or
Keepin’ It Real
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My Dirty Little Secret
It is a New Year. Usually I don’t have New Year’s Resolutions (as you will see from the photos below), my life is just lived a bit more haphazardly. Remember that girl up there in my header is me—skipping along, stuff falling out of the wagon and while I never want to let go of the shear bliss of creating, it is time to let in some organization.
I would love to open this up for a group project as I am always willing to receive help and take advice. However, I remember not too long ago when I asked for your best organizational tips many of you seemed as befuddled as me (hehe). I will put it out there again. What should I do? How do you do it?
I will post a new photo of my room the 1st day of each month this year. Hopefully this will document the progress I have made! Any companies out there that want to take me on as their personal project—don’t hesitate to apply!
Turn away now if you are squeamish!
The Room
The Closet
A crazy shaped nook built into the wall where I stuff fabric
I have started reading Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity
. I would love to implement his system. I do wonder what he would do with all of the #6 plastic containers waiting patiently to be made into Shrinky Dinks? You can take a little quiz to test your Getting It Done IQ at his website.
I realize by posting these photos Martha will never want to be my BFF! I do feel the need to explain the photos (my husband even said he was embarrassed for me)—-it takes so much stuff to do all the projects here at Skip to my Lou, the room is too small, I don’t have money to buy more organizational aides(and obviously don’t know how to use what I do have), I have three kids, I am so busy, on and on………but really!
Help!
Organized and Creative are not two words that go together. I seem to volley between the two, but never having both at once. I think they must use different parts of the brain. 🙂 Try Flylady.net. She helped me a lot. I still volley back and forth and at Christmas my craft room is a disaster, but I love being in there! Flylady helped me to get things under control and not feel guilty when I don’t. Babysteps, you’ll get there, or even part way there and you’ll feel better. 🙂
You mean that I am not the only one who has rooms like this?! I am on a cleaning, organizing, declutter mission, too!
When I was in college I had a very creative roommate, in fact she was an arts major!, and her part of the room was a chaos….piles of clothes on the bed during the day, piles of clothes on the floor at night…under the bed grew all you could think of…of course we, other people on the house, thought and commented how could she live like that??!!! blah, blah. blah… anywho… now that I am at my more leisure self and can actually devote time to my creative juices…am almost at that point…. I just don’t want to spend time doing chores…there are so many other important things to do!!! and so is the matter with my tiny craft room!!!
It is a matter of priority for us who like to create…that comes first… and we should just own it!!! of course some organization ever so often is always due!!!
Just came across this old article… I was wondering if you found a solution? Have you took an updated picture??
hehehe,
i have to laugh!!! my daughter and i started our business 2 years ago. she is 21 and the oldest of 9.she was living in an apartment next door.well she , her husband, and my 2 yr. old granddaughter moved home a year ago.so now there are twelve of us in my house.as hard as i try to be organized it seems like i am the only one trying!!! lol.my craft room is my haven,so i have a nice two door cabinet to keep my fabric in,on the outer door ,i bought closet organizers and put all my ribbon in it.three drawer organizers are the best though because they are all stackable and come in all sizes all i can say is one thing a day at a time and good luck!!!
Hi Heidel!
What a wonderful thing to open this today and see it for the first time! I’ve spent the past 6 months organizing my basement craft area. I began by taking everything OUT, and starting with a blank slate. I went quick. I made 3 piles, Definately Want, Definately Don’t and Maybe. I hid the Maybes inside a box. Having to decide right then bogged me down, so I did them last. I also took everything out of the store packaging.
My storage consists of rolling plastic caddies, bookshelves, and a 5ft. long set of old kitchen cabinets that sit on the floor. I have baskets, and clear shoeboxes. I got some stickie mail labels (Leftovers from work) and labeled everything. I let go of all round continers because they waste space.
I realized I had too much in one place. So, less-frequently used items such as iron, sewing machine, toaster oven, large paints, rolls of wallpaperr, fabrics and foam core are in a different section of the basement. My area now has the Immediate Gratification things in it. I also did not let myself put up a second craft table. Since the first one gets covered, the second one would, too.
