When the last entry closed, I was thinking happy thoughts of playing around with the sewing machine, right?
Then I thought maybe I'd tidy up the craft room first, because clutter's been accumulating. A quick tidying up and then craft-time as reward for a job well done! Sounded like a good idea.
Of course there were a few minor distractions along the way:
-- moving things to another room, seeing stuff that needed to be done there, and oh, it'll just take a minute...
-- going into full purge mode in the closet of another room and ending up with a stack of board games and puzzles that we never-ever use...
-- writing an e-mail on the possibility that someone else in the family might want the games and puzzles before they are donated...
-- composing a list of a few other items that might be worth selling online...
Then I got really started in the craft room.
Ugh. Lots of stuff that needed to GO somewhere-- but where? Decided to roll up my sleeves and get some serious clearing out done.
In the back of the closet I found the removable seat from the PT Cruiser. It had been in there since we got the car, years ago. Well, now we have a garage, and one of the benefits of having a garage is that you can use it to store oddities like removable seats from cars. The darn thing is heavy, so I got Donald's help moving it out of the house-- and moving a new shelving unit from the garage and into the house. It would go in the closet, where the old seat used to be, and provide some wonderful (out of sight) storage opportunities. Yay!
We got it inside, almost into the closet, when it dawned on me that, oops, it won't fit there because of the built-in shelf/clothes-hanging thing. Noooooo. We didn't want to take that down, so it was back to the drawing board.
After thinking and moving things and thinking some more, I came up with the current arrangement. The shelving unit is still in the room, but it's out in the open. The process of sorting and deciding where everything belongs on shelves, in or out of the closet, etc. took several hours spread out over a few days.
It'll work, and there is undeniably more storage space now than when I started, but it's funny how a ten-minute sprucing-up turned into a major project!
There are still a couple of places that need attention (the long-neglected clay station, mainly). The "wall art" element of the room is sadly lacking, and I'm thinking of putting a simple curtain around the bottom of the small table (to hide the stuff underneath). Every now and then I think about painting the tops of the tables (if not the legs) white to brighten up the space, but realistically, that's unlikely to happen soon. (There are so many things already waiting for paint!) Oh, and don't remind me of the stuff that still has no real "home". I moved a lot of things into another, lesser-used room. Boxes and bags of it are waiting to be donated (next week?), but that still leaves too many frames and prints (unpaired, mostly)--and shelves that need to be painted-- all waiting for that glorious day when they'll go up on the walls. (I'm going for the record on that-- Most Years Procrastinating the Hanging of Assorted "Wall Stuff". Every time I think about doing it, the task feels so overwhelming that I put it off for another day. Time for a "just do it" mentality.)
Phew. This has turned into a long-winded post, written over the course of days.
It's New Year's Eve, now. A fitting time for reorganizing and clearing out the old to make way for the new. The decorative touches will have to wait a while, probably. I have a little cold (or something sinus/head-related)-- not bad enough to keep you in bed, but sufficient to slow you down a bit-- so I've decided to call it good and snap a few photos. It may be lacking the finishing touches (much less the elegant, cohesive design of some of the more covetable craft rooms), but I'm already looking forward to spending some time in my freshly organized crafting space! :o)
Here are the photos!
I want to repaint/re-paper the bulletin board. It wouldn't take much to make it pretty again.
Those bulletin boards over the clay/ironing table need to be repositioned. They're off-center, now that I moved the table further down. The thing is, I don't think I even want them there at all, any more. Not sure what I'll put there instead...
That table with the clay oven and stereo on it is the one I'm planning to give a "skirt".
That grey thing in the corner is the back of one of several mirrors. A couple were put in the bathrooms by the builder, and we replaced them with something nicer. I'm not even sure where the others came from, but I'm ready for them to move out. Maybe one or two can be worked into the garden... Faux windows?
The closets are pretty full. Most of the acrylic yarn has moved into the one on the right (where the car seat was, before). That big white "pillow" is a bag of bean-bag-chair filling (tiny styrofoam balls) that I got from a deep-discount place. (It seemed like a good idea at the time...)
The closets are connected, and in between the two doors, facing the bean-bag filler, is a small filing cabinet where paper/scrapbooking supplies are stored.
The denim cathedral-window thing draped on the back of a chair is a quilt I started working on a long, long time ago. I ought to spend some time finishing that, but I hesitate, because I feel like I ought to use the old sewing machine for that, and obviously I want to use the new sewing machine. So....
The jaw-dropping works of art on the easel... ;o) It's a work-in-progress based on something I saw on Pinterest. When I finish them, I'll share all the pertinent information. They look a bit odd right now, but I have hopes...
I think that covers every angle-- and I can't wait to get in there and craft!
