Craft Room Makeover Part 1

I've been waiting waiting waiting to publish a new post, ideally with great ta-das and exciting reveals of amazingly impressive projects. Or project singular even. Sadly though, this was not to be. I've been really restless this last week or two. Starting things. Not finishing things. Sometimes not even starting things at all. I decided that the root of this, or part of it, at least, is my increasingly disorganized craft room. I'm really really lucky to have a whole room to dedicate to my crafting, it's not a very big room - after all I live in deepest suburbia in the increasingly densely populated south of England - but it's a room nonetheless. The furniture is a mish-mash of bits we've stopped using in other rooms - an old dining table, an unused desk, a bookshelf that someone gave us, a toy storage unit that was replaced by something more grown up. Hubby keeps telling me just to buy new furniture, but I quite like the old bits and pieces. Plus I really can't be bothered trying to decide what else to get, and it just seems so wasteful when there's nothing wrong with any of them.

However I have a really bad habit of piling stuff up and never putting it away properly, not least because there wasn't enough storage space for it all. Plus, my wool storage just wasn't doing it for me. Stacked about 6 balls high it kept collapsing and was generally just a mess. This room was not the restful, peaceful and inspiring place I wanted it to be.

So, for the last week, my spare time (what there is of it) has been spent rearranging and reorganizing. I didn't want the chaos to affect any of the other rooms so it was a bit like one of those square tile puzzles where you can only move one thing at a time then move the next thing into the space just created by moving the first thing, and so on. It's still a bit of a giant WIP but it's getting there. Lots more to sort out - paperwork, fabric, ironing, but lots is looking rather lovely, and the most important bit - my Beloved Yarn Stash - is looking fab-u-lous .... Here's a wee peek (can't show you any more as the rest is still obscured by Messy Stuff) ....

I commandeered 2 CD racks from around the house. We only ever listen to electronic copies of the music now anyway, so the CDs were evicted and are now occupying a couple of shelves elsewhere. They are several disks deep as we don't need to get them much. The CD racks are pretty sturdy and quite tall, so I've laid them on their sides, one on top of the other, along the back of my desk :) Each little CD cubby-hole holds 4-6 balls of yarn. What a happy sight to work/play next to :) I could spend hours just gazing at it. I might even sleep next to it.

I'm also fortunate to have a brilliant embroidery floss collection. My friend's Mum, who was a passionate cross-stitcher, passed away quite suddenly a few years ago. I knew her myself, she was a lovely lady. My friend and her sisters had to sell a lot of their Mum's belongings and add the monies to her estate. My friend sold me the job-lot of all of her Mum's stitching stuff - books, magazines, and threads - and look - one of those gorgeous vintage concertina sewing boxes ......

I thought about painting the box off-white, and doing the whole distressed thing (the box would be distressed, I might too) but actually I'd rather keep it the way its original owner had it. The floss collection was (is) amazing, look at the range of greens alone ....

Everything was numbered and labelled, Shelagh was super-organized. When I came into ownership of the collection, the sewing box was empty and all the cards of floss were in those whitefish plastic flat boxes with dividers ..... which are now in use by the Little People for their equally impressive loom band collection. And the floss cards fit perfectly into the sewing box, as you would hope. Shelagh kept all her spare cards and number stickers in this little original Oxo tin. I think she must have won it in a raffle, you can still the raffle ticket stuck on the bottom....

During my sort-out I found this old cross-stitch that I completed years ago but never got round to framing. I loved making this picture, it the kit was a gift from my Mum, and although it's a bit olde-fashioned for my usual tastes, I do rather like it, so I must get round to finding a frame for it.

As lots of shelves and boxes were cleared up, various random crochet motifs and swatches were unearthed. Maybe they will become a freestyle something-or-other. I had a great idea for them earlier but I seem to have forgotten what it was. Don't you hate that ? I'll just have to wait for inspiration to strike again. It looks like a dreadful jumble doesn't it ...

There, that's a bit better ..... 

My Playroom Thingy squares are multiplying, I'm nearly ready to assemble .....

And I've got a few new little bits on the go .....

Last, but most definitely nowhere near least, look look look look loooooook ...........

Fancy winning those little treats ? Next week I hope to reach my 100th post (I know!!!! 100!!!!), and I'm planning my Very First Giveaway!!! Whoop!!!! That little lot (deliberately half hidden, by the way, in order to keep it a surprise), with the addition of a few bits more, will be winging its way to one of you, my lovely readers, and I'll give you more details in a few posts' time :) Y'all come back now, y'hear ?

xxxxxx