Organization & Reveal

I was not sure if I wanted to show you the studio in progress or just the reveal but after thinking about it I decided to show you a little bit of my process.  I am very visual so I usually start with pictures from a large variety of sources then I think about it for a little while, then do a ton of measurements and finally I start to move things around to see if what is in my head is really going to work or if I have totally lost my mind.  Good thing for me what I saw in my head was going to work well because some of the furniture and organizing units were awkward to move by myself and also kind of heavy.  First up was packing up all the “stuff” on my sewing/craft counter; there was more there then I thought taking longer then I hoped. From there I moved over to the window wall to remove things from the top of the cube storage units.  The only thing I could not move by myself was the flat screen TV and all the electronics; I had to wait for my husband so we could move everything in unison.  In the meantime while waiting for him I wrestled down the 8 feet of counter top nearly giving myself a hernia, that was a dumb idea, I had no idea how heavy and awkward that was going to be, Yikes!!!  OK, time for the photos of the rest of my progress, don’t laugh too hard, this was hard work and would have been ridiculous to watch if I had video taped it.

 

Oh by the way…. Please excuse the poor quality of my photos, some were taken at night and others with the bright sun streaming in from three big windows, also I seem to be getting shaky hand syndrome and I need a new camera so these are not the best.  Here they are anyway…..you get the idea.

The great migration of the three cabinets and some plastic storage units from under the counter being shimmied/rocked, still full of supplies, across the room to the window wall…Ugh!

First set of cubes empty and moved to the old counter wall waiting for the TV and electronics to be moved back on top of it. The cabinets are set in place waiting for a very heavy counter top to be put in place.

Here we go…electronics in place, cubes in place, cabinets and counter top in place ready to be loaded up. I set some decorative pieces on top of the counters to get a feel for the space.  Almost looks like I am done until you turn your head and look down the room and see this….

Yikes!!! What a mess and the second half of the counter top is missing and there is stuff everywhere!  From here on out it was a huge project to drag the tall storage cubes out of the closet and put them into place so I could add the second 6 foot counter on top of them.  Tons and tons of organization and purging went on in the closet and with all the supplies and décor piled up on the cutting table and on the floors and in the other rooms…Wow!!! It took four intensive days to get it all sorted out and put into place.  Talk about being sore and tired but it was well worth it.

The hubby and I worked in separate rooms building the two new storage pieces for my sewing counter.  I bought several more but found I did not need them and I did not want to clutter up my space with too much stuff, only what I really needed, back to Michael’s they go.

Here they are; my two new storage units; aren’t they grand!!! I am totally in love with them both, perfect for my sewing notions, book and patterns. Everything is nice and neat and easy to see and use! 

And last but not least….. Ta da…. everything in place!!! Take a look.

These are the nighttime photos I shot when I finished, starting from left to right. Did I mention I now have fourteen feet of creative space to sew and craft in!?!

Wow, look at all that daylight coming in those three big windows!!!  The room looks so much larger and less cluttered, I am one happy camper and I got exactly the room I set out to create.  What more could a creative gal ask for!?!

Well… there you have it, the new configuration and organization of my creative studio.  I hope you enjoyed taking a peak into my new work space; I can not wait to get in there and do a little detail clean up and sew up some curtains to cover up the storage cubes and all the storage under my work counters.  When I get those done I will share the before and after photos of the whole studio side by side so you can see the transformation all in one place.  Time to finally take down all my Christmas décor and get it to storage then take a little rest before tackling the next project; we have so many I have no idea what is next, I guess you will have to check in to see what we are up to.

See you soon.

Laurette

Studio Inspiration

Before I show you the studio reveal I though I would share with you some of the inspiration photos which set the whole project in motion and what I saw when I looked at them.  Everyone gets inspired by something different, for some it is color, for others it may be composition or graphics or how a room makes them feel upon entering it, for me it is all of those things that help me decide what direction I will go in during any given project like this.  Here is a bit of what inspires me and why.

When I first saw this photo I loved the bold pops of color and the work surface facing the window which bathed the room in bright white light.

This particular room had wall color similar to my studio and had the double long work surface facing a large bank of windows just like my space.  This was what I wanted for my own creative room and really inspired me to just go for it.

Total eye candy with the turquoise and pops of red with large windows in front of long work counters.  This sewing room caused me to consider putting my counters into an L configuration instead of one long 14 foot counter and maybe adding bright pops of hot pink to my black, white and ice blue color scheme.

I loved the bright white and clean lines of this sewing room, the simplicity spoke to me.  My studio was so cluttered with small keepsakes and full counters I wanted something different.

A very clean streamlined room hosting three windows and one long work counter with two work stations, just what I was looking for, right on target even though I knew I would never get my space that clutter free, but I sure was going to try to clean it up a lot.  As you can see all of these rooms are different but with common threads throughout; multiple windows with work stations placed in front of them with long counter tops and dual work stations.

