I loved this recent story shared by Andrea over on my Facebook page:
I have a craft room where clean up has been neglected for a couple years, and where throwing “it” in became necessary.
Surely I needed an elaborate plan and back up helpers to ever see carpet in there again.
What Normal Friend could I call so I could figure out how to tackle this massively out of control room? Surely this mess would have to be different than all the other messes I’ve tackled with A Slob Comes Clean? One normal friend told me she could clean the room with my help in 3 hours . . . Nope. I can do this following the Slob Comes Clean method for any mess.
I dug out the trash can and started removing trash. Then I started tackling the easy stuff. I put things where they are supposed to be the moment I touched them. The difference in ten minutes was outstanding. It helped that I had donation boxes in the room with me and I donated two egg shell foams and a full size father bed that was leaking feathers everywhere through its cover.
How did I change my mindset from keep the feather bed to get rid of it? I decided if I wanted to keep it I had to run out right then and buy 350-or-better-thread-count fabric and sew the cover immediately. I didn’t want to do that, so I donated it instead.
The room is not done. I got interrupted by life a few times, but every time I walk out of the room, or into the room, it just looks better. I appreciate better. Thanks Nony. Thanks Dana!
–Andrea Bell
The steps work. No matter how deep the clutter, you can do this. If you want them in instructional form, my book, Decluttering at the Speed of Life, is the best place to start. There’s even a chapter on applying the process to craft rooms.
Love it!
It took me 5 hours to clean my craft room a week ago. I really needed to get it done because I missed being in there, in fact I was getting crabby because I had not sewn since the beginning of the year. My daughter asked me to finish the baby quilt I started her friend since said baby was turning 1! Along with that it was getting to be Valentine’s Day and the granddaughters were expecting their cute straw string bags to put their valentines in to hand out.
I followed the layers and successfully got it done. It was such a relief! The quilt was finished, the bags were delivered and I have a new quilt to start for my sister’s new grandson!
I love both your books & your videos. I did most of my house already & cleaning is SO much easier. Here is when my problem started:
I have been decluttering my art studio for 2 weeks now. I threw out trash, went through all of my ink pens, paint tubes & stamp pads to purge the dried stuff. Now it’s all of the collage pictures I am going through. I also have a TON of expensive Belle Armoire Jewelry magazines I don’t have room for. I have to go page by page because I may want to keep some instructions. I cant tear pages out because I can sell each for 10. on ebay. That means I have to make a copy of the pages I want. I then have to put all of that paper in a binder under the correct headings. AAAAHHHH
I finally had to stop, do a painting & solder some silver together to relieve the stress. Words of wisdom please. I am stuck.
A very timely post. I’m a jewelry artist and you should see the state of my studio! (I’ll def have to take a before picture!)
I had a client over to look at gemstones and other materials so you could select what she wanted in a custom piece I’m designing. As often happens, I’m taking out chains, stones, crystals, pearls and strewing them across my bench. That’s the fun part of designing jewelry.
The un-fun part is putting it away. I’ve been avoiding my studio the last few days, but I need to get back in there and make some jewelry.
Step 1: trash
I’ll let you know how it goes!
Ugh. My sewing room is a wreck, almost completely non-functional. It was meant to be my happy place but it slid into darkness last fall.
We had a series of family difficulties last year. I tried to keep crafting to keep my spirits up. At one point, though, life got overwhelming and the mess in my room began to build up. Can’t even walk through the room now.
Thanks, Dana, for the inspiration and the noodge. My sewing room needs to be brought back to a pleasant state once again, for me, for my own sanity and well being. I will start today.
This was a very timely post for me as well. My daughter moved out in November of last year, and when we hosted the family Christmas party, her room became the dumping ground for all the stuff there was no place for. Most of it was my craft projects that had been in our den, where they lived year round so I could work on them when I wanted to. I realize now that I need to only take out what I can put back as I finish. Like Nancie, I also make jewelry, and it is CRAZY how much stuff you have to pull out, especially if you take old jewelry and refashion it.
Anyway, I have been going through my daughter’s room and packing away things that need to go into the attic. Some of that is Christmas stuff. I waited until now, because I wanted to go through it and give some of it away instead of packing ALL of it up and having to do that chore when I unpacked it this Christmas.
I have made a decent dent for today, and the more I remove, the more motivated I am to go back and tackle it again tomorrow.
I also have my bins set up for giving away to different people. Nothing too complicated: one for the Thrift store, and one for the church giveaway room.
I.have.a.craft.room.and.genealogy.room.eek! Yeah, needs help.