My Craft Room has been more of a place of frustration than a place of refuge for me since I acquired it from DD1 more than a year ago when she assumed her own abode. I have worked hard to get all the elements into it that I need when in a creating frenzy, but I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time sorting, clearing out, and re-arranging, rather than creating in it.
When I took over the caramel-ly, yellow-colored room (DD1 has great color sense), I envisioned sitting in the bright, sunny, west-facing room, happily sewing on the machines or pouring over inspiring books, or sitting and knitting to the soothing sounds of the radio. All the elements are there: a good work chair, good tables, good machines, some storage, although this is always an issue. The only thing lacking is an reading chair, but there is certainly no room for that as the single guest bed has filled any space left. Still the elevated bed has good, if not already overflowing storage capacity, and a large table top placed on the bed top gives me a huge surface to work on when there are no guests around.
So why did I have to spend large amounts of time this past few days de-cluttering once again? At least once a month I have to do this total overhaul. No sooner do I get things cleared ready for action, I turn around and there it is – clutter. I do clear up as I go, even in the midst of most creating frenzies I clean up along the way. I put things away on the shelves and into the bins and cubbies and sort tools and place them back in their homes. I can find most things fairly quickly when needed. But it seems I am constantly doing this. It’s annoying and definitely off-putting when you want to be creative.
Since I can’t believe the source of the problem is me (denial is a wonderful thing!), it must be that the problem lies with storage again – there is never adequate, easily accessible, or visually appealing enough storage. Any crafter will tell you the woes that are storage. The Yarn Harlot http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/ has written a dissertation or two about her creative yarn storage, and Posie Gets Cozy http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/ has documented the most incredible pictures of her craft room transformations.
I wanted a craft room transformation. I want to see all of my wonderful things on display so that when I walk in I can be inspired on the spot. I want to be able to stare at the layers of fabrics until some pleasing combination overwhelms me into action and a new book bag is born. I want to see the fuzzy blend of a wall of yarn turn into a luscious stole.
To that end I decided that I’m going to try to emulate a yarn/craft store set up in miniature and so have added yet another new tall skinny shelving unit crammed into the poor little room! But I have to say, it is working – it is filled to capacity with yarny goodness and I love that I can see quite a bit of what I have out in the open. Now it doesn’t make for a serene image – zen enthusiasts would not approve this visual riot of color. But for me, if I hide it, I lose it or forget about it so it must be visible. For example I have discovered large quantities of acrylic crochet yarn (no shuddering you purists – I like crochet yarns for my rainy day blankets and throws!) hidden in a box that I forgot about. No more. It’s on in the shelving unit, displayed just like a proper yarn store.
And I have changed the work desk layouts to an L-shape – I have lost some desk top but gained some floor space, so the area seems bigger and it is easier to reach the window and I can spin on my chair from my serger to my sewing machine without having to roll across to the other table. I can also reach all my yarn without having to move anything. Very convenient! The expanded floor space is better for setting up my ironing board too. And last night while reading Amy Karol’s new book, Bend the Rules Sewing, http://angrychicken.typepad.com/ I had a “duh” moment – Amy sets up her ironing board at table height next to her sewing machine so she doesn’t have to get up and down while pressing seams or the small pieces that she is working on. She just spins around to the surface she needs to work on! Totally “duh”!
Next I need to work on some more fabric storage and I’m eyeing the closet for a complete overhaul. I don’t need a closet. I need big shelving, like a linen cupboard, so I’ve talked to the G-man about removing the useless closet insert and even maybe the closet doors too, and putting in big wide shelving that can hold my fabric bins. He’s all game if it would remove the bins of fabric from the basement, thereby clearing out more “stuff” out of the way of his on-going basement renovation.
I see a near future weekend project plan in the works!
Knit on………..
kate
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