I do jewery, sewing, painting and drawing, and re-use and repurpose everything I can. Almost all containers came from thrift or someone’s trash. I also keep trays of all kinds, Everything having to do with a project gets stored on the tray. I wish I had a photo to share, as I’m happy with my results and I sleep better at night, too. I’ll be sending good vibes your way. Beth in Kansas
I think you’re great, never mind Martha. Anyone who puts tissue paper in all her sweaters before she folds them and puts them in her drawer is not someone I’m interested in. I don’t have the luxury of time to do that and I don’t have the money she has. I saw a tee shirt that says ‘Martha doesn’t live here’ and I think we should all wear one. Martha is fine, for Martha, but we can’t all be Martha (thank heaven, that’s a good thing).
I bought a number of clear plastic boxes with plastic lids and a pack of lined library cards. I divided my hobby items (multitudinous) into categories and put them in the boxes and wrote on the cards what was in the boxes. I taped a card to the front of each box. I can see through the boxes as well as reading the cards. I’m often not great about keeping up with my boxes, but things are much better since I started that. Of course, I have some hobbies that don’t fit into boxes and that’s a whole different story. I’m still working on that.
The bottom line is that life is short and not always beautiful. You have to have some fun and enjoyment. When you are a creative person, you need to express that. The people who have responded to you here love what you do and it’s great that you share your passion for making things with everyone. You’ve spread some joy and happiness around to other people and there’s a lot to be said for that. In 50 years from now, no one will remember what your craft room looked like. If they do, they are more likely to remember the wonderful things that came out of it and smile. I’ve enjoyed your site immensely. Thank you.
You know, I can relate to you`r stress-related cleaning. One thing that helped me was thinking 1: Do I NEED it? 2: do I collect one pretty thing, or many pretty things? 3: I need more space 4: Who can I give things away to as an gift or to get ridd of some things? I don`t like to toss away stuff, and are a fan of recykling.
I`m a crafter myself when the situations are awailable. 🙂
but it is good to see that you managed to organise the stuff into order. Isn`t it fun to go in there now?
So when you say you got stressed I know what you mean 🙂
Sorry if the english is a bit off, I`m norwegian.
So I just wanted to give a little support and understanding. Happy crafting, Heidel.
Hi Cindy,
Thanks for the comment on 30days and Tip Junkie. I love this post of yours- why do you think I did that organizational post? Um because I am the one who needs help. I bet I could at least match these pictures if not outdo them….I am working on my craft space right now. But I’m not brave enough to show the pictures.
That’s why I love that book I found.
Anyway- thanks for checking in and clutter sisters unite!! 😉
my craft room is lined up in bags next to my bed…at the foot of my bed in a storage ottoman…in the living room piled all over the train table…
it’s taking over the house…my yarn…my material…my beads…
well, one day…some of my kids will be moving to college. then i can take over their rooms!!
I’m so happy that I’m not the only one who has a secret craft room. It was disasterous after chrismtas projects. So I’ve started the process as well. I’ve posted in my blog as well the before and after pics.
Good Luck! I have a little embroidery shop, and boy does that craft stuff get unorganized quickly!
We have recently organized the fabrics into color order in clear plastic drawers, it’s helped a little.
Still, it’s a major daily battle. I just try to stay focused on my craft and when I’m stuck – I clean up. This is probably not the advice you were looking for. But, I happen to stumble onto your site and it’s really nice! I’m having fun looking around. When I saw the pictures of your craft space, I felt right at home.
Best to you, Nancy
just emailed you a fwd from better homes and gardens- all about organizing a creative space! lol… came in with good timing.
Boy, good luck. I empathize. Creative people are messy. Period. I do agree that streamlining would probably be more productive. I am going to use all the advice you have gotten. Good luck, cant wait to see “after” pics!
Thank you so much. It makes me feel a bit better that I’m not the only one that needs some help (and time) to get things organized …. and then somehow KEEP it all organized.
Every time I think (operative word THINK) things are looking good/organized – someone decides that we NEED something else and brings it home, decides its NOT QUITE right and changes things without saying anything, or the like.
I think I’m going to start smacking fingers/hands that try to “help” when I don’t want it or ADD to the mess with things that they “need” but don’t have a place to put it.