Throughout our trials and tribulations with keeping a clean home, we know there's one key piece that keeps our home office clean. So why is it missing from so many of the gorgeous office tours we see featured around the web?
We're talking about trash cans!
That's Rebecca's Loving Living Small Home Office featured in these pics (Photoshopped to feature that cartoon-ish trash bin). But there are plenty more (Haily's "Heart Of The Home" Office, Chris' Crafty Home Office Makeover and Becke's Rural Vintage Cabin Space) guilty of missing wastebaskets in their shots.
Why?
Well, maybe they're just not included in the shot. Let's face it: Well-used trash bins are not the most beautiful thing in the word. So when the photographer shot the space, she either positioned the trash just out of frame or moved it away in the effort of "styling" the scene.
Or maybe, these offices don't have trash cans. It's possible, but unlikely.
If the space is lived-in, and the office used, even the most green-minded, "everything-is-digital" apartment dweller is going to produce a little bit of paper waste. And "filing" that waste away in an easily-accessible "circular file" is the best way to keep an office clean.
So we've got a call to action for amateur interior decorators and the photographers who shoot them: Leave the trash can in the shot!
Spaces are more beautiful when they look real. A well-decorated office is one that perfectly places all the features its owner needs to get work done—including a close-at-hand place to stash the trash.
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Photoshoots are about the fantasy of a well designed space! When spaces are shot, they are usually rearranged and lit to accommodate the illusion of perfection rather than the reality of life. Unless something adds to the illusion it should be removed. If the trash can is well designed, by all means, leave it in! But most trash cans are designed only for function.
...not to ask an irrelevant question (even though I am) but where is that rug from? It's FABULOUS.
My trash can is in the kitchen. A half-wall divides the kitchen from the dining/office area. So if I need to throw anything away I just chuck it over the half-wall and 50/50 it will land in the trash can.
There's a trash can in my bathroom and one in my kitchen. If trash happens anywhere else, it gets carried to one of those two receptacles.
Funny!
I have a trash can under my desk, but I don't put paper in it. Paper either goes in the shredder or in a box to be reused/recycled.
Yeah I have trash cans everywhere because I'd rather just clean out 5 cans a week than leave trash lying around.
I used to just have one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen, but my life is better now that I have one in the bedroom for my boyfriend who is allergic to everything and one at my desk in the living room where I basically live.
I don't have a trash in my home office either. Everything gets recycled or, in the case of sensitive information, shredded then recycled.
I second the rug question. We need a new one, and that's looking perfect. Back to the trash can thing, yeah, I agree, please include them in the photo. I've seen some amazing ones, although at this point we only own boring ones. More shots of how to handle recycling, office or otherwise, are also always appreciated.
I thought it was going to be the paper shredder. Shredding and recycling the office paper is a WAAAY safer and better option.
The post linked above mentions that Rebecca found that fab rug at "Cost Plus World Market."
Still love how this office pops up from time to time among design sites. It's gorgeous!
I would love a piece at AT about trash cans. What are some attractive options? I hate the ones I have now, but I'm never sure what to replace them with.
I use the recycling bin in my building's lobby - That accounts for about 1/2 the trash that comes in the mail...
Then there's a wastebasket in my own entryway - That accounts for another 1/4 of the trash that comes in the mail...
Then there's the monthly sweep through the apartment to clear out the recycling - that accounts for almost another 1/4 of the mail (catalogs and old printed bills mostly) that comes into the apartment...
Finally there are the magazines: When the stacks get precarious on top of the magazine bins around the place, they get turned out whether they've been read or not!
same as Loladanger for me.
Count me in with Loladanger and hotpaprika. I'd rather carry the little trash I generate to another room than have another thing on the floor to trip over.
I have a small, decorative bin for waste paper and other recyclables in my bedroom next to my secretary desk. Honestly, it doesn't get used much. Garbage goes in the bathroom trash across the hall. Except right now I have a cold, so I've got a plastic bag by the bed for tissues. The clutter that usually accumulates in the bedroom is clothes and books, not things that need to be thrown away.
Three things every room should have: a trash can, a box of tissue, and scissors.
I keep the trash can and recycling in another room. If I have to get rid of something, I stand up and walk to that room. Bonus: physical exercise. Maybe I should move the shredder too.
I don't care about the trash can, but for the love of god put the toilet lid down before you photograph!
I don't have a trash can in my home office. The kitchen trash is 7 steps away.
I cannot imagine not having a waste basket in each and every room! Kudos to those who are willing to get up and walk to another room everytime they have a used tissue or staple or whatever.
I'd say that in an office not only is the trash can necessary, but something for recycling.