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Eileen Apr 30, 2006

  HELP! Holy Claustrophobia, Batman, I've got a shrinking floor-space problem!

I really need to get my space organized! So far I've got bins stacked on bins, but too much stuff ends up on the floor, until all I've got left is a narrow passageway--a path that runs from the entry to the computer desk to my sewing machine!

Anybody out there with some good ideas for using walls as storage space?

Eileen

kbonsall Apr 30, 2006

I have teeny stacking bins, baskets and a "shelf" that has pockets... my hubby and I also made a ribbon stand and that has helped..... most of my baskets and bins are in a closet stacked there are pics on here somewhere of my work space..... I have more storage "organizers" since then though.. maybe I will venture down into my basement and take some pics...

kbonsall Apr 30, 2006

Well, my workshop is in the basement but I always create at my coffee table LOL

Glacierbaybears Apr 30, 2006

Eileen, I am the same way, it is     time to do some major spring cleaning with all my bear stuff.

kbonsall Apr 30, 2006

Here are some pics of my work space and of my actual work space (I have a basement studio but I create in my living room!)

The very last pic is where I create, at my coffee table in my living room

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorApr 30, 2006

That's a pretty couple of rooms, Kim!  Nice organization and I love all that white.  :)

I have a few vertical solutions.

--  Wall shelves (from Target) to store small stuff.
--  Ribbon rack which my dad made me.  Stores lots of ribbon and string.
--  Magnetic "bulletin board" for all my inspirations and reminders.
-- The desk I create my bears on has an ENORMOUS hutch over the top where most of my bearmaking supplies are kept
-- Stacking bins
-- Tall plastic cubby unit
-- Book shelves with lots of stuff on top, too.

Basically, I have an entire room devoted to craft stuff.  Right now I've got my bear stuff, my scrapbook/art card stuff, and my *secret* stuff for the business venture I'm exploring and hoping at some point to take "live" if I can get all the kinks worked out.

Will try to snap a pic of the new studio space next time I have the camera out!

WildThyme Apr 30, 2006

Eileen... those Batmanesque phrases make me chuckle each and every time I hear one!   :crackup:

Kimmy... I can't believe how beautifully organized you are! I love how it's all so neat, but you can still SEE pretty much everything.... If I can't see something I tend to complety forget that I have it!  My space is still an absolute disaster area!  REALLY BAD!      I figure I spend a quarter of my bear time looking for things!  tthe only upside of it is that occasionally when rumaging through I do find some fascinating ribbon or felt that I bought a LONG time ago and completely forgot about.... so it's kind like a little present for me!  The bad side.... apart from all the time I spend looking.... is that I get distracted by siftingthrough all the stuff and end up playing with it!
Example :
While looking for my 1 and 1/2 inch disks......
"OOOOO... look at these cute little vintage silk flowers! 
When did I get these?
What was i going to DO with them?
I could do this.... this... that.... maybe this.....
Then I've taken up a half and hour... my work in progress bear is still in parts on the table...
Some one needs help getting up on the potty.... well that's it... bear time OVER!    

Shelli... this is the second reference I've seen to this new and secretive venture!!!!  You are KILLING ME! 
While the GROWN UP side of me completely respects your privacy, and knows that you will share when you are ready to tell us....
The KID in me is stampting on the floor with hands folded whining at the top of my lungs, "PLEEEEASE TEELLLL MEEEEE!!!!!"       :pray:  :pray:  :pray:
Whatever it is.... I simply can't wait to hear!  I'm sure that what ever it is... it will be wonderfully fabulous!   

Kim Basta
Wild Thyme Originals

kbonsall Apr 30, 2006

I am very organized... I can't deal with mess!  :crackup:

I was wondering about the "Secret" adventure as well... 

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorApr 30, 2006

I actually work on my bed, but there is a wallaby in it right now.

HA!!!

:crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:   

Eileen Apr 30, 2006

:crackup:

I actually work on my bed, but there is a wallaby in it right now.

:crackup:

Renae, you make me feel very silly, complaining about my workspace!!

Kimbo, I'm amazed at your organization. Beyond the blatantly obvious, I get all hung up deciding how to classify stuff.

I've got the whole basement, minus everybody else's stored 'junk', so I really have no excuse for being so disorganized. It's nice and cool down here. There's a cold room down here for my vintage furs, a double sink where I can wash mohair and bloody fingers, a toilet, mere steps to the kitchen and, best of all, it's ALL MINE. Everybody else gets the creeps down here.

