Hello,
This post is about another goal that I have set for myself and how I’m going about doing it. I decided that I wanted to be better about being more organized. Not organized in that my life is all over the place and I’m constantly trying to find stuff. No…I have a issue with keeping things that I no longer use or need, thinking that I’m going to use it or I need it. I’m no where needing to being on Hoarders, but I want to be a little neater in a couple of important places in my home. The upstairs of my house still needs to have the “construction” done on it (flooring, some painting, master bath renovation) and that is something we plan on getting to this year – but we have a financial goal concerning our house before we complete that final step of construction.
The main area that I want to make neater is my office/craft room. I feel like I’m constantly working on this space and maybe one day I will finally get it perfect – probably just in time for us to move, but I’ll know what to do at the next house, right.

The more time I spend in that room, the messier it gets, and the more I realize what I need for things to flow properly.

Like any crafter, my crafting stash continues to grow and finding a place to put it all has become a challenge. The things that I had purchased for storage has now become insufficient and I had to find something new to put the “extra” that I had acquired. Also, by doing that I would free up workspace on one of my work tables.

My vanity needed some work also. Somehow along the way, the screws to the drawer handles had become stripped and the fronts of a couple of drawers couldn’t be closed all the way because it would be difficult to open them.

I had to really think about how I wanted things to flow in the room. I needed to define my “work stations”. I knew I wanted to have my sewing machine more readily accessible and having it on the floor in a corner was not making it readily accessible. I needed to get rid of stuff that wasn’t working, even if was fairly new.
One of the first things I did to get me to my path was deciding to sell two of my older sewing machines. I had purchased a new one for myself for Christmas; what did I need the other two for? I took pictures and put them on Letgo. I sold the first a few days before Christmas (yes, I knew even then that something needed to change) and the second one sold just last week. I also decided the stacked washi tape stands had to go, in an effort to free up desktop space.

The old washi tape stands that I will be giving to a fellow planner babe.

I needed another cabinet to properly store some of the things that I was keeping on my work space. I had seen some different cases for storing washi while watching some YouTube channels, and Michaels was in the middle of a storage sale, I went out and bought some (initially 2 and later another when I saw I still had more washi).

In addition, while looking at Michaels site, I found these really cool cabinets. I knew one would work for my vanity area, but I purchased two just in case I needed another for the paper crafting area and I wanted to make sure that I got the sale price (they were originally $99.99 with a sale price of $49.99).

I started working on the room on Martin Luther King weekend and really had to use the entire 3-day weekend to make some headway. This is how things have turned out so far.

My vanity area now that I have switched to a new cabinet.  I also took some of my makeup palettes and placed them in a converted toast rack to compensate for the lost drawer.

Finally, a clean paper crafting and sewing desk to actually have enough space to work on without moving things out of the way.  My sewing machine is now right next to the desk and I don’t have to go to the corner to get it whenever I want to sew.

I moved the drawer units down so that I could put the second cabinet that I purchased from Michaels that now holds my sewing machine.  I decided to actually label the drawers so that I don’t have to pull open each drawer when I’m looking for something. 

I moved my chair in front of the window so that I could enjoy the light better and I wanted to keep my bookcases close together.

I am going to work on my computer desk next. I didn’t go there when I was working on the rest, because I like to write things down. When I pay a bill online, I write the confirmation number down on a scrap piece of paper. If there is a book that I want to read, I write that down on a piece of scrap paper. There are recipes that I find interesting, I write them down on a piece of scrap paper. As a result, my desk is covered with pieces of scrap paper, that can’t possibly be thrown away…. I need them!

It has taken me a couple of weeks to come up with a plan, but I’m excited to implement it.
The last area that I still need to challenge is the closet portion of my craft room. The closet houses all of my fabrics, gift giving/wrapping materials,

ALL of the boxes to ALL of the small electronics that I currently have, and all things travel related.

I have no idea where to begin with that space. I suppose I will spend some more time on YouTube and on the blog pages for inspiration. I would happily except any comments and suggestions that you have. See you guys next week.