Clean This Craft Up!

I was spoiled in the old house with a large dining room that could double as my craft area. And would you believe that these are the only photos that I could find of the area.

Both of these photos are actually from Ashleigh experimenting with her new camera last year. The craft area always looked messy and cluttered, but everything did have a place and as far as I was concerned it was quite well organized.

Fast forward a few months. In the new house we "lost" about 500 square feet. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but we are definitely feeling a bit tight, especially in my craft area.

In an effort to "contain" my crafts I chose to utilize the front hallway that we decided wouldn't get used all that much since there is a door right off of the the dining room that opens out to the carport. In fact, it was also the only place that I had to put the cat litter so the dog would get into it since we could gate it off. Since we've moved in it has been a struggle to keep the area clean and organized. It feels claustrophobic trying to get supplies so often instead of putting things away I just pile them on a shelf and call it a day.

Most of the time it looks something like this:

Its cluttered and unkempt. Also, there as there is a nice pass through that opens into the living room all that clutter is like a blinking "Look at this mess" neon sign! Notice the cat box and the front door. Ugg! What a pain in the butt to keep up with! All the disorganization makes me less than excited to get into any project.

So today, in a fit of boredom sprinkled with the start of a head cold, I decided to clean and organize the "Craftway" as I have taken to calling it. A good three and a half hours later, I have two and a half plastic boxes ready to out to the the storage shed full of crafts that I rarely use. I reorganized a few baskets and boxes and although it doesn't look like too much has changed the results are very satisfying and I am ready to pull out a box and get working on another scrapbook.