How To Make The Most Of Your Work Space and A Competition!

These days, it is undoubtedly becoming harder to get your hands on your dream home with that dream Pinterest office you've had planned in your mind for months (let's face it, we've all got one!). Many of us share with room mates, live in a small flat, rent a small house or, like me, still live with our parents and that means we have to make the most of smaller workspaces. I'd love nothing more than to have a whole room dedicated solely to my work, especially since leaving university and working from home with my blog more but as a new graduate and a self-employed 22 year old, it's just not possible at the moment. That means I have to make the most of a rather small workspace, having my desk in my bedroom and until last week, it was a bloody mess and needed something doing with it. After a huge declutter, a brand new and super cute printer from HP and a few tips and tricks, I transformed my workspace into the calm, peaceful and clean desk you see in the above photo - carry on reading to find out how to transform your own workspace and win one of your own HP DeskJet 3720, the smallest (and most fashionable!) all in one printer that's sure to make your desk space much more appealing!

BEFORE

AFTER

So here are my before and after photos. As you can see, before my desk was hugely cluttered and very mismatched. My TV and huge bulky printer took up so much space, so much so that I couldn't even fit my stool underneath my desk which in itself was a huge pain, and the black against the white just made it look even more thrown together. After, it's bright, it's clean, it's organised and over the past week I've found myself being less frustrated when working, less flustered when I'm trying to write my blog posts and overall I feel calmer when sitting in my room and it's really not hard at all to declutter when you put your mind to it

DE-CLUTTER, DE-CLUTTER, DE-CLUTTER

I had a lot of unnecessary things on my desk and things that just took up too much space. The first thing I knew had to be moved elsewhere was my TV, which in all honesty I'd only put on my desk out of laziness and it's now in the corner of my room where it should have been in the first place. I actually want a new TV though as mine is quite old and bulky so I'd love to update to a smaller, thinner white TV when I get the funds! I also got rid of my small mirror and put in my wardrobe to take out when I need it and also got rid of one of my acrylic make-up storage units as although these are a great way to keep your make-up collection neat, they can look cluttered when you have too many on display! 

However, the thing that had been annoying me the most about my workspace was my printer. They're an absolute necessity especially when you work from home or are at uni but quite often they're bulky, unsightly and just a bit of a nuisance really. The HP DeskJet 3720 has saved my life here. As you can see from the photo, it's absolutely tiny compared to my huge black printer (imagine that monster sitting on the top of my desk!) and, importantly, it's such a pretty little printer so actually adds to the decor of the workspace instead of being a total eyesore. In actual fact, it's the smallest all-in-one printer of its kind in the world, meaning you can actually have your cake and eat it when it comes to the desk essentials; you get to print high quality documents and photos without compromising the look of your workspace. Also, as the printer connects wirelessly to your phone, computer or laptop, there're way less wires to get yourself tangled in and make your space unsightly. That's what I always wonder about Pinterest decor - where are all the wires?!

When it comes to de-cluttering, my top tip would be to think about what you actually need on display. Does it need to be out on your desk or can you put it in a drawer or storage box until you need to use it? Also, think about what you're hanging onto unnecessarily. I'm my own worst enemy when it comes to not throwing things out and my weakness is keeping make-up boxes - I just have a thing about them but make my storage look so much messier!

ADD SOME PERSONAL TOUCHES

I always think desks should be a little bit personal. You'll be sat at them for quite long periods of time, especially if you're a student or work from home, so it's always nice to really make them your own with some personal touches, the best and most obvious way being photos. I've spoken a few times about how much I love to print out photos for my scrapbooks and the HP DeskJet 3720 has fulfilled my printer dreams with it's amazing photo printing. I printed these photos in my frames straight from my phone with the HP Snapshots app and I was over the moon with the quality. When I've used other printers to print photos, the quality has been so hazy and really the photos come out unusable so this was such a nice surprise. The photo paper also has a peel off back so you can stick the pics wherever you want, whether it's in frames, in a scrapbook or on your wall.

Also, I know you're probably all too aware of the extortionate costs of printer ink (I nearly cried buying the ink for my printer after printing my dissertation out) but thanks to HP Instant Ink you can save up to 70% on printer ink by paying just £1.99 a month for an ink subscription which is so great if you're going to be printing out a lot of photos or a lot of documents and I could have definitely used this while I was at uni! 

I also had to keep my New York drawing up. I bought this on the Brooklyn Bridge during my trip to New York in February and it just brings back so many fond memories. I buy so many paintings and drawings from street artists during my trips as I think they're so talented and so overlooked as artists - it's so lovely to support independent artists making a living! 

DECORATE WISELY

Before I cleared my desk, I was guilty of just piling on pieces of home decor that I liked, regardless of whether it matched or not. I tried to minimise this and only have a few bits and pieces on my desk and as a result, don't you think it looks so much cleaner? I've got a few essentials, my make-up, some coffee table books and not much else, resulting in a cleaner, more relaxed workspace.

Of course, candles are something which I think give such a homely feel to any space and are especially great to relax a workspace, which can become quite stressful (and don't us bloggers know it!).  This one is my favourite at the minute - Imperial Candles Calm Lavender. Not only is the packaging absolutely gorgeous, the smell is so relaxing and completely chills me out, especially when I've got deadlines to hit and posts to write and I don't know about anyone else but when I want a chilled night, my room is just absolutely full of candles and tealights. The candle also comes with a lil surprise - it has a surprise piece of jewellery in the middle! You can choose from earrings, rings or a necklace but you won't know what exact piece you'll get until you burn the candle down. How cool is that?! 

Coffee table books and flowers are another thing I love to have. Coffee table books can easily add personality to a desk whereas flowers, especially fresh ones, just add to decor immensely. I'd love to have fresh flowers on my desk every week but sadly I can't be spending that much dollar on them so I bought a fake bunch from Wilko's which look just as nice in my opinion and have saved me immense amounts of cash!

COMPETITION TIME: WIN YOUR OWN HP DESKJET 3720 AND A YEAR'S SUPPLY OF INK!

Okay guys, so you've seen my work space and newly transformed desk so now HP and I want to see your #HPShelfie and you could win your very own super cute HP DeskJet 3720 and a year's supply of ink, so you can print photos to your heart's content! To enter all you need to do is share a photo of your own desk, work space or shelf on social media using the hashtag #HPShelfie and you could also tag me in it using @saltandchic so I can see your entry straight away. I'll be picking two winners - one in July and one in August - to win this amazing prize so get entering ASAP! I can't wait to see your workspaces - I bet they're gorgeously Pinterestable! 

#HPShelfie

Amy x

*This post is in collaboration with HP. All words and views remain my own. Post also contains PR Samples.