A Space to Call My Own

Empty craft corner

Ever since my husband and I have been married, I have wanted a craft area. In our first house, I was fortunate enough to snag one of the spare rooms. However, within 6 months we decided to rent the upstairs of our house and I lost my room. I moved my ever growing craft stash to a little closet and nook downstairs but it was a big hassle to do any projects. It was taking more time to find supplies and putting them away than I was spending working on projects. Our house was often cluttered with my supplies; I had papers and pens stacked on the mantle, the dinning room table, the dresser in our bedroom...basically any flat surface. It didn't look very nice and we were both frustrated by the constant mess. The positive side was, my husband became aware that a craft space would have to be a priority if we ever moved out of our house.

Three years ago, we moved into a newer house, with a little more room and space for me to set up a craft area. It was a storage room in the basement and I loved it. It really felt nice to have my own place to put crafts and to leave projects out to work on later. It had no windows and I shared it with golf clubs, luggage and boxes of childhood mementoes, but I had a desk to lay everything out and leave it to work on later. It meant I could do some creative things in shorter periods of time without hassling with set up and clean up.

In the Fall we moved into our current home, which is approximately half the living space we had before. Our building is divided into 3 sections: the apartment, the "middle room" (which we hope will eventually become a commercial kitchen and entertainment spot for farm socials), and the garage. For now, there is a corner in the middle room and a closet that has been designated for my craft space and supply storage. It's a nice space with a fairly large window and enough room to put at least two work tables.

The craft space now

The other night, as I worked trying to get everything set up, it became painfully obvious that I really have too many things. In my heart, I want to be more of a minimalist, but when I start going through my collected "treasures", I can hardly even consider getting rid of things. Seriously, some day I might really need the hundreds of bottle caps and wine corks I've collected. And all those pieces of fabric will surely come in handy when I decide to take up quilting! What's a girl to do?!

Storage closet in it's current state

I was feeling overwhelmed by the task of organizing my things and making it a functioning work area. I began daydreaming about what my dream "studio" should be. First of all, my dream is to have a separate building located on the far end of our almost 50 acre property. I envision myself packing a backpack with supplies, a change of clothes and snacks. I would hike off on Friday night with the understanding that I would return on Sunday night.  No one would be allowed to bother me unless there were a medical emergency involving blood and guts or maybe if there were a fire - but only if it crossed to my side of the creek.

This fantasy studio would have lots of windows, a couch for napping, unlimited storage and huge tables to layout multiple projects at once. It would have electricity (of course), heating for winter, air conditioning for summer, wireless internet and a bathroom with a large, deep claw foot bathtub for soaking my cares away. Each wall would be decorated with inspirational art of bright colors with beautiful design. Every art supply, and project would remain exactly where I had left it no matter how long it had been there. Thee would be no hunting for a pencil, pen, scissors, glue unless I had misplaced it.  The studio would be quiet when I wanted quiet and full of classic rock when I needed music. There would be an affectionate, handsome, well behaved tom cat lying around to keep me company if I were to get lonely.

These two, as adorable as they are, do not meet the minimum requirements of being "well behaved". They are the reason I have to  make sure everything is sealed in containers or bolted down so nothing is destroyed during their "All Star Wrestling" episodes.

The reality is, I'm lucky to have any space at all and even luckier to have a husband who understands that I have a need (aka burning desire) to be creative. So, I'm going back to work, to downsize my ridiculous amount of "stuff" and to make my area inspirational and functional. Most of all, I'm going to work on having a grateful heart and appreciate the things I do have. I'll post some photos after I finish organizing.

Have a great day!

It Once Was Lost...When Will It Be Found?

As much as I love my craft cave (and I do love my craft cave), I'm still having a hard time getting organized. I've got things here, there, everywhere and it takes more time to find something than it does to do the thing I'm working on. It's very frustrating.

Tonight, like too many nights, I'm trying to find something. It's not something that is really that important, I don't really need it right now - it would just be nice to have. If I had it, it might make things a little easier, maybe help me plan ahead. I've been "tripping" over it for weeks now, as I search for other things, but now that I want it it's nowhere to be found.

I've looked in all the logical places. On my two desks, in every bookshelf, on the computer desk, the office supply cabinet...I've even looked in places that aren't so logical: under the futon, in the guest room...it's nowhere. What do you think I do? I start all over again with the two desks, the bookshelves, the computer desk and the office supply cabinet. And I do it again...and again....

I've wasted a lot of precious time looking for something that I don't need now and I'm starting to drive myself a little crazy. I have a stubborn streak, so now it's not so much that I need this thing, it's that I should be able to find it. There's a point to be made here. I know it's here, why isn't it where it should be? It's like I'm trying to prove something- I'll get you, you stupid little thing, I'm going to find you if it's the last thing I do! (insert maniacal laughter) My heart is racing, I'm sure my blood pressure is elevated and that stinkin' voice in my head is just yappin' it up, chiseling away at my self confidence: you're never going to find it in this mess; you really need to clean this place up; you know that you are wasting time looking for this, why don't you just give it up.

Oh-shut-up!

I've heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over but expecting different results. I would totally agree with this statement. The problem is, sometimes when I'm looking in the same place for the fifth or sixth time, I do find what I was looking for. It's like I'm being rewarded for being insane, so I keep doing the same thing, expecting a different result and getting it!

Now, one of two things is going to happen. I will either give up and work on more important things and hope the thing will turn up. Which it probably will when I'm looking for some other lost item. Or I will go buy a new thing, come home and the thing I was looking for in the first place will be sitting in plain sight. Then I will have more of the thing than I could possibly use.

I have big dreams of being so organized that I can sit down to do a project and not once have to get up to search for something. Every supply will be at arms length, I won't have to stand up, or dig under papers, or look through piles of "treasures" to find what I need. It will all be right there, in front of me. I guess I'll just have to accept that until I change what I'm doing - and clean my craft area - I will be spending lots of time running like a hamster in a exercise wheel, looking for things that aren't really that important to begin with. It seems like I should find a better way to use my time!