Before and After

Hallelujah .... my scrap room or rather scrap space is finished . It's felt like a bit of an epic task - totally overwhelming at times. How daft that I could have let my craft supplies build up like that . What was supposed to have been my oasis of creativity and calm had become a no-go ghetto.

So, armed with an Ikea catalogue, one dozen cardboard boxes and a picture in my head , I set out to halve the space I'd originally squandered and turn it into a multi purpose room - half craft room , half spare bedroom . I would be left with a much smaller area - 2m x 3m to be precise. Now I can craft in peace in one half of the room without the mess and we can have guests to stay in the other half ( not to mention the added bonus of being able to banish a snoring husband to what we've now dubbed ' The Snoratorium '  when the decibels levels exceed acceptable levels ).

It wasn't easy and I turned into a de-clutter bore in the process. It wasn't cheap either . What started out as a shoe-string budget soon had to expand to cover the cost of someone to paint the walls as I couldn't manage the step-ladder with dodgy knees , husband always too busy ... watching sport and I wasn't brave enough to let my teenagers anywhere near a can of paint ) . I'd planned to buy some budget carpet but this soon went out the window ( not literally ) . All of the really cheap stuff felt like ... well cheap stuff so I opted for a mid price range in a lovely slate grey. Don't even start me on the cost of storage solutions. With 32 cubby holes between 2 Expedit units to fill, you can do the maths.

I invested in the Expedit door fronts because I didn't want lairy purple and green craft tools exposing themselves in all their gaudy glory. Then came the white rattan baskets at £10 a pop, not to mention the rather lovely slate grey boxes that filled the remaining spaces to perfection. Thank goodness I didn't have to buy a stick of new furniture apart from a new bed. The 2 existing Expedit units , the desk, my chair and the 3 shelving units were all re-purposed but thankfully fitted in with the scheme as did the rather tatty lamps which only needed a couple of new shades to bring them back up to date.

Every room in the house felt as though it were filled to the brim with the contents of my stash as I moved it out when the painting started. I had to climb over crates of clutter to get into bed . I felt like one of those 'hoarders next door' from the TV show where they live amongst a decade of old newspapers ( replace 'newspaper' with 'patterned paper' and you see what I mean ). Did I ever think I would use all of this stuff ?

I started with the de-clutterers golden rule of creating 3 piles - keep / throw / donate. Stuff that . It soon turned into a donate/bin dilemma which quickly simplified to just donate. The Shooting Star Children's Hospice were delighted to receive enough crafting materials to keep their art therapist stocked for a while. A sale of the remainder at my local crop raised nearly £100 which will also be donated to the hospice. I can't tell you how liberating that felt and all for a good cause too.

So , enough drivel ( I did warn you I'd become a de-cluttering bore )  here's the only evidence you need - the before and after photos.

Could barely get through the door ...

... let alone find anything on my desk

 Mountains of junk ... but not any more ....

Cream and grey ... not a lime green Cuttlebug in sight.
The bed is on the other side of this Expedit which acts as the room divider.

Vinyl decals from Ikea on the back of the Expedit which is acting as a room divider

Vinyl door labels cut on my Cameo using a lovely font called Swenson - a bit of a faff but at least I know what's behind every door.

Cardstock and Patterned paper are the mainstays in my stash but are now neatly ordered and filed. The cream Curver rattan style boxes are brilliant and only a fiver from The Range and I covered the fronts of Kraft brown file holders from Muji with some cream ledger patterned paper to give them a uniformity .

My new mantra which reads " We don't need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it " 

Now all I have to do is put that into practice.

Fell in love with this embroidered cushion from John Lewis. I'm known to have a bit of a thing for birds as the lamp will also testify.

Of course Jenny had to help

... and now I really do feel as if I can finally create something lovely in my new room.