The "Everything Else" Room

I decided to change the banner, since I get tired of things easily. I'm gonna try this pink scheme for a minute. Don't worry if you aren't digging it, it will probably be replaced in a few months! The li'l cartoon is supposed to be me, but you'll understand that there is only so much realism an amateur artist can master in Photoshop. I think I erred on the side of "cute."

My mother-in-law was so impressed by my lox and bagels experiment that she declared me an honorary Jew. She said it was practically like my bat mitzvah. Awesome! I've already tackled challah and brisket, so I think it was a long time coming. I decided not to bring up the lovely loin of pork I made for dinner that same night. No need to ruin a good thing, right?

Ahem, back to the topic at hand:

The "Everything Else" Room

I spent today rearranging our office so that we can both be on our laptops in here. It's fine to lounge around with a laptop on the couch in the evening when you are watching TV, but if you are paying bills, writing, or whatever, you really need a desk and all that jazz. M. seemed to be using the desk more now that he's home, so I turned it on its side and now we can work facing each other. We'll see how well that goes. There's plenty of room, since our "desk" is really our old dining room table, but I never really thought about my writing ritual and what might cramp my style. I usually get up, feed the dog, get my coffee ready and head to the desk to start writing, taking care of emails, and prepping for classes. I don't think it should really change things if he's on the other side of the desk. Distractions in the form of a playful dog and snuggly cat haven't deterred me so far. We'll have to see how this goes.

I know a few couples who have two bedroom apartments, houses, or condos. Most of the time, the other room is called "the office" or "the studio" but it really is the "everything else room." I don't know how it turns into that, but that's just how it goes.

Fantasy apartment office:

Desk, bookcases, file cabinets, computer and peripherals.

Reality apartment office:

Desk, bookcases, file cabinets, computer and peripherals, magazine stacks, bicycle, vacuum cleaner, art stuff, sewing machine, sewing stuff, bass guitar, our combined CD collection, cabinet full of DVDs, videos, and videogames, monster fan for when it gets unbearable in here, photography stuff...are you getting the idea?

I have purged this room so many times. I've gone through all of my old college papers and articles and tossed a bunch of stuff. I have moved stuff down to the garage. Somehow, my office closet always gets full and I find myself feeling surrounded by it all. Not so conducive to working, but once I put my head down, all I see is the open Word document.

I am considering glass doors for our 3 big Ikea Billy cabinets full of books. Maybe it would be less imposing if there were something covering up all those books?

Anyone else have this problem? What have you done to get your "everything else" room under control?