Creative Chaos

I'm always curious to see the spaces that other creative people work in. My dad has a workshop, lined floor to ceiling with pegboard; everything is in its place. I visited another guy's auto workshop this week, and it was lined with EVERYTHING floor to ceiling; nothing could possibly move out of its place. I've been in design studios that are sparse and bare, quilting rooms that are filled with beautiful fabrics, and college students' painting niches that are fully equipped with the necessities of life (couch, pop tarts, coffee maker, and lots of turpentine).

So I've been trying to establish a space of my own in which I will create, sew, doodle, design and more. This space needs to house a large flat-file storage unit, drafting table, bookshelves, sewing machine, and lots of fabric, yarn, paints, supplies, etc. But I don't have a dedicated room in the house for this (I lost that to the hubby - he gets paid to do his hobby, I don't). I carved out some space in our master bedroom, a room that was crazy big to sleep in.



The bed is in the CENTER of the room, leaving a small alley behind it. That is where I operate. The curtain is my solution to masking two 6-foot bookcases. The space is tight, but it all fits back there - well, mostly. The trouble with a small space is organization and neatness are key. My creative style is not particularly organized or neat. Neither is my space.

There are two bookcases on either side of the drafting table with a board bridging the space between. That creates a handy shelf for large items. It really helps to utilize the vertical space. The bookshelves are filled with all sorts of goodies: albums, yarn bins, fabric and sewing notions, and a few books to boot. I love to be able to see lots of unrelated things at once; the juxtaposition inspires me. But I cannot have everything covering every horizontal surface!! The mess is really hindering my creative process, so I'm resolved to reorganize and take dominion of this corner of my world. Any ideas or organizational solutions you'd like to share?