I’m moving my craft room. Again.

Yep. I am.

At the start of the pandemic, I inherited a craft room…sort of. My husband and I (who was then my live-in boyfriend) thought we should try moving around some things so that he could have some space and feel more comfortable. We moved all the stuffs I’ve accumulated over the years to a small room in the basement. He even painted one of the walls with chalkboard paint so that I’d be able to practice my lettering on a larger surface.

This was as far as I got at the time.

Fast forward through the pandemic and I have to move my things again…this time to what used to be my son’s room, upstairs, just across the hall from my daughter’s room. It’s a better place to be to react quickly in any hairy, health situations.

In the short term, it’s probably as much of an inconvenience to move it as it is to have not been able to effectively use the room since last August. ALL of my things have been down there. So, my creating has been limited to what I can have upstairs, even after I went through the pains of setting up a rig for limited access to daylight.

I’m also a little heart sore from having to commandeer my son’s room. I always thought I’d keep the room in case he ever wanted to come home for whatever reason. But, he’s getting married soon and while I’m happy for him, my mommy heart is torn. It’s a mom thing. If you know, you know.

On the brighter side, technically, I’m getting more space and daylight again. So, that’s a plus! I also get my own space for a getaway back as well as a better guard post for my daughter.

I’ve been looking for ways to organize the space since it likely won’t look the same once it’s done. Before I took all my things downstairs, I kind of just lived with things in my living space. It was organic. But, having a dedicated room was cool even though it was tiny and half of it was utility shelves with my arty belongings arranged on them (the other half was my desk and utility table that I didn’t really get to use either). Over the years, with life’s twists and turns, I’ve had studios I couldn’t use either. So, I never got to organize a room that truly functioned as a creative space. They have always acted more like storage, less like creative workspaces…and I have always created on-the-go, so to speak. Now that my things are coming upstairs and there’s a bit more room to work with, I’m at a loss again. How do I organize and arrange all of my stuff, without the budget of all the super-creatives I see across the web? Plus, since it’s going upstairs, I feel more tied to the aesthetics. I mean, it’s right there with the bedrooms.

Plus, I just want a happy place…whatever that means for me right now. If the room can uplift my spirits and motivate me, even better!

I decided to start with a list of workspaces that I could see in the space to get started. I already have a desk and a small utility table. But, I am likely to use the desk for photos and my laptop…and the table will likely be for my printer and storing papers and ink. I would like an additional workspace that I can use to draw on without losing any elbow room from my cameras and all that.

I’ve looked around the web…I’m of the mind that one of these will be in put in the room when everything in there now is moved out.

Work space 1 - I like this one on Amazon. It looks like it’s for computers and books. But, I think it is a large space and I could have my laptop on one side and whatever I’m doing on the other.
Workspace 2 - Some IKEA variant. I see all these wonderful diy craft tables across the web. But, the materials they use are never available on the site when I go. They’ll have the shelves, but not the correct size tabletop. If I luck up on it though, it’s a go!
Workspace 3 - These (Option 1 and Option 2) are not completely out of reach. But, they’re wayyyy pricier without being Workspace 4.

Workspace 4 - If by some strange stroke of luck, I come into a landslide, I’ll go for nearly every creatives dream craft set up, The DreamBox by Create Room.

We have quite a bit to move around between now and then, so there’s plenty of time to plan.

Do you have any ideas for organizing a creative space?