from armoire to office

As many of you know, I've condensed my personal space considerably in the past two months. Instead of a large craft/office space, I'm down to two pieces of furniture to fit everything! I inherited both sets of grandparents' bedroom furniture, and I'm using my paternal grandparents' set as a craft/office space due to its large size (my maternal grandparents' set is smaller and fussier, so I use it as my bedroom furniture).

The first piece I received from my paternal grandparents was a fabulous 40's armoire. I set out to use it for crafting immediately since it has deep, solid drawers. I stored boxes of supplies and other bulky items in the hanging side (the perfect hiding spot!) When I downsized, I decided to use the hanging space as my temporary office. But piling everything inside did not work! A change was in order. This is what I started out with:

I decided to add three simple shelves to hold all of my financial/important papers, as well as craft and work supplies. Eventually I'll stain and varnish the shelves, but I was desperate for some organized space quickly. Not only was it a simple and cheap solution (rails, boards, clips, and screws were around $20!), I actually have more space than I anticipated. Not bad for 2-hours' work!