Organizing for Creativity

When attempting to create you need a space that you can work in- one that is quiet, organized, and easily accessible. If you pack all of your needed items in hard to reach places, the enthusiasm or creativity when it strikes, will quickly diminish upon being faced with the task of having to locate and gather all of your supplies. I have been struggling with this for some time now. As a full time mom, full time student, working full time I find I have a very limited time to work on my passion- creating! So, when I get those times, I want to get busy- not waste a ton of time trying to find this piece, that skein of yarn, these embellishments, etc. In fact, I have been so frustrated lately, that I simply grab what is accessible and attempt to use it first- but, I know there is that perfect bracket, focal bead, or fragrance hiding in my totes somewhere that would really make the item I am working on Perfect! I just don't have the energy or time to search for it.....

So, I decided this year I was going to make my crafting/study/home office area ACCESSIBLE and FUNCTIONAL! Now, this was a task. I have a small room that is about 12 x 9 to do all of the household budgeting and record keeping, my class work and studying, plus my crafting. Oh, did I forget to mention this room also houses my clothes closet and storage for my shoes? So, you can imagine how I was dreading this task... But, it was my New Years Resolution, and I only had 3 days to do it.

The first day I drew out a plan on paper. I just broke the room down into areas (like a kindergarten classroom) and decided which area would be for what. I needed a table and a desk. I also needed storage- and a lot of it. I make jewelry, crochet, scrapbook and make soap/bath products. So, once I broke the room down into quadrants and lined it out on paper, I went shopping for storage. I saw tons of great storage ideas on the web and in magazines, but I just did not have time to create and decorate all these things in 3 days. Instead I opted for cheap and functional thinking as time allows me later I can decorate a great photo box, or embellish a coffee can for tools.

Once I had all my new containers in tow... I just dug in. I pulled out all of my supplies, totes, etc. and just moved it all into the center of the room. I started going through each and every item (this took a day in itself). I threw out things I knew I would never use (Wow! that was hard!) I divided everything into big totes or piles- scrapbook supplies, jewelry, bath and body, school necessities, household stuff, and my personal wardrobe items. Once it was all sectioned off, I was exhausted!I will tell you- one great investment for organizing is a label maker.  It will undoubtedly help you with the process of separating and organizing, but also help KEEP you organized when done!

I am posting some pictures of the process! I will go through the next stages of my reorganization and show my finished room later this week!

Do you have organization or storage ideas you would like to share? How about telling us about your work area? How did you set it up for functionality and creativity? Is it a shared space? Dish, readers! Share your thoughts and ideas with us!

I moved everything into the center of the room and just started going through all of it!  Each tote, container, etc.  I ended up with 3 garbage bags when I was done!

It took an entire day to go through all of my items.  I ended up with 6 large totes of yarn, alone!

I just opened it all up and started going through it- seperating, labeling, and sectioning off!