Thursday, January 9, 2020

Organization Brainstorm

I am struggling hard with clutter and things that aren't neat and orderly. Unfortunately it's not like I can just put things away and suddenly problem solved. My office/library/craft room is rather small; therefore my solutions for optimizing space are limited. My other issue is this is an everything room. I store all of my books here, my desk with our bills/filing is in here, and then all of my craft stuff is in here.

It's really hard to come up with a plan that lets me do all of this plus enjoy being in here.

So here's where I'm at as of this week:
You can see my desk and my shelf of some books. I typically keep book box books (lower right side) and my review books (lower left side) here. The top shelf is all of my Linda Howard books, and the middle shelf are books from authors I have a few books from.
To the left is my scrapbook desk. It was here when we moved here and this room actually used to be a bedroom for the wife because her knees were bad and she couldn't get up the stairs to where the bedrooms were. So she did her crafting/resting in here. The area I'm using as a scrapbook desk used to be where she had a TV and other equipment (there are outlets in the cabinet and holes drilled to hide cords). Honestly, it's a cool little space. I once asked if I could just make that entire wall deep like that but Matt said a chimney or something runs behind where I have my shelves.

💡 Matt's idea is to get rid of one of the doors and make that an open area to put my legs and put the printer in the remaining cabinet since I don't use it a ton and put my laminator in there. Lower the table top down so it's on top of the cabinet and move my computer/desk stuff there. We can move the shelving as needed (or add another one) and I can keep review books there and then other desk things. 

The books on this shelf are mostly romance/things the kids really can't read. I'd like to get ride of the white storage cubes I have under there since the cabinet is broken, and the large drawers are heavy. It's not really working for me anymore.
On the one large wall I have that doesn't go the whole length because on the ride side (where the picture cuts off) is a closet that is space under the stairs, so it isn't huge but it does hold a few things I need not a lot, but enough that running to the basement would be a pain. The paper storage isn't working for me because I have a lot more categories of paper than shelves, so I have to figure out a new way.

While I love my shelves, not having sides is kind of becoming an issue for me. That and I'm basically out of room. So... obviously that's an issue.

I've been trolling Pinterest for craft room/library ideas but, as it turns out, there aren't a whole bunch of ideas out there. My dream would be to have a big table area for the middle of my room so that the kids could do stuff there too, or I could spread out to do things. Or if I had a large project going, I wouldn't have to clean it up to have dinner because I'm working on the dining room table.

I saw this table on Pinterest and she made her own large table using some shelving and drawers from IKEA and that was really pretty cool. I asked Matt and he says he would be willing to put something like this together for me. Which led me to the IKEA website this weekend. The nearest one to me is a little over two hours away so I could make a trip there, and we probably will because I need to see things in person to really understand their size.
This is listed as 78 3/4 inches by 93 1/4 inches and that would take up my entire big wall... but would it fit all of my books?? I don't know. If it did then I could get another shelf for that wall next to my would be desk and store more books there.
These drawers look like they would fit larger/wider things and Matt says I wouldn't have to use the wheels, or I could put legs on it if I wanted it taller.
I thought a couple of these would be cool. So maybe two of these and one of the Kallax shelves turned side ways?

I don't know. My goal this month is to get rid of what I truly don't use or need in my craft stuff and then look at what I'm keeping and decide what it would fit best in. But by the end of the year this room is going to be far more functional. That's the plan.

Do you have a crafty space with great storage ideas? SHARE THEM WITH ME. I'm kind of desperate and I'm not as creative as I used to be. I need help. Ha!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh man, I love all these ideas. I'm not at all crafty or organized, but I love all things that give the appeal that I AM organized! :)

Shooting Stars Mag said...

oooh I love the idea of the big desk so you have room to spread things out. I don't really have a designated book/creative space, though I wish I did! That's crazy Pinterest doesn't have a ton of ideas!!

-Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net