The Nelson swag leg desk does come with pull-out drawers (see the narrow black strip in front that almost conceals these) where you can store pens, notepads, and such. But I really don’t have much use for those. Nor do I use other common desk accessories like calendars, staplers, tape, etc. Let me explain.

I’ve gone completely paperless and so I don’t have need for such stuff. I don’t print anything — that is not a printer, it’s a Fujitsu ScanSnap 300M for digitizing every piece of paper that people still send me every now and again. As soon as I scan it into a PDF file, the paper goes to the trash. I use the Calendar on my Mac for schedules, e-mail for communicating, Evernote for creating, capturing, and managing notes, audio recorded reminders, lists, business cards, etc. and Omnifocus for to-do lists. And all these sync with my iPhone so I have everything with me wherever I go.

I don’t need physical desk space to lay paper out for projects because I do all that on my computer desktop. Calculator? I use the one on the Mac or on the iPhone. I download all my financial statements online from banks and credit card companies directly to Quicken. I use my bank’s BillPay service to send out “checks” to some folks that still can’t handle online transactions (like my landscape guy).

I have no file cabinet because I have digitalized all my paper files. I store them all in a network attached storage device (a Drobo with 4 TB of disk space) tucked away with my WiFi router in an inconspicuous space. I’ve gotten rid of all my physical media (CDs, DVDs, tapes, etc.) and manage all the media content in digital form in iTunes. No printed photos, either. All in iPhoto. I stream all these media (music, photos, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, etc.) wirelessly to my AppleTV connected to my LCD TV.

Needless to say, I hate paper. The only ones I keep are some remnants of the “old technology” that I haven’t thrown away like the books that you see on the bookshelf next to the desk. They’ve attained “accessory” status. And the last 7 years tax returns which the IRS still requires you to keep paper copies of. Even if I’ve been filing them electronically for the last 10 years.

I started this digitalization of my life over 10 years ago but only realized it fully recently when most of the enabling technologies finally became available. The tools are there. It was challenging at first, breaking all those old habits, but now it is second nature to me. “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication” is the mantra that has continued to motivate me. And it’s gratifying to know that I’m also being green and helping conserve the planet’s resources. I encourage you to do the same.

I wanted to bring up that it doesn’t seem very practical though. Beautiful, yes..but practical? I am not criticizing, just trying to open a discussion so that I can figure out how they do it, so I can then do the same someday!!! I swear!
I don’t see any pencils or pens or notepad paper. You never write anything down? No calendar, no stapler, tape, calculator. Is that the printer? Where is the paper for the printer? Where is the external hard drive?…which you obviously need if I can assume you are just super digital. Where is the scanner? Where is the person’s file cabinet? You can only be digital to a point. Office supplies? Is all that cluttering stuff hidden away from this beautiful shot in a closet in another room or do they just don’t use this stuff?
It is very nice, but there is absolutely no desk space. What if you have to do a project? Where do you spread out?
Like I said, I really, really am not trying to criticize..but figure out how this person did this!!
Someday, someday….