Boxes, Boxes, Anywhere?

I am sick of looking at my papers everywhere. Look at this mess:

I have big plastic bins full of things that I still have to go through and some paper boxes hanging around as well. And bags. Don't forget the bags.

And my desk? I can't even get a reprieve there when I jump online to check email or, of course, blog before the world. Do you see this stuff?

It's insane and I need some order. I had to spend a few weekends first thinking long and hard about the kind of bookcase I wanted in my office. I thought I wanted something green so I can have a bit more whimsy in the place. I was considering something like this green bookshelf I found online. Not too light, not too dark. Not too ornate.

But it just wasn't sitting right with me. As I thought about the bookshelf, I thought about what would live on that bookshelf; how my pretty boxes from I-don't-know-where would look on something like this. But pretty boxes would get lost on this, wouldn't they? And would the green really go well with the desk and chest I got that were in the blond wood family? I was beginning to think not. Maybe the best thing to do is to get something more neutral - say, blond - so the color of the boxes could not only help usher in the color in the room (nevermind that the walls are already Orange Blossom), but the color would simply pop better on that wood.

Now the chest and the desk have curves, so I was thinking I wanted a bookcase that had some curves, but so far no dice. Besides, the one bookshelf that won't leave my mind is the one I first saw long ago that caught my attention because it was open and would allow the color of the walls to show through. I'm past transitional living, mind you, but when something fits, I guess it fits and thank God when that something doesn't cost you your first born child. So even though the wood isn't quite the same wood as what I have on the desk and chest, I think I am going to get this from - shudder - Ikea.
Yep. Ikea IS a fun place to hang out. Don't get me wrong. But I am SICK of building furniture. The $60 I paid to have my desk put together in one hour sold me on never building furniture again. But I don't think Ikea has a furniture assembly service they deal with. Or maybe they do. I'll have to check.

So with the potential bookshelf possibly chosen, I came home tonight to once again look at what I have sitting around to see if I can figure out what kinds of categories I have growing under these plastic lids. I've already made a list of what I know I have in general and tried to figure out what might work best in boxes, and what would be better off in notebooks. I'm even working on going through all the magazines I've saved over a long time to finally tear out the articles that meant something to me and put them - in category order - in a notebook. Oh yes. That's how organized I plan to be in here.

As I lay the time-touched papers and magazines at my feet and surround myself with memories and reminders of what I still need to do, I come across one of the paper companies I have dealt with for my business and it occurs to me that maybe I have been searching all wrong on the Internet for the pretty boxes I am so desperately seeking. I know they exist. I saw loads of them at HomeGoods after work today, but they were florals and dark leathers and simply the wrong colors all over the places. And I saw about 3 -4 aisles of these wrong boxes! So hurtful. If I had no decor to think of, I could have gone nuts! But as always, I can't find what I want when I want it. Only lots of tempting imposters. Why can't I find beautiful containers like these:

Or these:

Or even these, but these are too small and they only come in these so-so colors:

I've searched Pottery Barn, Stacks and Stacks, The Container Store, Bed, Bath and Beyond, Linens n' Things, Walmart, Target, you name it. Why must it be such a chore to get the colors I seek?

In my travels, however, I did discover this great looking blog written by a professed OrgJunkie. I love her colors and the cartoon shelf in her header is pretty much the shelf I picture in my head when I look over at the blank wall behind me. Maybe this organization maven will have some answers for me when I get the time to go trolling through her posts. I do have a colleague from one of my business groups who is a professional organizer to whom I can resort as well, and she even lives on my street, so I know all hope is not lost. And oh! Do you like jewelry boxes? I found some beautiful ones here but here's a picture to entice you like it did me. Aren't they great? The color is what draws me. Plus, my also ongoing need for the perfect jewelry box. One with lots of little squared compartments so I can keep earrings separate but equal from the rest. But I digress.

In the meanwhile, I know what I want in boxes so I'll just keep on looking and searching and waiting to find perfection. I know they are out there. I know someday my prints will live in their own perfectly colored box on a shelf of my cubby-holed bookshelf. I can't wait for the day when someone asks me for something at HOME, like they do at work, and I can not only find it, but I can find it quickly and I can find last year's version as well. My writings will rest with my writing class information but not all mixed up. Oh no. Even in the box, things will be organized.

I gotta tell ya, I don't know what happened to make me so obsessed with all things neat and in order but then again, if I really think about it and I'm honest, I suppose I've always been this way. And color? Well, I did originally go to college to be an Interior Design major so maybe I've just come full circle 15 years later. I suppose there is something comforting in knowing that I've always been this way and I've just reached the age where my life-long loves can manifest themselves in new and personally exciting ways. Whoa! How did I get here? I was talking about boxes, for crying out loud!

If you have any recommendations for where to buy some - no. I will not make them. Don't have time or energy for that. - then I am all blog ears. Regale me.