Whew! I severely underestimated how much work it would be to clean off my four work tables for the 1st Week of the Craft Room Challenge. If you saw the before photos from last week, you know I had stuff stacked pretty high on all four tables and my computer desk.
Be sure to Save it on Pinterest if you need inspiration later!
I’m grateful to have a craft room at all and I’m definitely grateful to have all of these tables, but as I mentioned last week, I never actually set up a logical workflow for myself. So when I got done with a craft, I would simply leave the leftover supplies on the table or move it over to another table. I kept doing this over and over, moving my work area to the cleanest available spot. Eventually, I ended up making my crafts in a 2-foot by 6-inch patch in front of my computer. How stupid is that! Sitting there scrunched up making one of my Christmas crafts was the breaking point for me and that’s what led me to create this challenge.
As I’m sure you all know, life happens, people get sick. I got a week behind in the challenge but still tried to pick up a little bit here and there. Once I was feeling better a few days ago, I really dug in and was determined to get caught up and get these craft room tables cleaned off. I wanted to do it the right way though. I didn’t want to shove the stuff wherever just so it would look like I had cleaned. What would be the point? I tried my best to put the supplies away if they had a for sure spot. Anything that didn’t, I made notes of those organizational needs for Week 3.
I was able to do quite a bit of purging along the way, getting rid of duplicates, like who needs SIX paper trimmers!!!? Well, I got rid of the two oldest ones, lol. I also decided I need to reconfigure my immediate workspace so that I wouldn’t have to go searching for the supplies I need and use most of the time. I didn’t get to all of the stuff underneath the tables yet, but that is coming with the big purge for Week 2. I really do need to get rid of so much stuff in this craft room. I dream of a day where I can peacefully work at one of my tables, easily find all of my supplies, and effortlessly walk over to my lightbox or window table to take photos without having to scoot mounds of crap out of the way.
The one big change I’ll be making is reducing the tables down to three. That one smaller table by the door ends up being a catch-all for random stuff my family sticks in here. I found so many weird, non-crafty items just on that one little table alone. I found two mismatched socks from two different kids and some of those black sock garters. Why!? On a positive note, I found my little black and yellow scissors I’ve been searching forever for! Yay! I think removing that smaller table will help open the room up a bit more, too.
It feels so great to have all of my craft room work tables finally cleaned off. It’s funny, but now I’m feeling a little obsessive about keeping them cleaned off. After I made that String Art Monogram Letter, I immediately wanted to clean up my mess so the table was all white again. That’s a good sign, right? Be sure to check back for Week 2’s Big Purge. I’ll be revealing my closet of shame. If you watch the video from last week, you’ll see I strategically avoided getting that gem on camera. I’m dreading it. I really am. I might need to check the local laws on backyard bonfires, lol.
So what is your strategy (or biggest challenge) to keeping your crafty workspaces clean enough to craft on?
Welcome to the 2018 Craft Room Challenge! From January 3rd through January 31st, 12 crafty bloggers will be sorting, organizing, cleaning, and decorating their craft spaces. Each of us has a very different craft space to tackle, so chances are you will find one similar to yours. We’d love for you to join in on the fun challenge and clean right alongside us. Follow along and join in on social media by using #craftroomchallenge and #confessyourmess. You can also find us and the challenge via our social media accounts you’ll see listed on each of our sites. We’ll also have 15-minute mini daily challenges for you in case you have limited time to dedicate to the challenge. We hope you share your messy spaces and progress with us so we don’t feel alone this month!
Before you see the rest of the crafty spaces, please meet our lovely hosts:
Marie & Aleisha from The Inspiration Vault • Pam from P.S. I Love You Crafts
Yami from The Latina Next Door • Jolene from Create Pray Love
Habiba from Craftify My Love • Lyne from The Paper Addict
Megan from C’Mon Get Crafty • Erlene from My Pinterventures
Shirley from Intelligent Domestications • Valerie from Val Event Gal
Michelle from Our Crafty Mom
Now, let’s take a look at their craft rooms and spaces!
[inlinkz_linkup id=758948 mode=1]
