Your Ideal Home Desk: For Studying, Work, or Free Time
I’ve written a few articles on the principles of Kon Mari for decluttering, organizing papers and items in general in your home. In this article, I will give you tips based on my experiences for organizing your desk to have it best suit your particular needs either as a student or someone working from home or for hobbies.
Focusing Creativity at Work: Separate Work from Free Time
Whether I work at home or at the office, I regard my desk as the place where I am committed to channeling focus and creativity into completing works that I can be proud of once completed, be they either pages for research papers or other texts, miniatures, drawings or paintings.
In Spark of Joy, Marie Kondo states that it is important to have some playful elements on your desk as well, such as a small plant. A desk should not merely be committed to practicality, as playful details can make your desk a much more inspirational and lively place to spend time at.
I used to keep my computer or laptop on the desk I would usually do creative work as well. But lately, I’ve kept my main desk clear from screens. I now have my laptop along with an additional screen, keyboard, and a mouse on a smaller, narrow tabletop along a wall which does not fit much else. This aids in generating a mindset for using your computer in a more focused manner. If I find that I am just staring at the screen with no more ideas on what to write or find myself getting distracted, I step away from the computer and do something else, such as drawing mind maps.
It also aids in generating a clear-cut line for separating your day-to-day occupations (whether studying, writing research papers, or graduation thesis) from your free time. It doesn’t always come easy but set a clear boundary for both the time when you save and close your text documents and also shutting down your computer (not just putting it into sleep mode) for the day, and stick to it. This goes with generally given health-advice regarding blue light emitted from screens interfering with your sleep but even if you do use programs that eliminate blue light, such as f.lux, you might easily stray to watch shows or play games late into the night. This also goes for your smartphone and any other devices.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t do those things in the evening but reserve 1 or 2 hours before you sleep for doing anything else but staring at screens. Take a warm bath or a shower. Read a book from your favorite genre. Meditate. Do easy yoga poses for a bit. Sketch with a pencil just from your imagination. Write down on a journal some of the things you feel great about accomplishing today, feel gratitude for, and what you want to accomplish tomorrow. Have a cup of caffeine-free tea. The list could go on. At times, you might be swamped with work, but at the bare minimum strive to have an hour or two just for yourself and really detach yourself from working and screens before sleeping.
Accessible Art Supplies
If it is already a tedious process just to “set up” to start doing art, then it is likely you won’t gravitate towards doing it at all. That’s why I like to keep a separate desk which has my art supplies conveniently available on its drawers and on a shelf next to it, but otherwise, I keep it clear when not in use, with only a small plant in the corner, so it can be also used also for reading for example.
Music instruments: Make Them Effortless To Pick Up & Play
Music is also art, and I do it too, albeit currently not as often as painting or drawing. My instrument is guitar, and storing supplies for it is relatively simple, as the only thing you have to store is the guitar itself. I tend to store my guitars in a bag only when they are not in active use (I have an electric guitar and a few acoustic guitars) and keep the one I’m actively practicing with on a stand in my room, on top of a small drawer. This way, not only does the guitar act as a decorative element, but it’s easier to just pick it up and play!
Other optional supplies include picks and notes or tablatures. I keep a few picks attached to the guitar stand itself if I need them. I don’t use notes and tablatures much currently as I now practice playing by ear to different kinds of music tracks from YouTube (mostly videogame soundtracks). But the few ones of my favorite songs I look forward to learning to play so well I can’t play them wrong I have printed and stored with my papers for future use (see my previous post on organizing papers).
Tools of Trade: Your Weapons To Conquer the Empty Canvas or Bare Plastic
Now, let’s have a look at how to organize your supplies for arts and crafts. I took a few pictures of my ”tool shelf” configuration and the drawer where I keep my acrylic paints. Winston Churchill, as well as being a renowned statesman was an accomplished painter in his free time. He has likened painting to a contest of wit and arms, like a battle where you conquer the empty canvas with your brushes, paints, imagination, skill, and tenacity to bring forth your vision of the artwork you wish to create. And preparing is half of the battle, so below I give some pointers on how to organize the “tools” or “weapons” you use on your desk.
If you look at the above picture it might not tell much. That’s why I’ve highlighted where and what everything is below it. “Tools” for working with regular paper on their own are on their own shelf, whereas “tools” used in conjunction with paints or unpainted miniatures are on their own shelf.
Pencil drawing and watercolor pencil drawing are the forms of art that I tend to engage in a lot while on the go, so I have split the supplies for these two categories into two pencil cases. Both of these cases are of a long rectangular shape with rounded edges containing an inside pocket and straps for storing pencils.
The first case contains HB pencils and monochrome markers of different shades and sizes, and the second one contains watercolor pencils, colored markers, and water pens. Both also have erasers and pieces of cloth for blending and a sharpener with a sealable cover on top of the blade holes. For each of these cases, I have also grouped pencils by color for the sake of convenience and fastened then together with rubber bands, i.e. pencils, gray tone markers, black, white, skin tones, red/yellow, green/blue, neutral colors.
The different brushes and modeling supplies are kept in their own compartments. I have put all of my acrylic/modeling brushes in a 4-compartmented container, divided into Fine detail, regular, brushes for metallic paints, and heavy-duty brushes. I have marked each of the brushes in the first three categories with different color tape. The ones I tend to actively use I keep on a brush rack. Oil paint brushes and knives are in their own container. The same rule of thumb applies as with makeup and cosmetic products from my item organization article, don’t mix water-soluble and non-water-soluble materials or tools together!
Harmonious Organization of Paints
If you store your paints like this (and this applies to larger acrylic and oil tubes as well, you could put them in a similar formation, just laying them on their side) they assume a natural harmonious formation when you pick out some and then need to put them back. I’ve used project boxes and shelves but they just now tend to evoke this cold and mechanistic feel to them. You have to put the paint in the exact same slot or place where you took it from or otherwise, your well put organization gets messed up. Since this “color wheel” formation is not confined to specific slots or shelf space based on specific paint dimensions, I’ve been able to put there many kinds of paint pots from different manufacturers.
The color wheel formation really does emphasize “The Joy of Painting” as the painter celebrity Bob Ross would have put it, and maximizing joy is at the center of Kon Mari as well. Now when I’m setting up paints on my palette for my new project I am greeted with a harmonious gathering of my paint collection, allowing me to visually scan for the paints I best deem to be suitable for mixing the various layers and blends in my project, instead of going back and forth on a shelf or rummaging through a compartmented box.
Complimentary Materials and Tools
On another drawer, I have a compartmented tray that contains painting mediums and varnishes, black and white paint, and metallic paints. I tend to utilize at least one of the mediums or paints here for each project, but these don’t really fit in with the color wheel of saturated paints.
On the same drawer, I have a compartment for adhesives (including modeling putty). There is also a larger tray with tubes of white, black, and brown paints which I often use in larger quantities for painting on canvas or paper, or on miniature bases and scenery, and some extra paints. I also keep PVA glue and small containers of basic basing materials (a mix of different-graded sand and static grass) which I use for most miniature bases.
Conclusion: Remember to Take a Break Once In a While
If I have to pick out one thing that is great in distance learning and working is that I get to save a lot of time from commuting back and forth. This time can be reserved for many kinds of activities to do around and away from home. But with new-founded freedom to plan out your days and work, you must look from within for cues and boundaries when to step away from studying and writing, instead of closing hours of the library, for instance.
