Organizing dreams.

I have a few things that are VERY therapeutic to me and since this past week has been more rough than smooth I am indulging myself. I have a corner of the house that is just mine. I have a tendancy to see something and think, "wow, that's simple. I can do that" then I start into another project. I do a wide variety of things as you can tell- paper scrapbooking, digiscrap, sewing, painting, home decor, general crafts, scouting etc. This list goes on and on. I guess I like variety. I retreat to my world, listen to the boys wrestle, play 'puffles' or play video games, all while creating something-anything! My mind can work out it's troubles and my hands stay busy and in the end life is beautiful again. I come by the crafting naturally. My mom always had something going on too. She jokes that she would have Christmas for everyone for a couple of years if she finished all her projects. Actually mom, didn't you just give us Christmas for a couple of years by finishing your projects?! ;-) I think the only thing she doesn't know how to do is knit! Literally! Well all this variety can cause a few cliches in the system. How do you organize such a wide variety of supplies? Afterall, my corner of the world is rather small! Well, tonight I am sharing my vision of my crafting area. I am afraid it will take several months to complete as we do ittybitty pieces, bit by bit that won't knock us off budget! Here is what it looks like now.....(drum roll please)Believe it or not it has looked worse. We started a few months ago buying shelves to help organize things. And I have been adding the storage drawers little by little. They are handy and I like being able to assign a place for various items, like all the beads in one, all the posicle sticks and such in another- very handy.
The boxes at the top and most of the drawers are full of scout supplies, beads, fun foam, pompoms, leather working tools, my label maker, etc.....
Since switching to digital scrapbooking I use most of my paper supplies for cards or tags or other various such projects. This table is in need of serious help. It is always piled with odds and ends. I do love my peg board though. Robin put that in and bought the various hooks for me. He is amazingly supportive of my addiction to all things crafty....
This side is still developing. I bought the shoe boxes thinking they would be great.....but haven't figured out just what yet. I think I mostly just need a day to redo and reorganize but when I come here I digress with my projects and craftiness takes over. I didn't dare take a picture of the pile of fabric scraps on the floor- don't worry, they are piled to overflowing in a storage container. Well, in light of all this and my increasing need to organize my little retreat I have come up with a plan. I love clean crisp lines in home decor. I also love organization! A place for everything and everything in it's place is my mantra. Yeah, I know, you couldn't tell from these pictures! That's the problem. So I had to decide to get serious with my current system and finish it or SOMETHING! Well, I have a couple of problem areas. #1 the space is long and narrow. #2 I have ALL SORTS of supplies.

I love to blog. I have gotten so many great ideas for really cheap! Home decor ideas are no exception. Then I found this post here. I love her room. I especially love the cupboards. Everything is put away.I also found a few other craft area posts that got my brain to thinkin'! Some were small narrow spaces like mine too. So, I did what any woman would do. Came running home to dear sweet Hubby and shared my ideas! Just testing the ground at first but being the great guy that he is, he was ok with whatever I decided. THE TRICK! I had to stay within our budget! UGH! That always puts a cramp in things. BUT! Never fear, I had a plan for this too. See I have recently fell in love with another blog- see I told you I like to blog serf- Knockoffwood. Ana is great and makes these projects super simple! So here is my plan. I plan to build something like this:

Photo from Pottery Barn via knockoffwood.

Yeah- we can do it! This is just a series of pieces and with Ana's directions it won't be much at all. So along one wall will be my work bench/table. Along the other will be my cupboards and perhaps counter top. Along the back wall (where my pegboard is) will be open with maybe just a rolling cart. I plan to have a draw or cupboard for everything and labeled. It will take a while but the great part is we can do it piece by piece. What do you think? You can see the plans here.
Robin built a piece for the family room yesterday and had a lot of fun doing it. He was rather proud of himself! I will share those pictures later. I am anxious to get going on this big project but this will be an exersice in patience!!! :-) E.X.C.I.T.I.N.G!!