anywhere! No more ugly cords! Yay!
I can save common tasks within the HP Smart Tasks feature of the app to stay organized and create efficiencies and it has self-healing Wi-Fi, which gives me major peace of mind because it means I can spend less time problem-solving and more time working on the things I love.
I think my favorite part about it (besides no cords) is how fast it prints! Seriously, it’s really fast.
If you’re like me and you’ve been struggling with getting things printed easily and efficiently in your office, I’d encourage you to grab one of these HP printers! You won’t regret it. 🙂
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Ok, now that you’ve seen my printer station’s transformation, let’s take a look at how I organized the thing, shall we?
HOME OFFICE SETUP IDEAS
FOR A PRINTER STATION
The Bookcase
I’m a huge advocate of having my printer on its own stand, rather than on my desk. Even with a huge desk, I’m always needing the space for my notebooks, papers and such.
If you don’t have a bookcase or printer stand to use, you could easily make one (here’s a fun DIY idea), or thrift and refresh one to save money. Don’t forget to check the size of your printer before selecting your printer stand to make sure it will fit on top!
I already had the bookcase we used, but Chris did a bit of DIY customizing on it by installing the top two shelves for the paper trays.
The Paper Storage
Since the printer’s primary supply is paper, I wanted to have my back-stock paper easily accessible.
I had a few oak “inboxes” that were given to me, so I simply spray painted them black and placed them on the new shelves just below the top of the bookcase.
I often print on legal sized paper, so I have one box for letter and one for legal.
The Office Supplies
I stocked up the next row of shelves with the office supplies I might need along with my printer. I already had the green organizer and filled it with envelopes, scissors, a stapler, a letter opener and notepads.
Of course, decor with positive reminders like this “work hard” plaque are always necessary. 😉
My three-hole punch is an oldie-but-goodie and having it on the printer’s bookcase makes it easy to punch the papers right after printing them.
Pretty Storage
The bottom row of my printer station is actually stocked with other, non-printer related items I needed to be easily accessible.
Because the shelves are open, I chose to store the “not quite pretty” items in a closed grey box and placed a plant on the shelf with my binders and books to give it a little style.
Office Setup Ideas for a Printer Station
Let’s review how I put together my efficient printer station so you can create one in your own home office!
- Start with a bookcase or printer stand
- Place the printer on top
- Store back-stock paper in simple drawers or trays on a shelf
- Store other office supplies (stapler, envelopes, scissors, letter opener, etc.) in a simple organizer on a shelf
- Place a 3-hole punch on a shelf
- Store other larger items in a closed box on a shelf
- Add decor or plants to your shelves for added style
Easy, right? 🙂
I think the most important part of this transformation was having a wireless printer. The fact that I don’t have to have it right next to my computer or cords draped across the room makes such a huge difference!
Don’t forget to check out the HP OfficeJet Pro 9015 here. Office Depot also recently announced a collaboration with Alibaba, an online trade site with all sorts of things you might need for a home office – I’d encourage you to read up on it if you’re looking for ways to earn perks from Office Depot!
I’m excited to share with you the four other posts in this series which will include organizing my loft storage, filing cabinet and systems, and my technology set up.
See you soon, friends!
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HOME OFFICE SETUP IDEAS,
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Office Depot sponsored this post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.
Very interesting to read this article. I would like to thank you for the efforts you had made in writing this awesome article.
It’s this one from IKEA : https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/kallax-shelf-unit-white-20275814/ and since it was already made out of melamine, we just bought melamine shelves from Home Depot to make the extra shelves! 🙂
Would love to know the dimensions of your printer bookcase! How did you find the same material to install the two smaller shelves for your printer paper.
I love the set-up. Thanks for sharing! By the way, your “green” organizer is, in fact, yellow. At least in the pictures.
Really amazing and informative content! Thank you for making the effort! Look forward to more.
It looks fantastic. Functional but still pretty, & feminine. Love the 3 in 1 wireless printer, i have a similar HP model, a bit older.