Organized???

I have lived by the philosophy, "I rather get it done than get it organized."  Like most everyone, I was busy and when it wasn't a "have to" busy it was a "want to" busy.  And even though I would rate myself a 4 or 5 on an organizational scale, I had a fairly good memory and a big house, so I could afford organized clutter.  Now that I have less demands on my time, I am sorting and arranging all that clutter.  My main reason:  I want related things in one place so I can avoid trips to the garage, the basement, and the third floor when I am in the middle of a project.

Enough explanation.  I started with the room that has many names...office, craft room, media center and, well, storage.
 

This piece I moved from another room.  It was under utilized and the perfect place to start my mission.

It has 3 pull out drawers behind the doors on the bottom right.  I used the top one for rubber stamps.  (no hunting, digging or wondering where the skeleton stamp is when Halloween rolls around.)

The second and third drawers are for decorative paper, card stock, and vellum.

The left hand side has shelves where I am storing cigar boxes that have been labeled with things like, colored chalk, tags, alphabets, and such.  The bottom shelf holds baskets of small trim, ribbon pieces and paper punches.
Behind the glass doors I have books, framed photos, and a few decorative items and keepsakes.

Now for the obvious,  a wall of closet space!  Originally there was only one closet in this room.  It was behind the single door on the left next to the window.  The space above where you see the small doors was dead space.

This shot is taken from the room on the opposite side of the closets you see above.  A doorway in the center connected the two rooms and there was a closet on the left behind the door you see here.

Many years ago, I had that wall demolished, closed the doorway between the rooms, and had an entire wall of closets built to face the room I am showing you here.  It was a huge boost to closet square footage.

Behind the two middle doors I have my computer, printer, scanner, shredder, and my TV/monitor.  (I recently bought the TV and, per my son's suggestion, hooked it up as my montitor.  I have to order the bracket that will attach it to the wall and open up more desk space.  Then I will be able to finish off the interior walls with something decorative. (most likely family photos on all the available wall space)

This little chair (a freebie from my brother) is a perfect fit to slide under the desktop when the doors are closed.  As you can see it has had it's fair share of use and is in need of reupholstering.  I'll address that another day.

I found this lamp at St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop. I did absolutely nothing to it but clean the price sticker off the base and add a light bulb.

One of my favorite things is attached to the back of one door.  I LOVE these old pencil sharpeners.  In my opinion, the electric ones are pencil eaters.  I found this one, cleaned it, spray painted it, and added a little pin stripping tape.  It works great and that makes me happy.  It's the little things, right?

Directly above this opening is where I am storing my family photos. (sorted and labeled, thank you very much!)

To the right of that bank of doors, behind the single door on the right, you will find...

BUTTONS...

and more BUTTONS all sorted by color,

RIBBON hung on tension rods,

SCISSORS,

EMBROIDERY FLOSS, (an idea I saw on Pinterest)

and COLORED PENCILS.

Below the shelves I have a fishing tackle box loaded with smalls,

a basket for yarn and ball fringe, and a few other things like my briefcase and file folder for receipts.

Do I sound pleased with myself?  Guess I am.  This particular space took steadfast, diligent, determination and lots of hours to complete.  But it is so exciting to open it knowing I am going to find exactly what I am looking for.

Behind the rest of the doors are things not nearly as interesting, but necessary, so we'll skip that part.

My desk has two hidden (no handle) drawers for basic desk stuff like thank you cards, pens, and stamps.  And also serves as a little secret hiding space.

 I found this rubber stamp holder in a pile of junk at a garage sale. I thought it was too cute to pass up.  A good scrubbing and some rust removal with a vinegar soak and it was ready for display.

Two more drawers in the room are for projects in progress...out of sight unless I am working on them.

And in case you didn't connect this room to a previous post, right through this pocket door is a large table for laying out the latest project.

As I mentioned earlier, it is hard to label this room...craft?, office?, media?

 I think I've settled on Therapy Room.  That most accurately covers it all. 

In my next post I'll give you a 360 of the room and then move on to something new.