Organizing a Fauxdenza and Hiding a Printer


Yesterday I shared details about the DIY Fauxdenza we added to the office and today I’m back with the details on how this stylish piece adds a TON of secret storageย to this space.diy-fauxdenza-organizationYou can see the fauxdenza if you stand in the kitchen/family room and look down the hall. It looks sleek and brings a hint of the light wood we have in the front of the house into the back of the house. But believe it or not, my favorite part isn’t the cute look. Instead it’s how much secret storage is hiding right there in plain sight.

Secret Storage
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If you looked at this petite cabinet, you would probably never guess how much stuff is in there…. including ourย printer!ย diy-fauxdenza-organization-hidden-printerEven I was surprised at how much stuff fit into these cabinets as I filled them up! Let’s take a look at the whole cabinet filled up and then I will break down exactly what I store in our very hardworking fauxdenza. ย diy-fauxdenza-organization-with-printerThis isย actuallyย almost all of our office “stuff”. We keep two organized “junk drawers” in our kitchen with random items like scissors, tape, pens, envelopes, etc. I also keep some craft supplies (like a glue gun, party stuff, wrapping paper, etc.) in the office closet, but beyond those two places, this is the only office storage I have in the house. And the crazy thing is that I could downsize even more if I really tried. <— when I’m done with the office, my goal is to do justย that.

I also want to note that I didn’t buy anything new to organize this fauxdenza. The adjustable shelves made it super easy to customize the spaces within the cabinets, which really helped meย use items I already had around the house to organize. Maybe one day I’ll upgrade some of the boxes or do a better job of labeling, but overall I’m happy with the start of this secret storage.

The Printer
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Hands down my FAVORITE part of this entire cabinet is the fact that it secretly holds our printer. Like I mentioned yesterday, we cut out a hole in the back of the cabinet so that the printer could plug-in while inside of this cabinet. When I send something to print, all I do is open up the cabinet and it’s there!

I know some people could be nervousย about the heat of the printer inside of the cabinet, and I totally understand those concerns. This may not be the perfect solution for everyone but I don’t print that often in my house (maybe a couple of pages per WEEK) so it doesn’t work hard enough to ever overheat. I also keep it unplugged whenever it’s not in use.

However, one thing that is not perfect about this set-up is the ability to easily scan or copy from this location.

diy-fauxdenza-organization-wideI could have left space above the printer so that I could open the top of it andย easily scan/copy but I thought the space in the cabinet was too precious. So whenever I have to scan or copy something, which is very rare, I simply pull out the printer and put it on the floor (while it’s still plugged in). I scan/copy while the printer is on the floor and then place it right back on the shelf. It’s not the perfect set-up but I’ll take that small inconvenience every so often if it means that I can hide my printer.

Other Storage
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The next shelf is home to my photo albums from years ago and these drawers that I got at HomeGoods awhile back. The drawers are awesome because they hold lots of “odds and ends” like pens, mini notebooks, ink pads, etc.ย diy-fauxdenza-organization-photo-storageI bought these white organizers from IKEA a few years ago and I really love that they hide your books, papers, or spirals. I’m hoping to eventually get a few more of these for all the binders I’m currently storing in here. (more on that in a second)diy-fauxdenza-organization-mail-cords

The next shelf is home to all of my mail essentials, washi tape, nail polish, cords, and a receipt organizer.
diy-fauxdenza-organization-mail-boxRemember when I DIY-ed this two toned box? I still love it and still use it the exact same way as before — to store stamps, envelopes, personalized address stamps, ink pads, etc. The floral file on top of it is the receipt organizer that I recently shared in this post and Iย am committed to maintaining it this year. So far my receipts are definitely more organized, but I still have some work to do in keeping it that way for the long run.ย diy-fauxdenza-organization-shelfThe glass jars in the back are home to some mini paintbrushes, pens, markers, and the other white jar is filled with all of my nail polish. Having a few open bowls in here for other odds and ends has been super helpful, especially for corralling cords.
diy-fauxdenza-organization-wire-bowlI keep my camera’s USB cord in there along with headphones and honestly whatever other cords are lying around at the time. Having them in the bowl makes grabbing them super easy and putting them back in the right place even easier.

Even More Storage!
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The left side of the fauxdenza has even more secret storage!ย diy-fauxdenza-organization-12The top row is some of my camera supplies, like extra lenses and my instax mini that I pull out every once in a while. I DIY-ed the polka dot greeting card organizer a few YEARS ago and still use it all the time. I keep all of my cards and stationery in this box, which has been so helpful for me… especially when I forget a special occasion. I can easily go through my collection and quickly get a card in the mail without running out and having to buy one. Plus, I try to stock up on cute cards when they’re on sale to save some money. ย diy-fauxdenza-organization-boxes

This shelf is home to lots of boxes that each contain a little something different. The bottom left, striped box is full of old chargers, batteries and those kind of things… they’re mostly all Matt’s so I’m not entirely sure what’s in there. The white and blue box on top of that one is home to our external hard drives and other computer essentials (aka more chargers). The other white box is home to our extra printer cartridges. And the navy box is full of extra computer paper and some scrapbook-y paper for crafts, cards, orย gift tags.diy-fauxdenza-organization-14And last but not least is this shelf of books and binders. This is the shelf I hope to add the IKEA organizers to someday so that I canย keep them even more corralled than they are now. Some of these binders are for the DIY Playbook (taxes, contracts, random info) while the others are for our household. But when I was adding these binders to the fauxdenza I realized that I could probably go through a lot of them and downsize my collection. <– Add it to the list.

#Obsessed

diy-fauxdenza-organization-secret-storageI always knewย our new fauxdenza would add some necessaryย storage to our new office but honestly I never anticipated it would add this much storage. If you haven’t figured it out so far, I’m pretty obsessed with this addition to our office. If I end up loving every new piece as much as I love this one, our office is going to pretty darn awesome (at least in my eyes)!

Unfortunately, I don’t have any specific office updates on the calendar coming up but as I make more decisions (and progress!), I will keep you guys updated. In the meantime, I hope you have an awesome weekend. If you’re from the Chicagoland area, we’d love to see you at the Old House, New House Showย in St. Charles. We’re presenting on Sunday at noon (eek!) and would love to meet you!

Bridget


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.