"It is well to remember that the entire population of the universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others." A.Holmes

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Messiest Room In The House Re-Do ( Craft Room)

I keep setting aside blocks of time on my calendar to clear out & re-organize my craft room, but life keeps re-arranging my schedule. ( Grrr) What is it about MY planning and reality that conflict? Anyway, I have finally started while the season of extreme busy-ness is upon me...what can I say, I am a glutton for frustration. Here is the start ( above). My goal is to weed out items I know I will never use, re-organize and efficiently store items I use all the time, and make the room I work in many hours a day a pleasant and inspirational place to be.You can see the shelves hold wool and yarns, but what you don't know is that my wool supply is at it lowest right now. Soon, more of my wool will be back from the fiber mill where I have taken my skirted and washed wool to be turned into batts and rovings. There will be so much wool it will sit in bags in front of the shelf. That is not even taking into account the wool from next months' shearing.... This wall holds work and storage space. I am trying to make it pleasing to my eyes and heart. The table is an antique high school home-ec table. The wood surface the teapot is on once topped a voc-ed drafting table, the filing cabinets were re-claimed from an old desk our brother-in-law gave us. They hold patterns, ideas, crafting books....all in order now of course. :)
These shelves hold boxes clearly labeled with things I really do use frequently.
I am excited about this little shelf ( above ) because it allows me to position things I want to photograph by simply removing these items, arranging whatever I am photographing ( little sheep, miniatures, etc, ) positioning the goose-neck lamp for the right lighting, all inside my warm room, not completely at the mercy of outside natural light anymore. ( Even though I prefer natural lighting) This is my favorite place to write, read , think. This window looks out onto our big front lawn and our pond. I watch my flock of ducks swim in the pond from here, my doves in their beautiful dovecote from here. However, this is also usually my most cluttered place, my messiest place. My husband is helping me fix that problem. He has measured the area and thought about the need for storage.He came up with a plan, but when we went to purchase the needed storage the store was sold out and maybe in 2 weeks we might be able to purchase our desired solution.
So, for now, this temporary shelf on the right holds needed wool processing equipment and my T.V. It works, and I am fine with it...
..on the left, where the major storage is needed, well, things are stock-piled because I removed the very inefficient shelving in preparation for the new.There is another wall I haven't shown where my sewing machine sits, that is for another time.~I have several big bins of fabric that will be stored in the shelving that will fit into this space.
Boxes that please me hold things I use frequently, and I have clearly labeled each box. I love these sheep tags* and originally bought them from an Etsy site to use as gift tags. I could not give them up and decided to use them to label my boxes. The tags make me smile, and smiling is good for you the health professionals say. Of course, a cup of tea and my notebook for jotting down my thoughts, ideas, and inspiration for possible future projects is important to have in my craft room, my workshop, my room of busy-ness and creativity. I have titled this notebook Snippets.~My mission is to fit this room only with items that I will use in the near future and edit the things I am very unlikely to use. I have already taken out a lot of things I know I will never get around to using, projects I will never do, things that have become just clutter. The only things that will remain must be able to fit into this room without impeding my ability to work and move around in it.. I know I will not be getting a bigger room, or shop, nor do I want one now.All the space I have right now is more than sufficient for my needs...so what I have to do is be creative in editing, storing, and using the abundance I already have. Creative being the key word.I am hoping anyone reading this who has also posted pictures & ideas about their own creative spaces will let me know so I can view theirs and maybe pick up a few tips.

15 comments:

Timi said...

You have a wonderful craft room!!!
I love your sheep-tags! They are very lovely!!!
The cup of tea looks so hmmmm, delicious!!!

c. Joy said...

I am in the process - long and slow because life keeps getting in the way - of turning a storage room into a craft room. I'm searching through blogs to get inspiration and yours is one of the best. Good job.

Anonymous said...

We're gradually organizing our house now too since all 3 of my siblings (2 brother's and my sister), one of my sister-in-law's, my brother-in-law, my 4 niece's, and nephew will all be here for Christmas this year! My other sister-in-law can't travel since it's too close to having my niece.

Blessings,
Amy

Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy said...

Wow, Kathy, your room is beautiful ... it is you! You remind me so much of me. I finally divided up all my sewing stuff from my writing stuff last year. Our office is a huge mess though, and you have given me inspiration today. Can't wait to see your new furniture.

Thanks so much for stopping by to see me,

Kathy M.

Deanna said...

I LOVE YOUR CRAFT ROOM!!!!

Kathy, Your home and the ground you live on are wonderful. I think looking out of the window and seeing the ducks and other animals would be so very pleasant.

May you have a Happy Holiday month.
Sweet Blessings to you,
d

Connie said...

You've done a wonderful job, Kathy. It all looks neat and organized. :-)

LindaSue said...

Your re-do sounds beautiful and functional - something your beloved DH appears to do very well!

Southern Comfort said...

I would be very ashamed for you to see my craft area. You have given me inspiration for a January project-put all my stuff in pretty boxes like you did. It looks really pretty Kathy.

PeregrineBlue said...

what a beautiful view in that room of your own. i had never seen this room and don'y find it messy at all considering all that is in it. you should see my mess now, although i have focused on the great room which is where we are spending most of our time right now.

finally got the washer and dryer set up, phew. i am so enjoying this home. the garage is packed to the gills which proves one does NOT need much to be happy. so very soon we will purge and have a humongous yard sale and believe me, it will not hurt one bit to part with a lot of things that are only background noise anyway.

kn is looking so lovely, i spotted her on the sidebar and she is growing up exotically beautiful.

all my love your way, as always

Dolores said...

I think your craft room looks wonderful! It's obvious that you're very organized...I am too, and I'm always trying to find ways to better organize.

Looking out your window from your desk.....beautiful!
Hugs,

Lady Jane said...

Oh my but you are so organized. I would be ashamed to send you pics of mine right now. Come jan I will clean up this mess. I am very fortunate to have half the basement but I still can never find what I am looking for, lol... I cant wait to see what you will create in your new room. Hugs, LJ

Pondside said...

No wonder that desk is your favorite place - such a lovely view.
I am just now getting the spare room set up as a creative space - I don't know when I'll be ready to share a photo - it's pretty disorganised right now!

Hallie said...

I sooo love seeing your craft space!! I too have been working on my space but have yet to take pictures of it. My space doubles as our school room and I'm afraid it is never clean enough for pictures! lol We'd love to get together for another visit. I so enjoyed visiting with you at the show!!

Thistle Cove Farm said...

What a delightful room, Kathy. What is it about our craft rooms...they always seem to need attention, don't they? Perhaps, after Christmas, I'll tend to my craft room. Maybe I'll have the energy then.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!

A. Joy said...

So glad you enjoy my old bedroom so much! It's looking great and easy to use!