Now you have a pretty good idea of what types of photos inspired me to organize and reconfigure my studio; these were only a few of the hundreds of images I viewed of creative rooms and storage/organization ideas before I got down to work.  If you are looking for inspiration of your own you can view my Pinterest boards by clicking on the large red PINTEREST word on the right side bar of my blog where it says follow me.  You do not have to join Pinterest to view my boards, just click and view to your hearts content; there are over 80 boards to drool over and keep you inspired for years to come. Enjoy!

Thanks for letting me share a bit inspiration with you today, you know what comes next so keep an eye out for the progress of the studio transformation, it is coming right up.

See you soon.

Laurette

A Time To Organize

It is once again that time of year when we look around our homes and think to ourselves… it is time to reorganize all those pesky areas and rooms that never got done or spaces that just didn’t function well for us all year long. After all it is a new year which can mean new beginnings and why not start with the old flawed and problem areas plaguing us; create a new, clean and organized home we can enjoy everyday without all the frustrations of not being able to find the things we need and want.

I have such a space, actually a whole room and a huge closet in my design studio.  For those of you who have been a reader since the very beginning you might remember I did a full studio clean up and organization in January of 2012.  It was a big improvement to what I started with after moving into our new home and just shoving all my creative supplies and fabrics into the room to make it all fit.  After living and working in our home for over three years I finally know what is working and what is not.  Little by little each room and space is being reworked to create better flow and storage.

Pretty to look at but facing the wall!

Final Office Layout 

The re-org of 2012 worked well for about a year then suddenly I found myself not working in my studio but not understanding why.  After looking through several of my Pinterest boards it became obvious why I was working everywhere but in my studio, it had become overrun with projects and keepsakes creating a claustrophobic environment…. Yikes!!! When had that happened?!?  The other conclusion I came to happened while setting up a full office to write and work in, I do not like facing a wall while I work, sew or create a project….yuck!  Guess what my sewing and craft counters face… you got it right if you guessed the walls!  I never realized how much I hated that until I had to move my office around three times finally putting my desk smack in front of the window in order to want to be productive.  Now I really love my new office and it is a pleasure to work in there for hours at a time.

I have three big beautiful windows on the second floor facing out to the backyard and they are being partially blocked by my storage units. What a waste of light and a great potential space for my sewing and craft counters, fourteen feet of light filled creative space blocked by storage cubes.  I usually think out of the box but for some reason I just never thought to put my counters there, what a ding dong I am!

The other nemesis in the room is my large closet which does not function due to giant closet doors that you can only open a third of at a time blocking the other two thirds with the other two doors.  Oh… and did I mention the closet is very shallow and dark with two of the doors always closed; it is hard to see what is in there and actually get it out around all those doors.  Needless to say the organization in there is not what it should be and needs a complete revamp once the studio is moved around and I see what additional storage I might need. 

We are talking a very big move around and reorganization of a lot of furniture, storage units and supplies but…. I am going to do it and I am going to be blogging about it all the way.  I hope you will join me as I move along through the process of thinking out this HUGE project and putting it into action.  I can’t wait to get started!!!

See you very soon.

Laurette

Day 3 - Toy Room Makeover

Day three was all about bringing the toys back into the room which were in there before and pulling out the rest of the toys from storage to see if we had enough room for everything. I must say I had a really good time playing with all the fabric bins moving them around and changing them up over and over trying for a pleasing look to go with the rest of the soft goods going into the room later.

I had a wonderful time sorting toys for the large bookcase; I wanted all the dolls, Barbie dolls, clothing, dishes and books for my 6 year old granddaughter up on the top two shelves and all the toddler toys on the bottom two shelves and in the fabric baskets under the two benches for easy access.

I placed all the art supplies up on a high shelf, out of reach for little hands, so they could be used for supervised project/art time, meaning no crayons or paint on the walls when we were not looking. All the special puppets and antique toys were placed on the highest shelf for easy admiration and to add a pop of color, taking your eyes up making the ceiling look higher then it actually is.

More toddler and infant toys were placed in baskets and shelves under the bench so the little ones could pull them out and onto the floor, great for easy clean up too.  The light weight fabric boxes can be easily transported around the room or downstairs when needed.  Two car track carpets were placed in front of the benches for color, added softness and lots of creative/fun playtime.

There are still several more items to go into the room which are full blown projects.  You are probably wondering what else I could possibly put in there?  I am giving you a few hints with the above photos but I won’t tell you what they go with, you will just have to keep checking in to see what I am up to next.

Thanks for letting me share day 3 of the toy room makeover, the rest of the makeover series will not happen until after our grandson is born and we are back from southern California.  While I am gone I will be remotely sharing my apron a day series, at least that is my plan, I have not done this before so keep your fingers crossed that the technology actually works the way it is suppose to. Giggles!!!

See you soon.

Laurette

You might also like:

Toy Room Makeover – Day 1

Toy Room Makeover – Day 2

Inspired Organization

Those of you who read my blog on a regular basis are probably wondering why I haven’t written a post all week.  I was asking myself that and the answer I came up with was; I haven’t been creative in almost two weeks.  I have been busy with a lot of non creative “things” leaving me pretty flat in the creative department, not to mention having blogger’s block, also known as writer’s block, not a good thing for someone who writes a creative blog.  Ah oh!

