I’ve sorted out my craft room and made it neat in the past. But this time, I moved furniture, dejunked it and two other areas in the process, and surpassed past levels of meticulous sorting and organization. In the past I’d just stick things on top, stash it in the corner and forget it was there- and never use it. All that craft crap is gone. And what’s left doesn’t look like a magazine picture, but it’s all totally functional- which is better to me than matching bins of every size.
This redo took me all week. On Monday I moved furniture from the office into Leo’s room, moved book shelves around. Then on Tuesday moved the teal craft center (and entertainment center with added shelves) down stairs, moved a desk over and started filling it up. On Tuesday and Wednesday we went shopping for organizational bins and file folders, and spent Thursday and Friday throwing things away and putting it all in the right place. Plus cleaned out my former office area and organized all the preschool things there. Doesn’t it sound exhausting? It was.
Here’s my finished craft center- bins of fabric on top, with cans of dow rods and vinyl. The thinner bookcase has all my papers- magazines, binders of patterns and my kids school scrapbooks, bind it all goods and printing cartridges, paper and scraps, etc.
My huge desk (from Goodwill) is super heavy, made of metal, and best of all, has a huge surface that can handle a computer and a sewing machine or two, plus enough room to cut out patterns, etc. And I put the computer behind the monitor. Leo can’t even see the buttons he used to threaten me with pressing. Take that Captain Electronic Destructo!
I was excited about my ribbons- tutorials and organizers abound on the interwebs, but I went the cheap way with a bin with holes and dow rods. I love having organizational bins that can be used differently in the future. And notice how some of the ribbon spools are loopy- that’s because they’re toilet paper tubes. They’re more compact and can be cut to ribbon size.
I spent a whole afternoon on this file folder bin. Folders for every party décor I’ve got, folders for every color of cardstock, etc. It felt so good the next day to be able to find the exact color quickly, without making a huge mess.
The major process of this craft room is what you can’t see- the 4 garbage backs of broken organizers, fabric scraps way too small to use, etc. I organized the fabric by type- cottons, silky fabrics, knits, flannels, etc. That’s usually how I do projects- I think of the type of fabric first, before I think of colors or motif. So it works for me.
This is my cereal box letter carrier. I made this a few months back. The cereal boxes I used don’t fit full papers- but it works great for all those little things that clutter your desk that get lost in drawers. And now I have a spot for church receipts, stamps, and all the other little papers. And I just noticed there’s a calendar in there I forgot to bring to my family last weekend. Whoops.
The other pics are the drawers, not yet full of junk- a sewing drawer and a drawer with paper clips, rubber bands, etc, in separate containers. I post this picture because this was so against my old philosophy- I’d think- just stick it in the bin somewhere out of the kitchen so I can’t see it, I’ll find it when I need it. My new goal-when kids ask “where’s a…” I’ll have an exact location, not 5 possibilities. We’ll see how long these little bins last!
On the bottom of the teal organizer is my camera shelf- which includes my new Jo Tote. I love it. It’s an expensive camera bag, that only a camera obsessed father would buy for his daughter, wanting to protect all that camera gear. I’m kind of excited to go on vacation with this bag.
Last but not least, this is the view on the side of my desktop. A family calendar, a pretty cup of pencils and scissors, a book of Mormon and a picture of the Savior. Lest I ever forget what all this busy is about, it’s about those things- Making my family happy, making my world pretty, emulating my Savior through Service. I feel so blessed to have luxury to even make a room all about my hobbies.
Hooray for organization!
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