Friday, January 28, 2011

Organised Home Project 2: Craft space/home office

Morning all, I hope you've had a great week.  I had a very productive one getting this space in my home re-organised - it was number one on my 'must get sorted' to do list!  I love having this cupboard/nook for my craft space that can just be shut when I'm not using it.  Here's what it looked like when I first set it up back at the start of last year.
Here's my 'before' pic that I took just before Christmas
Out. of. control!!
And here's what it looks like now
Loving it!
Project duration: about 6 hours on and off, which includes the 3 hours I spent one evening sorting out all of my fabric
This was my plan of attack

1. I got my hubby to drill two holes in the first shelf so I could move the printer up onto it.  This has by far made the most difference in here as I've got so much more desk space now and can sew without banging into the printer all the time! He also drilled a hole in the desk for all the cords to go underneath instead of on the desk.
Our phone chargers peeking out of the hole instead of all over the desk
2. I sorted out all my fabric- I had fabric and old clothes I thought I'd use for fabric in the hot water cupboard, along the top of one couch, in the spare room bedside cabinets and drawers as well as more fabric in drawers and containers in my craft space. I dumped all of it in the lounge and gave myself the job of only putting it into one large plastic bin that sits under my desk, 2 drawers and a couple of smaller containers in my craft space.  This took a whole evening to do but it was such a good feeling having it all organised and seeing the 5 bags ready for the charity shop!
3. I gathered up my craft books and put them on a shelf with my crafty magazines. 
4. I re-sorted, contained and labelled craft supplies like a mad woman.
5. I did another huge job of going through my stack of magazines, ripping out the pages I'd marked, and putting them into some clearfiles I already had on the go. It was very satisfying seeing the huge pile of mags out with the recycling too! I had another pile of ripped out pages that had been sitting on a file tray on my desk for about 6 months so I filed them too- it was great seeing all the pages I'd marked and getting all sorts of ideas and inspiration for the year.
 6. Although it may not look like it,  I did actually sort my noticeboard by taking everything off it, keeping what I wanted, getting rid of some pics and adding some new ones. A great crafty project for your craft space or your home office is to make your own noticeboard- they are great for adding a bit of colour with a favourite fabric (not that you can see mine!) and are perfect for organising pictures, reminders and notes.
I made these button tacks by gluing buttons to flat thumbtacks
7. I found this little whiteboard in my spare room gift drawer that had been there for about 2 years so I put it on the wall to keep a track of the crafty projects I want/need to do.
There's my printer cord coming through the hole on the shelf- my hubby even put a little hook to keep it out of the way when not in use :)
And lastly I stuck this lovely page that I got out of the latest "Good" magazine on the wall
 
Phew, all done! It was great to do a really thorough job of it knowing that I was sharing it on here- it makes me feel much more accountable and want to do a really good job with it!
And now for some prizes...
Thank you so much for all your comments about the organising you want to get done this year.  Using the random number generator, the winner of the notebook and pen giveaway is Stella, congratulations!
Thank you also to everyone that commented or linked up with some pics of your organising projects this week- the winner of the 'Linen Cupboard Treats' prize is Meg with her before and after linen cupboard pics.
This week you can use the linky to show us an organising project you've been up to this week, whether it's your craft space, another project you've tackled or even a bit of deluttering (go on we love seeing organising pics!) or just leave a comment -one of you will win this weeks prize which is...
...one of my favourite organising tools, a little compartment organiser, with a few crafty essentials for your craft space.
Next week's project...The Kids Toys
Here's some tips to get you started...
-Sort them into piles/bags of 'keep', 'toss' 'sell' or 'giveaway'
-or use 'The rule of 10' when de-cluttering- for example, decide to keep only 10 baby toys and give away the rest, or vice versa, start with choosing 10 to giveaway- you'll be surprised once you get started how you or the kids will probably get on a roll and choose more than the 10!
Thanks for reading, see you next week and happy organising!
Megan x

19 comments:

Bliss Knits said...

Wow, what a fab work space you have. I'm so jealous! Love all of your ideas. When we eventually sell our house I have AMAZING plans for the spare room!!

Bellgirl said...

This is amazing! I'm coming back later for a closer look!

Jodz said...

Looks great. I hope you can keep it that way ;) My craft room gets tidied then untidied, then tidied......

Seaside Siblings said...

Looks amazing! I did a big clearout of my wardrobe, 7 bags of clothes and shoes to sell, eek! Also listed a handful of bigger items on trade me too.

Christy Franklin said...

Awesome job! I am in the process of working on my craft room, but I need to buy a bookshelf to put all of my new organised boxes ON! Money and time...

Rosie said...

Looks good, Megan. I am very impressed with your organizing! I have been inspired & have cleaned out my pantry & sorted out the mess of plastic containers & kids plates in another cupboard. 2 tidying jobs done - now just 5000 more to go!!!

Anonymous said...

Wow what a difference....very impressive and I love that you can just shut it away out of sight.

I was inspired to do my linen cupboard last week and boy does it feel good to have it sorted :)
x

gretbert said...

I did the linen cupboard last week - thanks for the inspiration! - but I can not face my craft space yet... maybe I will get started on kids toys instead :)

Michelle said...

Such a cute crafting space, it looks so fresh and inviting, thanks for the encouragement to get mine done too!

Jo Ashcroft said...

Your before picture looks just like my room! You are giving me the inspiration and the motivation to start on my space! Yours looks FANTASTIC!

Photography said...

I love your space it looks really nice and fresh and lovely to work in!

Megan said...

Fantastic! I am keeping notes in my head for when I move to the new home and have to set everything up for the first time. Love your button pins, will be stealing that idea! I've been keeping an eye out for an old frame to use for a pinup board, plenty of time to find one still :) Good on your husband for helping out and the hook for the notneeded printer cord is a great idea!

monkeemoomoo said...

Your craft space looks amazing! Well done. I know what a big job it is. I did most of this around christmas time with just a part of the cupboard and a shelf left to do. Unfortunately this did not get done this week, with mold, back to school and Australia day.

I can see what you mean about the labeling machine - hours of fun!

Love you tips too:)

Leonie said...

Oh I LOVE your craft space!! it looks amazing and you have made such good use of the space you have - awesome! once we have another house I will be looking back at all these projects for ideas.. You rock at organising!!!

gaijinwife said...

getting motivated over here. Hmmm, think my English teaching supplies corner / bombsite needs the first go at. Unfortunately the lack of second hand shops in Japan means I either have to chuck more stuff or try and find someone to send it to!!

Beautiful Day said...

Your crafting space is so adorable! You have such yummy supplies. Wish I had a moment to get some crafting done...sigh! xx

Rose said...

*comes out of lurking*

Megan, I wanted to let you know that I've been reading your blog for awhile now, and wanted to feature you for my Sunday Six bloglist- this week's theme is family!

:)

aimee @ lily pad designs nz said...

wow that's cool, megan! I will take some photos today of my craft space reorganisation and link up. I bought a special new 'fold away' free standing cupboard a few months ago but it already needs cleaning up. Way to start a new year! x

Katie said...

Your craft space looks amazing! Great job! I love the idea of going through magazines and just keeping the pages you want ... I need to do that. And your little button thumb tacks are cute. You've motivated me to get organised :)

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