In Order

January is the perfect month for organization. At least that’s what the covers of January magazine issues scream. I consider myself well organized. However, our den was in need of some additional storage solutions so I jumped on the organizational bandwagon.

The den suffers from multiple personalities. It is our home office, my studio, and our guest room...and all in the space of 140 square feet. It’s a challenge to fulfill all those storage needs in one small closet but it can be done. The solution? Go to the ceiling with the shelving.

When we first moved in we removed the hanging bar from below the original shelf and added additional shelves to within 18 inches of the floor. It was now time to tap into the almost 30” of lost space above that original shelf. After a quick $20 run to Home Depot I had all the supplies in hand to start the transformation.

Relegated to those high shelves are the seldom used but oh so necessary items: Scrabble for word war death matches when Mom visits, other assorted board games, the “old fashioned” phone for power outages, camera bags, the shredder. Below that, in nicely labeled boxes, are extra office supplies, software CDs, cords and cables.

That means that at eye level, well my eye level anyway, is the most exciting portion of the whole closet…my studio shelves. Fabrics have been neatly folded and arranged. All the notions have been corralled on the shelf below the fabric thanks to two previous IKEA trips. (I think those boring wood drawers will be jazzed up in the future.) Just below that a basket holds all the bits and pieces of previous projects with some space to house a small yarn collection for my new crocheting endeavor. On the floor a plastic tub houses the boring assortment of interfacings, batting, stuffing, etc.

I had to leave one shelf for the everyday office items so into another basket went paper, notebooks, envelopes, stationery, mailing labels. It’s a mini-Staples right in a basket. I do keep eyeing it for possible studio expansion. That, however, is just a dream. We’re trying really hard to work under the premise of use what’s on hand because if it won’t fit in its newly designated space it can’t come home. That doesn’t stop a girl from ordering fabric though! Guess I better work on that!