Top Shop: Organize your Space (Part 1)

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.

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.

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!