1/25/13

Organized Craft Room

I am a little embarrassed to show these pictures. But, since blogging is all about sharing (and sometimes over-sharing!) here it goes. Around the middle of November, things started to get really busy. My Etsy shop had a lot of orders and so did my wholesale accounts. I am not sure how many headbands rolled out my house, but it was a lot! During that time, I was working fast and furious and this is what happened to my craft room...


It turned into a disaster zone. I was cutting fabric onto the floor and not throwing it away. I had supplies strewn all over. I was working out of bins and then not really putting anything away. I kept telling myself, once I get caught up, then I will clean up. But as the mess kept building, I realized that the time "I saved" by not cleaning, was being used to search for things-- I couldn't find a thing in this mess.



My husband and I talked about the best way to organize room, but I was hesitant to dump a bunch of money into some elaborate system. I searched Ikea, re-sale stores, and Craigslist. One day, we happened by the Container Store and I went in-- just to look.

Source
If you have ever been in the Container Store or really like 'organization' then you know about the Elfa system. Don't laugh, but I have always wanted to own some Elfa.  However, I was turned off by the price. (Please Note- this is not a Container Store plug or advertisement. I didn't receive anything free from them and they don't even know I exist! This is just me rambling on about a store I like :))

Well on that particular day, it turned out to be the BIG Elfa Sale. Oh joy!!

Source
 The Container Store employee that worked with me was awesome. The sales training for Elfa must be intense, because this lady was good. She designed a system for me and then worked on the details until it was just right. I was absolutely giddy when we got it loaded in the car and headed for home.


It took almost an entire day to get my craft room under control. I pulled everything out of the room and started over. Lots of things went to Goodwill, the recycling bin and even the trash can.

I moved around some furniture and went through every scrap of fabric. (Which made me realize I was saving way too many little tiny scraps of fabric!)


Jeff re-designed and re-painted my ribbon holder so it would be more useful. (The pink version was too hard to use when it came to removing old spools and adding new ones.)

 And my Elfa. Oh my Elfa! A crafty girl's dream.



 The new set-up makes it so much easier to work. It feels good just to be in here!

The other side of the room has the vintage school desk and my inspiration board with a tv mounted above it.

 I can definitely say the investment of time and money to get the room under control was worth it. I can find everything and anything easily. I am more efficient when working-and a bit happier too! Perhaps the biggest change has been in my habits. I now make myself clean up before I leave the room, I take the time to pick it up!

So do you have any 'embarrassing' organization disasters like me? A drawer, a closet, an entire room?  I hope I am not alone!

Wonder what this room looked like 3 years ago? Click here to see my how my guest room was turned into a craft room here

 Like this post?
Subscribe to crafty texas girls

 Sharing Here:
-Cowgirl Up
-Home Stories A to Z
-Tatertots and Jello
-Serenity Now
-The 36th Avenue 


Here
















All photos and text on craftytexasgirls.com are copyright protected. You may not copy entire articles or posts (even with a link) without my express written permission. Email any requests or links used to craftytexasgirls@gmail.com.

11 comments:

  1. Oh nice job! Thanks for the tip on ribbon storage I was going to make one, I like this idea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Samantha you must feel so relieved how amazing that is now. It's awesome!!! My office desk looks like your before picture every day and it drives me nuts. I am such an organized person so I know it REALLY is taken years off my life :)

    Mandy@ the Hankful House

    ReplyDelete
  3. Samantha, I am almost too mortified to admit that my craft room looks 10X worse than your before picture! Too many projects, not enough time, etc., but truly, no excuses. I just close my eyes when I go in to get something and go to another room to work. How awful is that? :) Thank you so much for the kick-in-the-pants inspiration I need, especially right before the weekend! Your room looks beautiful!
    ~Cindy, littlemisscelebration.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love...I may need to take ever half of my husbands office...

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just worked on my sewing/craft room yesterday. It was getting so bad I didn't even want to do any of the projects I have going. My biggest hurdle is that the room also has to be a computer and school room too. If I had the whole room for sewing it would help. I just started buying some of my fabric in 10 yard wholesale lots and I cannot figure out how/where to store the stuff. Your room looks great - I'd work in there in a heartbeat! Job well done!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi, I think your room turned out great. Love the Elfa goodness you have going on! I'm working on my sewing room...and I admit I have had to throw away little scraps too...it just got to be too much. YOu did a really great job organizing everything too.
    Blessings,
    Debbie

    ReplyDelete
  7. My craft area has totally looked like your before! Love the new organization! The container store is the best. I am always more productive when everything is in its place. I can not wait to see what you will create next!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, it's awesome! I love your ribbon organizer. I've seen ones like your old one before and thought it would be hard to switch out when empty. I'm building my new craft area soon (moving out of the workshop...not enough room for hubby & me lol) so I will be planning something similar for my ribbons. Way to go with getting your room back in order!
    Debbie :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Such a great post. I love seeing the before and after... such a huge improvement!

    I need to jump on the elfa bandwagon

    ReplyDelete
  10. Beautiful job! I love all of the storage you put in and I just love your craft space!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ahhh . . . sigh . . . if only I . . . could have something this organized! Maybe I can now that you've shown us all how it's done! REALLY like the new ribbons shelves (I still have horizontal rods and it's a big pain in the - well you know! Great Job here. Found you on Hometalk.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment! I love to hear from you and will do my best to answer questions and comments by 'replying via email'.
:) Samantha

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
 
Site Design By Designer Blogs