I wish you all a very happy, prosperous, and creative new year!
Then I thought maybe I'd tidy up the craft room first, because clutter's been accumulating. A quick tidying up and then craft-time as reward for a job well done! Sounded like a good idea.
Of course there were a few minor distractions along the way:
-- moving things to another room, seeing stuff that needed to be done there, and oh, it'll just take a minute...
-- going into full purge mode in the closet of another room and ending up with a stack of board games and puzzles that we never-ever use...
-- writing an e-mail on the possibility that someone else in the family might want the games and puzzles before they are donated...
-- composing a list of a few other items that might be worth selling online...
Then I got really started in the craft room.
Ugh. Lots of stuff that needed to GO somewhere-- but where? Decided to roll up my sleeves and get some serious clearing out done.
In the back of the closet I found the removable seat from the PT Cruiser. It had been in there since we got the car, years ago. Well, now we have a garage, and one of the benefits of having a garage is that you can use it to store oddities like removable seats from cars. The darn thing is heavy, so I got Donald's help moving it out of the house-- and moving a new shelving unit from the garage and into the house. It would go in the closet, where the old seat used to be, and provide some wonderful (out of sight) storage opportunities. Yay!
We got it inside, almost into the closet, when it dawned on me that, oops, it won't fit there because of the built-in shelf/clothes-hanging thing. Noooooo. We didn't want to take that down, so it was back to the drawing board.
After thinking and moving things and thinking some more, I came up with the current arrangement. The shelving unit is still in the room, but it's out in the open. The process of sorting and deciding where everything belongs on shelves, in or out of the closet, etc. took several hours spread out over a few days.
It'll work, and there is undeniably more storage space now than when I started, but it's funny how a ten-minute sprucing-up turned into a major project!
There are still a couple of places that need attention (the long-neglected clay station, mainly). The "wall art" element of the room is sadly lacking, and I'm thinking of putting a simple curtain around the bottom of the small table (to hide the stuff underneath). Every now and then I think about painting the tops of the tables (if not the legs) white to brighten up the space, but realistically, that's unlikely to happen soon. (There are so many things already waiting for paint!) Oh, and don't remind me of the stuff that still has no real "home". I moved a lot of things into another, lesser-used room. Boxes and bags of it are waiting to be donated (next week?), but that still leaves too many frames and prints (unpaired, mostly)--and shelves that need to be painted-- all waiting for that glorious day when they'll go up on the walls. (I'm going for the record on that-- Most Years Procrastinating the Hanging of Assorted "Wall Stuff". Every time I think about doing it, the task feels so overwhelming that I put it off for another day. Time for a "just do it" mentality.)
- - - - -
Phew. This has turned into a long-winded post, written over the course of days.
It's New Year's Eve, now. A fitting time for reorganizing and clearing out the old to make way for the new. The decorative touches will have to wait a while, probably. I have a little cold (or something sinus/head-related)-- not bad enough to keep you in bed, but sufficient to slow you down a bit-- so I've decided to call it good and snap a few photos. It may be lacking the finishing touches (much less the elegant, cohesive design of some of the more covetable craft rooms), but I'm already looking forward to spending some time in my freshly organized crafting space! :o)
Here are the photos!
I want to repaint/re-paper the bulletin board. It wouldn't take much to make it pretty again.
Those bulletin boards over the clay/ironing table need to be repositioned. They're off-center, now that I moved the table further down. The thing is, I don't think I even want them there at all, any more. Not sure what I'll put there instead...
That table with the clay oven and stereo on it is the one I'm planning to give a "skirt".
That grey thing in the corner is the back of one of several mirrors. A couple were put in the bathrooms by the builder, and we replaced them with something nicer. I'm not even sure where the others came from, but I'm ready for them to move out. Maybe one or two can be worked into the garden... Faux windows?
The closets are pretty full. Most of the acrylic yarn has moved into the one on the right (where the car seat was, before). That big white "pillow" is a bag of bean-bag-chair filling (tiny styrofoam balls) that I got from a deep-discount place. (It seemed like a good idea at the time...)
The closets are connected, and in between the two doors, facing the bean-bag filler, is a small filing cabinet where paper/scrapbooking supplies are stored.
The denim cathedral-window thing draped on the back of a chair is a quilt I started working on a long, long time ago. I ought to spend some time finishing that, but I hesitate, because I feel like I ought to use the old sewing machine for that, and obviously I want to use the new sewing machine. So....
The jaw-dropping works of art on the easel... ;o) It's a work-in-progress based on something I saw on Pinterest. When I finish them, I'll share all the pertinent information. They look a bit odd right now, but I have hopes...
I think that covers every angle-- and I can't wait to get in there and craft!
I wish you all a very happy, prosperous, and creative new year!