Organize Your Craft Space Part 1: Guest Post from Tracey Knits

Can you believe this mess? How can anyone work in chaos like this? Yarn all over the floor, paintings leaning on the wall, bits of paper and candy strewn about. I had this room built so I could leave my art out in mid-project without fear of my children getting into it. What it became was a storage space where I go in, get what I need and leave; often throwing things in there when I am in a rush.

organizing a craft room

This January 1st, my New Year’s promise to myself (because resolutions just don’t work for me) was to organize this space in a way that would be usable. Just so you know, I am not organized OR neat by nature so this was going to be quite a challenge. And so the quest began…

Day one I took pictures of the mess. It was amazing I was able to get in to take pictures! My plan of attack was to get everything off the floor and in bags based on what is used together. There were bags of yarn, stacks of frames, finished and unfinished projects. At first it felt like I was moving garbage from one room to another; which is exactly what I was doing. However, as I moved it, i was sure to put it with its mates in either bags or stacks. I decided that there was no reason for empty frames to return to the room, so they were stacked in our storage space with old mirrors.

craft room clean out

As you can see, there is a floor in this room. I even decided to change the painting on the wall on day 1 to bring a more positive vibe to the space; it is a basement for god sake!

~Tracey

Stay tuned for more craft space organization tips and find more from Tracey on her blog, Tracey Knits.

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  • http://www.love-elaine.com Christen

    I blogged my recent attempt to get my “studio” organized earlier this week – I’m so happy to have all of my fabric and cutting tools organized and easy to access! http://www.love-elaine.com/2011/01/studio-gets-organized.html

  • DycheDesigns

    I know how that can be . . . in fact my workspace always gets worse before it gets better. It just never seems to stay tidy for very long. Your space looks great and I love the new painting you put up.

  • http://twitter.com/TraceyKnits Tracey Rediker

    thanks! the painting really changed the feeling of the space.

  • http://eightymillion.etsy.com Jennifer Schulting

    Yes, I agree the painting on the wall is awesome.

    Good luck on your journey. I LOVE to organize! My office has to be organized in order to work in it, but then a week later it’s destroyed. Then I clean it up again, and again the tornado runs through. I’ve even named the tornados like the weather people do, lol

    Tip: As you organize everything it’s a good time to go through stuff and filter out the items your not using.

    Looking forward to your next installment.

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