My workspace downstairs has been, well, a disaster. I've been trying to get it cleaned up for over a year. I would work on it for a while and then I would find something that I forgot I had and then want to start creating again. The mess would just stay there. Right after Christmas, I got the desire to really get it cleaned up. We were planning an open house on New Year's Day so I wanted to have it cleaned up for when people came over. And it was time. I felt it. I needed to have a tidy work space before I could move forward.
This is what it looked like before:
Actually, it looked worse than this. Much worse.
But now it looks like this:
It's not perfect, but, then, neither am I. It's still a lot better than it was and I can actually see the floor now.
I also share the room with the kids. This is their area. I got all the games and puzzles sorted out tonight while I watched Gladiator. I still have their cabinets to finish up, but, again, it's better than it was.
This morning Liam and I hit the thrift stores. I was looking for some more materials to make my colour-your-own dolls. Not only did I find an abundance of it, but I also found some other great treasures...
like this awesome pear shaped case.
I also found this. I thought it would great to organize my stationary.
Then I found this book of collected works of Rudyard Kipling, volume III. There is no date on it, but the inscription on the front page is dated Christmas, 1902. It's still in great condition, even though the dust jacket is missing. I looked it up on Amazon to see if it was worth anything, but it's not. The highest price I could find for this year and condition was $18. Still, I only paid $1.99 for it and I think it's super cool. It's hard to believe that it's over 100 years old.
I started making recycled gift tags out of boxes. With the amount of mac and cheese and Gogurt we go through in this house, I have an abundant supply of materials. I've been cutting and embellishing with gusto and soon I'll have them listed in my shop.
School starts next week. This semester I'm taking intro to classification systems (think Dewey decimal system) and intro to reference services. I had to pay $220 for three text books this semester. It always makes me ill when I have to buy my books. It makes me ill to pay for school at all since a good chunk of the charges are for student union, newspaper and other miscellaneous fees. Seems stupid for me to pay them since I don't even attend the physical school. But I can't get out of it. I have to pay them for all the other people who go to campus. It's frustrating to be nickel and dimed for services not rendered to me.
I'm looking forward to all the new possibilities this new year has to offer and I will jump whole heartedly in to them.
4 comments:
Wow! That room looks great! I should post a picture of our playroom/craftroom right now. BLECK!
I hope your 2011 goes beautifully!
Good luck on school!
Good for you! When I saw the "before" picture of your room I felt overwhelmed. The "after" was quite impressive. Truthfully, my whole entire basement looks like your "before" shot. Sucks for me. Dont know if I will ever get to it.
Thanks, ladies! It took a year and a half for me to get it together and get the basement tidied. I still haven't finished the kids' area yet, but it's getting there. It is super overwhelming to try to tackle a mess like that, but I knew it was time. And this is a quiet time of year for me, in between semesters so I figured it was now or never.
I came to read your blog and got stuck looking at the slide show of your etsy-stuff. My goodness, Robyn! When do you have time to make all those things? You are so creative. Maybe your basement is not always organized, but your life must be, because otherwise you couldn't possibly fit everything you do in it!!!
-Terhi
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