A place for everything, part 2

In case you're just joining me, you may want to check out my original post about my studio, and part 1 of my reorganization.

Oh!  I never posted about this... I have an item in the twin bead challenge in the August Bead&Button magazine!  See page 15 and here.  It's been so nice to have people congratulate me about it.  Someone at the Bead Society meeting on Monday said, "Was that you I saw in Bead&Button?"  It's such a great feeling!  I need to get going on submitting more designs.  I know they're booked up for months and months, but I need to try to get in there before more months are booked.

I posted about this on Facebook, but I'm going to paraphrase here (because you all are caught up on what I'm up to).  I was moving things around, and my box of dominoes fell.  Because a project isn't a project without making a huge mess at least 5 times.  Steve came upstairs to comfort me (so I wouldn't pitch a fit - things like that frustrate me).  Of course, he was also curious what could have made all that noise that probably reverberated in the basement.  He plopped on the floor and started picking up dominoes.  Since there was no room to join him, I checked my e-mail and saw the comment my friend Kat made to my blog post about chainmaille:  "Fun blog post, Traci! Saw you in the recent Bead and Button mag! I know someone famous! Yay, you! Kat"  Isn't she sweet?  I read this to Steve (who is still picking up dominoes) and said, "I'm not famous.  If I was famous I'd have someone picking...... up..... my......" Ah, hell.


Back to the reorganization.  After I moved the stamps, I kept going with the rest of that corner.  Steve brought up an empty under-the-bed storage box from the basement, and we loaded everything from that accursed folding table on it.  Then he whisked it out of the room onto the dining room table.  Then - whoosh! - the table went downstairs.  Instantly I felt so much better.  We wheeled the purple two-drawer rolling cart and my stamp cart (yes, I really do have that many stamps) out into the dining room, and that wall was empty.  I rolled my chair up and back in glee.

I worked more on the second bookcase.  I consolidated the scrapbook embellishments I want to keep (for now) and dumped things like diecut cardstock letters.  I do not need an entire plastic container to hold letters I'm probably never going to use.  So off they went!  Off this went!  Off that went!  Although I'm being fairly brutal, I am keeping quite a bit.  I've moved them all into a few containers.  I can paw through them when I finally have time to scrap and want to use them.  For now, I need the space.

Out the bookcases went!  Steve moved the tower of paper and the cute cubby-hole cabinets where my sticker rolling cart was (which is now in the closet).   Ahhh... That corner of the room was absolutely empty.  I just stared - all that space to work with.  All that..... SPACE.  It was wonderful.

Now, the reason I did all this so quickly (Thursday-Saturday last week) was because my mother and stepfather were able to borrow a van and bring me a wall unit.  It was in their sun porch, but it got moved into the garage when they put a desk in there for my stepfather's laptop.  It was sitting in their garage gathering dust, and I was more than happy to put it to use in my studio.  The best part about it is that it's PURPLE!

Mom gave me the measurements - 52" x 90" and 9" deep - so I knew I had to make room for it.  I was going to put it against the wall where the blasted folding table was, but after we moved the bookcases out, I measured that wall, and it was perfect.

Here it is, after Steve secured it to the wall so it won't fall on me or him or a kitty:

The purple isn't ideal, but it doesn't clash with the rest of the room.  It needs some touch-ups, and my stepfather checked that they have the paint and that it's not dried out.  When they come in a few weeks, he'll bring the paint along.  We could have repainted it, but we'd have to buy paint, and time would be lost painting (probably two coats) and letting it dry.  Now we'll just touch up the front surface, and that shouldn't interfere with me populating it.

Steve started the population with Pixel and Fe, but Fe jumped down and darted out of the room before I could take a picture of the two of them.

So now that I have this amazing wall unit, I've been reluctant to fill it.  I want to make sure it's "just right", which I know isn't good.  Steve keeps asking what he can do to help me, and I keep saying, "I don't know what I want to do yet."  He keeps saying, "You keep saying that."

I spent a bunch of time yesterday cleaning out the closet in here (as opposed to the one in the hall where (most of) my stamps now live).  As I figured, the space was very poorly managed.  I threw a few things away, but mostly I moved it all out into the dining room or onto my floor in here.  Scrapbook stuff stayed in here, because I knew that's what I wanted to have in this closet.  The things I didn't know what to do with yet went into the dining room.

I want to keep this room as peaceful as possible while I work so I don't get overwhelmed again.  If it all gets dumped in here, I'll be tempted to stop and just shut the doors when my in-laws come in a week and a half.  If it's in the dining room, I have to deal with it before they come.

After I cleaned out that closet, consolidated some things, and purchased two cigar boxes from a friend, I found that I have quite a number of empty containers I can put projects or materials in:

That's not even all of them.  I have a few plastic storage containers out in the dining room with my beads, and I'm going to try to sell some at the Loose Bead Society rummage sale which is this Saturday.

There's more to tell, but that will have to wait until tomorrow!

If you like my blog, please feel free to share on Pinterest, Facebook, or wherever these things are shared.  If you have ideas on what I can blog about, please leave a comment here or send me an e-mail.

Oh - one final thing.  Steve said to ensure (not INsure, he ASsures me) a proper "Guns in the Sky" earworm, I should post a link to the video.  Click here to be indoctrinated.