office reorganisation

Over the past few years I have been very bad at keeping my office in order. It became a storage space for books and other stock, but also a dumping ground… 🙁 I hadn’t really been able to work in the space for quite some time. There just wasn’t room for me!

It was totally out of control. I knew that I needed to do something about it, but when things are that bad, where do you start?

So I started with the desk top. I figured that if I cleaned some of it up, and threw some things away, it was begun.

And so I did. I made a start.

I worked out all the things I really needed to store. Books for selling. Other products for selling such as thread, fabric, needles, scissors. All my personal embroidery threads. My fabrics for finishing. My needles, my scissors. My reference library. My notes on projects. My pattern drafting patterns and notes.

Then I planned where all that stuff could go. I love doing this sort of thing. It’s just another design problem to be solved. Figuring out the best use of space, using innovative methods of storage, using every nook and cranny, and planning in excess space to be filled over time with books I don’t yet own, fabric I don’t yet own and thread I don’t yet own. I needed to make sure there was room to grow into it.

Part of my problem before was that most stuff didn’t have a home. If it has a home, then it’s easy to put it back there. If it doesn’t have a home, then piles of stuff build up. Well, that’s the theory, anyway.

I’m part the way through the process of reorganising the office. Some of the new furniture (wardrobes with lots and lots of shelves and drawers, and bookcases) is in, but some is still to go in. I’m finding places for things to live.

I still have some more chucking out of stuff to do, but already, the space is a delight to be in. The other day I was taking some photos of projects I have recently completed, and The Reader came into be with me, simply because the space is becoming such a nice space. I’m going to enjoy working it in, especially when it is finished.

I wish very much that I had taken a before photo, but I didn’t think to! Imagine the worst mess you can possibly imagine, and it’s probably pretty close. (How embarrassing!)