My (Mostly Clean) Craft Studio

Yes, that's right—hell froze over, pigs started flying, all that jazz—I finally got my butt in gear and cleaned the craft room. Mostly. It still needs a bit more work, but it's clean enough to finally show off. Just how messy was it?

Exhibit A:

Yep, pretty oh-my-god-either-a-14-year-old-girl-or-budding-hoarder-lives-here embarrassing. And really, there's no excuse for not keeping this space clean. Especially because a clean craft room is so energizing. Every time I've walked in here since cleaning it up, I get excited. I smile and think "wow! It's so nice in here! Let's get to work!"  

So, enough blathering and on to the "after" shots!

Ahhhhh, so much better. The space behind the computer could use some art (and I need to relocate that stack of CDs once I load them into iTunes), but I have the perfect series of images from The Black Apple that will go here once I get them framed. I'd also like to redo the hoops above the pegboard.

The pegboard (I bought white pegboard, cut to 4 feet x 2.5 feet, and painted it green) behind the sewing machine is one of my favorite parts of the craft room. It allows me to hang all my most-used supplies within easy reach while also keeping them very organized. And I love being able to grab the thread I need after one quick glance. I've also got some goodies stashed up there from some of my favorite Etsy people. You can see them better by viewing this image full-sized in my Flickr pool.

Immediately to the right of my sewing space is my little plushie corner. The shelves (Ikea Fabian shelves I painted blue) house some of my own creations, while underneath hangs prints I nabbed at the first-ever No Coast Craft-o-Rama in 2005 (if I could remember who it was, I would totally share a link. They're signed "Jerome." Anyone know who this is?) and plush from some of my favorite artists.

Clockwise from top: Mckenna monster by Michal Wright-Ward, Prince Teds by Tyler Poncho Toys (a fellow Plush Teamer), Yeti Moon Bun by Moons Creations (another Plush Teamer), and Jackalope Feltidermy by Girl Savage.

The rest of the east wall of my studio is occupied by a little fold-out table on which I do most of my fabric cutting. The window overlooks my backyard garden plot, and desperately needs a curtain. But who wants to sew curtains when you can sew strange creatures?

The south wall houses a large portion of my fabric, yarn, and fiber stash. This is another area that could use some more work. The bookcases are the Ikea Billy series, and I've always intended to get doors for the bottom half to better hide some of the clutter. I could also use some of those nifty divider things yarn shops use to keep their yarn organized. But let's get a close-up of the flannel and cotton I so painstakingly folded and organized (by color, because I'm that nerdy), shall we?

Oooooh, fabric porn. . . .

My little Blythe corner features some more Etsy treasures: the horned Jacabob by Kit Lane and the white slug by Hine.

Last, the mostly boring west wall, which also needs more work. We somehow lost the switchplate to the light when we painted this room, and the closet (and nearby window) needs a curtain to hide the organized chaos of my shipping supplies (and other sundries). I could also use a better ribbon organizer. One fun thing about this wall: see the tiny brown alpaca on the second shelf? That was my first plushie, followed by the frog keeping him company. These guys are a fun reminder of how much my skills have grown in the last four years.

So there you have it, my little craft studio. It's such a blessing to have a room in our house I can dedicate solely to Plushroom Soup. But it can also be a curse, because not only do you tend to accumulate more stuff with more space, but it's all too easy to close the door on big messes!

But I now have photographic evidence of my room looking fairly spiffy, so I can look at this whenever I need a cleaning kick in the pants. You can view all of these photos in my Flickr pool as well.

What does your crafting space look like? Do you have favorite tips for keeping everything clean and organized? Please share in the comments; I'm always looking for new and better ways to corral my stuff, and I love looking at other creative spaces.