Chances are you've never been in my art room, but I will tell you it has been a mess. Like a big crazy ugly mess.
It never got set up right in the first place. It was a mess, so I added storage drawers and storage things, but it still seemed impossible to organize. I knew there was enough space for everything to have it's own home, but I needed blank space somewhere to put things as they were being sorted. It was like one of those puzzles where there's a square missing and then you have to slide it around to make the picture or whatever -- except there wasn't a missing piece so it just stayed where it was.
It bugged me. I would sit in my chair and daydream about how good it could be. And that was the start really. It starts with the desire and intention. And then the baby steps. And then boom.
I wish I had a photo that would adequately capture the chaos that was going on in here, but of course I do not. This is a slight idea (yes that is General Hospital on the tv):
That's one side of the room, but there's another. It was full of clutter piles and cupboards shoved full of things with not much rhyme or reason.
I started getting rid of stuff months ago. I was trying to make the empty square, so to speak.
I was unhappy with the empty collage spaces on that wall so I started clearing things out to get to them and add more stuff. These are the shelves to the right and left of the art table in the midst of being collaged up.
I fell in love with the emptiness of these spaces. 2 totally empty shelves and all that floor space! Having everything empty so much made me not want to put anything back on/in place, so I started getting rid of even.
That's kinda where I was when I was woken up really early one weekend. I hadn't slept well and was counting on the fact that I could sleep in. And then the phone rang way before I was ready to wake up. I tried to go back to sleep but it was pointless - and I got cranky.
Lucky for me, negative emotions motivate me to clean like crazy. I'm not sure why, but it is always true. I'm upset? What needs to be scrubbed?
Now this may sound funny, but I had a new mop sitting in my garage. It had been there for weeks, and that morning I kept thinking about it. I was trying to get back to sleep but I keep thinking about the mop and the dirty, dirty floors in my art room. I gave in, got up, and found the mop.
I got rid of a lot of piles. I pushed furniture around, I swept and I mopped. Twice.
It got really messy at some in between points.
That was so nice I started emptying all the drawers (and there are many), organizing and only putting back the things I really wanted to (or already did) use. I labeled them with descriptions like "distress ink" and "pokey things."
I've mentioned before I never remember to snap before pictures, but I hadn't gotten too far into the process when I realized I was going to clean out and organize all these cupboards too and took this picture. Imagine all the spaces full of messy.
Later that day it looked like this. It's almost full now but still looks tidy. One cupboard is for adheisves, one for water color based media, one for punches and scissors, etc. I also added some labels to the inside of the doors.
The Girls Kick Ass drawer? Brilliant idea, if I do say so myself, to velcro the remotes to it. They're for the big speaker that I listen to music/audio books on, the tv and the Roku. I love having a place they always go that's up off any surface.
Lots of the drawers under the desk are still empty as well. It feels really good. There are a few piles in my room waiting to be sorted but I have more than enough space to fit everything I want to use back in here and stay orderly.
Here's how that side of the room looks now:
And the art table side? I think it's lovely.
Boom.
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