I've got stuff hanging from hooks in the joists, stuff stuffed between the water pipes and the joists, my daughter's old kitchen table and computer desk, and my beside-the-computer table is a piece of plasterboard covering an old Bi-Oven (ex-gas burners, woodburning oven).

For storage I have 3 small bookshelves pirated from other rooms, but most of my stuff is stashed in drawers--3 old chests and an antique sideboard we moved down here when the kids moved back in. Once I get the sideboard back upstairs, I can reassemble an old entertainment unit with nice deep shelves and glass doors for my mohair & faux.

Kimba, you put your finger on my problem. I've got to have everything around me at once. If I shut it away, I only end up dragging all of it out again and leaving it in a pile. I'm sure there's a name for this condition.

Obviosis? No wonder my floor space has shrunk. Floor-to-ceiling shelving on all sides sounds like the answer.

Actually it probably won't be proper shelving, but recycled stuff, like the old purple wardrobe that I know is around here somewhere, and the big Barbie dollhouse I built for my eldest . . . which is ok, so long as I can see what's in there.

Thank you, thank you, everybody! Better start flexing the muscles and girding the loins! 

Eileen

toadbriar Apr 30, 2006

I actually work on my bed, but there is a wallaby in it right now.

*intrigued*  is it true that they want to pee their bed every time they get up from a nap?
& don't we get pics of this alleged wallaby?    :pray:

.........As for wall storage - shelves & shelves & shelves & shelves with sterilite bins
that I pull out as drawers! I can also just have them out on the table or whatever,
in the case ofif there's bunches of trims & snips & scraps that I want to have at
hand to pick through, tubes of paint that don't really need to roll everywhere, etc.

I have rectangular laundry sized baskets & littler square wicker baskets on
the more visible shelves for fabric & 'stuff', a peg rack for all my spools of
thread, etc.

This might seem silly but if you go the route of cabinets with doors, keep in mind
the clearance space of the doors! It's not much fun to have to move your table,
lamp, stool, airbrush compressor or whatever every time you want to get into
your cabinet.    Erm not that this is the voice of experience talking or
anything *ahem*

Eileen Apr 30, 2006

Good point about the doors, Toadbriar! I've got wall cupboards on both ends of my laundry room, and not a day goes by when I don't brain myself on one of them!

Hmm. I really like the idea of different-sized containers. I think I could stand it if they were clear or at least translucent. And labelled. With pictures of the contents. I'm hopeless.

Right now I've got an eyes/eye cord/ nose floss drawer that's too big for its contents and too small for much else. Very inconvenient.

Well, of course there is a wallaby! Check out little Oz here:

http://www.teddy-talk.com/viewtopic.php?id=6363

Daphne May 1, 2006

Kim..... wanna take a little drive north and organize my room??? I like those pastel fabric bins... where'd ya get 'em?? And that leopard print synthetic in your organized closet... I know someone who was looking for some of that! (I had fun checking out your stash!) You have a wonderfully bright and creative work space!!! Some 'basement'!!! Thanks for the tour! 

Eileen.... this is a problem I've been trying to figure out myself! We've lived in this house for two years and I still haven't come up with the right solution that fits. Now we're most likely moving in the next 6 months so no point worrying about it anymore but your question will help with the next place!!! Thanks for asking it! 

Shelli.... you are really getting us curious here..... how long do we have to wait????? 

Winney May 1, 2006

Oh my.....my problem too. In Fact what I have been up to for a few weeks is a big  organize and clean out!

I too love to create on the dinette table so I have clear small stack boxs to work from for tools...then 2 big ones with the bear projects in. Then there my sewing  room and two huge wardrobes. 2 more big closets and 2 dressers stuffed full of fabrics...and many many books and magazines...and the bookcase in the living room...  more......stuff!''
Did Imention the shed outside...Agh!

OK , I decided ....to clean out. First old papers...bagged crafts for sales..things I have 2 of...I have tons of lace yardage...some cheap stuff. I am putting each piece in a baggie...then sort to trade or off somewhere...

I have lots of clothing fabric I tagged  to sell....all this off stuff is going into a big box which remains closed until one day. IN the mean while... I am making room... so I am moving the book collection so I can better use it.

