Study mess - hidden!

I tend to write and study (not to mention spend way too much time on the interwebs) in the living areas of our home rather than in a confined office. For quite some I've been planning to buy some kind of cabinet to hide all my materials - since I generally study all year round, books and papers can pile up around the dining table quite quickly!

Early last Tuesday morning we made the trek to Ikea to see what was on offer. I'd been planning on getting one of the wider and lower PS locker cabinets, but in the end we settled on a slightly taller and narrower version. After spending about an hour scratching my head at some of the diagrams (seriously, this one has to been seen to be believed), I managed to assemble the thing and drag it into the dining room!

Currently, it's housing books on Australian sociology, about three years' worth of Peter Alexander pyjama catalogues that I can't bear to part with, and random DVDs and stationery.

I've put a couple of black woven placemats on top, and now have a new place to display lovely little trinkets!

Here, we have the vintage Artin flip clock that seems to have FINALLY found its permanent home (after moving from room to room for about six months), my Qualy sparrow with his paperclip nest, and a selection of Kikki.K stationery (another addiction).

And, here, we have a retro milk glass vase recently purchased at a thrift store in Toowoomba for roughly $1, and two retro-look glasses filled with sandalwood and amber candlewax (another great Christmas gift from my parents).

I am most pleased with my new study area, and hopefully it will also motivate me to be a little bit more organised as well!

On a side note, a big thank you to Ikea for their new accurate stock inventory system on the website - it's a huge improvement on the old 'the item is in stock' system (which usually meant that it was in the warehouse out the back and unable to be purchased).