So…. In the spirit of being officially uninspired I decided to share some inspiration from one of my regular readers, June, who became inspired by my studio organization posts.  June lives in Kansas and has a rather large studio where she quilts and makes crafts with her grandchildren.  The posts I wrote about sprucing up my studio and re-organizing my fabrics and supplies had her looking around her studio to see what she could do to make things work better for her own work/play spaces.  Here are a few of the photos she shared with me; this is only a small part of what she did.

She told me she sorted through all her fabrics, notions, tools and supplies putting them into clear stacking drawers and boxes then giving everything a label (you know how I love those).  She hung her notions and tools so she could easily see what she had to work with.  Extra fabrics and supplies were removed and set aside for donation.  Projects, fabrics and crafty materials are now ready to use and easy to find. I am so proud of her that was a lot of work.

June was also frustrated with the lack of a good inspiration/design wall, she was stumped as to how to get one she could leave up and not have to take down all the time; until she saw what I did with my closet doors/walls.  Inspiration struck, she got the idea to make her design boards movable by hanging a rod over her cabinet doors and using clip on rings so she could hang a really large quilt or her small design boards.  Now she can either slide the project over or unclasp it when she needs to get into her fabric cupboards.  A very smart way to create space when you don’t have enough walls for inspiration boards or a design wall for laying out quilting blocks.  June thank you so much for sharing your studio spruce up with me and helping me to break my blogger’s block.

Thanks for letting me share today’s inspiration with you. Look for something creative from me in a few days, I don’t know what it will be, maybe something fun to wear.  See you soon.  Laurette

If you enjoyed reading this post you might also like:

Studio Inspiration Boards

Studio Supply Storage

Fabric Organization

The Organization Bug

Control That Clutter Parts 1, 2 &3

Studio - Supply Storage

With all of the organization going on in my studio this year, I am tackling every area, nook and cranny, leaving no space untouched.  Organization and storage are the key words going on all around my home.  Here are a few of the storage ideas I used for my sewing/craft studio, I hope you find them helpful and they inspire you to work on your studio, craft room or office.

On my craft counter I have glass jars of every kind and a metal pail to hold my colored pens, pencils, scissors, paperclips and paint brushes. This puts all of them front and center, ready to use whenever I need them for an art project, I don’t have to look around to find what I want.

Some of my favorite crafting patterns are stored in an open rod iron basket on my sewing counter, a great way to see what I have on hand; I don’t have to hunt my patterns down for a project.  A great way to store note pads or other items you need to find quickly.

I put my scrapbook paper in rolling 12” x 12” drawers so I can easily move them around the room to whatever station I am working at.  The drawers are set up by season and color, keeping the papers flat for better use.  The same drawers could be used for business papers, note pads, extra paper or anything flat I need to store.

These clear boxes are used for project storage; products to be made and projects still in progress.   The clear drawers, on wheels, hold all my beading supplies for jewelry and home décor projects.  All of the boxes and storage drawers can easily be moved around the studio for easy access.  I like all kinds of clear storage containers from glass to plastic so I can see what’s inside, this way I don’t forget what I have and where it is stored.

I love using cubby storage all over my studio; the storage units support each side of my cutting table, run along my windows and are the main storage for my fabric walls.  Easy to build and they always look great no matter what you put into them or on top of them, they come in several colors to match your work spaces.  Here are a few of the storage items I place within the cubby shelves.

I really like the colored fabric boxes specifically made to fit the cubby shelves, they are great for holding patterns, projects, paints, rubber stamps, papers and just about anything else you can think of.  I have them all around my studio, including the closets; I clipped on paper tags, made with my label maker, so I could quickly identify the contents.

All of my resource materials are stored in sections of each cubby by project content or as sources for future projects.  I have tons of books, magazines and patterns which all have visible homes for easy reference.

The clear containers store my rubber stamps and inks as well as several others not shown.  The divided folios usually used for document storage, are used for scrapbook papers and embellishments.  My folios sort my papers and embellishments by color, holidays, events and miscellaneous items.

Because most of these storage containers are see through they can be quite chaotic to the eyes when not in use, I hung a café curtain rod mounted on some cup hooks to slide on a curtain, perfect for covering it all up and to give my eyes a rest from the chaos.  I use the same set-up to cover up my fabric walls when I am not using my fabrics for a long period of time. The curtains keep the light from fading my fabrics and give me a neutral back drop of black and white to work with when I am designing patterns or fabrics.

Thanks for letting me share just a few of the storage solutions I used to organize my Studio/Craft room.  I hope you find my storage solutions useful and inspiring for your special creative spaces and offices.  Look for part two of Studio – Supply Storage in my next post.  See you soon.

Laurette

If you enjoyed reading this post you might also enjoy reading:

Fabric Organization

Organization Bug – December 2011 archive

Control That Clutter Parts 1, 2 & 3 - October 2011 archive

Paisley Crazy Room Makeover – October 2011 archive