All right. I'm going in. Photo update 5/27

Thanks so much, everyone. I'm really thinking about how I want things to be arranged as I get ready to put things back together. I realized at some point that I did not need to have things the way they currently are, and in fact that that is not really good for my workflow. I have quite a few storage folders, etc., so I am going to use those to reorganize some of the stuff I'm currently into. We've done a lot of traveling in the last 3 years, so I find myself doing a lot of that kind of scrapbooking. I have A LOT of travel themed/travel related stuff, so I thought about that and decided to put it all in an Iris case or two. I have quite a few empty ones. I'll separate it out by style within the case. I might even need two of them.

Then another thing I find myself reaching for quite often is either Vicki Boutin or 49 & Market stuff. I just really like both of those. I'll also reach for Pinkfresh Studio. So for now, I think I will corral those things, probably by collection-ish. I'll keep that stuff close by for now. Normally I am more color-driven than anything, so I'll keep the color trays I currently have. Those are in one of those photos--the horizontal trays in the black Kallax.

I'm going to rework my immediate work area so that the things I want to use/like to use are close by. For example, I use a lot of cardstock, though mostly just white/cream/kraft/black. That forms the base of a lot of my stuff, and it's been the case for a very long time.I want to just reach behind me on the cardstock paper trays that are in one of those Kallax cubes and grab what I want.

I am also a cardmaker/stamper/papercrafter, and I do other things sometimes. But those are usually defined projects, so I think I will move all of that type of thing so that it is not close by. I also think not being physically blocked by my desk to get to the other things in my studio will be helpful. I'm hoping not to have to buy much in the way of storage stuff, though I have been watching Lauren Hinds (Craft Some Joy) and I think her setup with the 16x16 Michaels cubes is great. I'm probably going to incorporate some of that collection when we redo the remaining closet area eventually. I didn't even know it existed until I saw her craft room tour this past week.

I'm still planning to destash some more stuff, but for now I think I'm at a reasonable place to put the room back together. It's been interesting to ponder the thought process, and learn how others approach it as well. I don't actually have very many regrets about things I have acquired, which is due in large part to the fact that I've literally been scrapbooking in the 'modern' way for 30 years now. That's a very long-term hobby, so it's okay to have a lot of stuff. But a little LESS stuff is also okay....

I'm back on a Sunday morning. It's a crunch-time period currently at work, so I needed to work a bit yesterday morning and likely will check in a bit today. That leaves less time for these organizing shenanigans. This upcoming week is the crescendo and I am hoping after this, things will return to just normal bedlam

I'm headed upstairs in a bit to get things to a state where I can move my desk. Not sure how much more mess that is going to make, but if I can clear out the rest of the "floor piles" and get the desk set up in its new orientation and cleared off (clearing off will be necessary to move it), I'm going to call that success.

I definitely had no desire to visit the yard sale, which ends today, but I did place a large Ali Edwards order with my April "fun money" budget...and some of my May budget. Oops!

Just a weekend accountability update. I made some great headway this weekend. Still more to do, but I'm finally at the point where I can actually see progress, and the piles of things I need to sort through seem to be finite, which really feels great. My plan is to get things to a point I can live with before the final touches for what has turned into a complete reorganization. I'm moving things in nearly every area in order to get what I use most often within reach of my main desk area. It's required a lot of thought.

Then, I think I might be a few months from redoing the last closet in the space--once that's done, the room will be at a finished state, probably for a long time. Redoing the closet will add a large work surface plus two or three six-foot shelves. I'm also going to get some of those Michael's 16x16 cubes, probably 8, and that will finish things up and give me tons more functionality.

My AC is getting replaced in a few weeks, so I should not have a lapse in using the space up here. Very excited about that. I'm also going to work up here next weekend for that scrappy organizing weekend thing that is going on, and then I will get set up for WITL week after this week. I'm really feeling so excited and motivated to scrapbook in a way I haven't for at least 3 years. YAY!

I'm glad to hear that; thanks for letting me know it inspired you. I do feel a pretty big sense of relief.  Other than moving/preparing to move/setting up after a move, I don't think my studio space has ever been that awful.  So much of the stuff in the before photo was not even stuff that belongs up there and it was pretty daunting to go through it. 

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone.  I'll probably spend some of my upcoming weekends for a while finishing things up in anticipation of the cloffice conversion and new storage we'll be bringing in (shelves and probably about a dozen Michaels Simply Tidy cubes), but I can definitely get back to work scrapbooking and paper crafting as well.  My desk area and all the surfaces are back in shape, though I didn't get a photo of that. 

The AC guys are coming next Wednesday to replace the upstairs HVAC, so I should have uninterrupted use of the space. 

I remembered over the weekend that we shampooed the carpet up there less than a year ago, and obviously everything was in much better shape then to be able to do that and actually GET to the carpet to shampoo it, so I should be good for a while there.

Big relief!