I plan to put up a high wall shelf about 20" from the ceiling to set my finished bears for sale on covered up with plastic.All my long stemmed flowers sit in a huge basket covered too...look nice.I have to see my stuff...

Then theres the dolls stuff..hmmm, I may gather that up to give to my 4 granddaughters?...the Barbie suff.
It sure is hard to part with stuff but I need to focus on bears and not too many other crafts ... gads I am not getting any younger....I have been collecting all my life and its been fun but....time to dowsize so I have room to create!..Winney

gotobedbears May 1, 2006

HELP! Holy Claustrophobia, Batman, I've got a shrinking floor-space problem! 

I really need to get my space organized! So far I've got bins stacked on bins, but too much stuff ends up on the floor, until all I've got left is a narrow passageway--a path that runs from the entry to the computer desk to my sewing machine!

Eileen...............you are just messy  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

No really, me too. If i don't keep a strict tidy-up regime going the room ends up up like a labyrinth with only enough space to walk through!

BUT i bet you know where everything is Eileen     :dance:

Mess is good if it is'nt squalor Eileen - just tidy up when the light gets obscured ha ah ahahahah ah ha

Penny  :hug:

kbonsall May 1, 2006

The fabric bins are from believe it or not, Walmart!  I got it really cheap, not sure if they have them anymore because they were going out of business... I would love to get you organized Daphne, for a small mohair fee, of course LOL  :crackup:

Eileen May 1, 2006

Renae, that Wallaby is beyond cute. Last thing in the world I need, but . . . I want one!!

P enPen, I sometimes suspect that maybe deep down I'm just messy. But even when I clean up, this space still looks messy. Maybe it's just uncleanable? Possibility? I haven't yet lost anything, but then I've only been at it for a bit over a year.

Kim, you could probably make a living organizing BearArtists. You could be like one of those people who sweeps in and transforms everything, except that you'd never force anyone to throw anything away!! It would be in the contract.

So today I found my daughter's old purple wardrobe behind a pile of bins, and it was full of stacks of fabrics and cats. So that's where they hide when it's time to go to the vet! Tomorrow I clear enough space to move it into my space, and in the process push everything else back a few feet.

Eileen

kbonsall May 1, 2006

Can I come live with someone that has more room? I need a room. I'm sick of the kitchen table.

I'll bring my hubby. He felts. He felts for room & board.  :D

Sounds like a plan, I'll make the bears and he can felt the faces!!!! LOL

toadbriar May 2, 2006

think husbandperson would go for a wallaby if I pitch it
as a mobile storage solution? after all, those pouches are stretchy..   

Eileen May 5, 2006

:crackup: Kim, that's my kind of storage solution  :crackup:

Eileen

All Bear May 5, 2006

I'm working out of several toolboxes, an artbin and bags of fabric which have to be hurled into a cupboard at a moment's notice!  I hate it!  Everything has had to be 'minimised' for my house selling.  I can't wait to set up some efficient workspace in my new house ... I can't even leave my sewing machine set up right now!  Aaarrrghhh!  Kim, I love the sense of calm your workspace offers and Renae, I wanna wallaby now!!!! Aw!!!! 

matilda May 5, 2006

I have only just put shelving in my workroom. Totally understand your plight Eileen.
This looks messy but its only because the pic is small. I find these box shelves are great because everything has its own little cube. Also it was cheap and I was able to put it up myself.  I havent organised it properly yet but at least I dont trip over anything on the floor any more. I also have plans for hooks at the end of one.
wendy

matilda May 5, 2006

Jealous, so very, very jealous. I actually work on my bed, but there is a wallaby in it right now.

ARE U TALKING ABOUT A FOOTBALL PLAYER RENAE KITTY???????????????? :crackup:

matilda May 5, 2006

Can I come live with someone that has more room?
I'll bring my hubby. He felts. He felts for room & board.  :D

Felting for room and board!!!! for that I would buy a bigger place to accommodate you both. Well he can stay.
You didnt say what it is you do.  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:  :crackup:

Eileen May 5, 2006

Oooooooh, nice workroom, Wendy! I love the flexibility of storage cubes.

My mohair is presently stored in rolls, in two 20-gallon aquariums. I can see what I've got from across the room!

Brilliant, yes?

Paula, you must be going postal with no place to work! I had to work from a pile on the sofa last summer when our drain pipe burst and the basement floor had to be ripped up. Triple Ack.

I hope you'll soon be settled in a gorgeous new studio!! 

Eileen