Busy bee
As promised, I will tell you what I was so busy with last week…
I cleaned our barn!!!
Well, barn is not the right word, I guess you call it “shed”.
Anyway, it’s a small building at the back of our yard where we store our
bicycles, keep garden stuff and put “rubbish” in that we don’t want to throw
away, but don’t want to have fling around the house either…
And why did I do this all of a sudden?
Well, it all has to do with my scrapping supplies!
I’m not that lucky to have my own scrap room – I work in our living room
on the big dining table and I store my scrapping supplies upstairs,
partly in my son’s room and partly in the space up the stairs just before you
enter his room – is there a name for such a space? Corridor? Passage?
Anyway, never mind – you get the picture.
The amount of scrapping supplies became huge over the last year (and is
still growing) and there were still other things stored there too.
It became too much. I just couldn’t handle it anymore…
It wasn’t logical at all. Too much boxes to go through if I needed something –
most of the time I was digging through all my boxes to finally find what I
searched for in the last box (or not at all – until I finished the project and
started a new one and then… aaaah, there it is!!! Sounds familiar?)
And then there was my paper and alpha’s and journaling spots – the stuff I
use most – all in my son’s room…
He’s seventeen and I wanted those goodies out of his room.
When you’re a seventeen-year-old-boy having friends over
(or, in time, a girlfriend?) it’s not nice at all to have your mom rushing in
and out of your room all the time needing a piece of patterned paper…
Time to create some more room for my goodies.
Time to rearrange!!!
And that is, dear readers, why I had to start with the shed.
It was a nice, sunny September day when I put on my old working clothes
and entered the shed.
Everything went out – into the yard. E.VE.RY.THING!
You can’t imagine what that meant…
And I dug through it.
And I threw away stuff
(About 20 cans of old paint, from the time we bought this house?!
What the heck!!! Why did I keep those? Eight winters came and went
– no way you can ever paint with that stuff again! And – OH MY –
look at the space I create by throwing those away! Yiehaaaa!)
I worked all day on cleaning and restoring but it was totally worth it!
I ended up with a lot of space left to store things that were still upstairs…
And then I went to bed…
The next day, I bought 6 extra big plastic boxes, and went upstairs.
(still muscle pain from the day before – cleaning up DOES count as exercising!)
It took me two more days to go through all the things that were lying there!
The first day, I sorted out and re-stored the “household stuff” (old diaries,
blankets, old music tapes, ties, Christmas lights, birthday garlands,
MAN I’m such a hoarder!)
But the second day was like a little party!
You should have seen me, sitting on the ground with ALL my scrapping stuff
around me. I bought me some more (smaller) boxes to store my paper
and embellies…. and step by step the upstairs area became “MY” area…
I still had to store some of my goodies in my son’s room – but I put stuff there
I less use so I won’t have to bother him that much…
And after doing all that, the big moment arrived!
I have my own storage place!
I’m soooooo happy that I can find everything in a wink!
Some boxes still need a sticker that says what’s in it but here it is…
enjoy this little “tour”.
This is the closet
in my son’s room.
Stuff I don’t use
on a regular base
like old magazines
(“National Geographic”)
to cut out images I
use in my art journals)
Boxes with “sundries”,
small boxes with brads
and so on…
… and so forth
on the other side
of his closet:
lace,
ribbon,
fibers,
pieces of cloth,
felt,
buttons
(you Dutchies
can read it –
click on the
photo to
enlarge…)
But first thing what I see when I climb the (two!) stairs is this…
(TIP: store stuff way up in the corridor, scrap way down in the living room
and you’ll loose pounds without going on a diet!)
On these
bottom shelves:
empty books
(albums and
dummies) and
old books to
use as art journal
or to tear
pages out.
Alphas,
masks,
boxes with
(small & bigger)
pieces of paper.
On the
top shelves:
More paper,
my big bite,
paint,
gesso,
glue,
gel medium
and
way above
two plastic
bags filled
with my
favourite…
my spray ink!
A small closet
contains dossiers
with little images,
6×6″ paper,
some alpha stamps,
stickers,
journaling spots
and the bottom
boxes are filled
with old photo’s.
On top of
this closet…
paper, paper,
and more paper.
12×12″ on the left,
and bigger and
smaller pieces
in the drawers
and boxes.
(and in that small
basket you ask?
Teehee – clothes
pins to hang the
laundry above
the stairs in
the winter!)
And two little
drawers with
more alpha’s,
split pins,
die cuts
and other
small stuff.
Not on these photo’s: my big toolbox (keep that downstairs most of the time)
and my cases filled with stamps/stamp ink.
I sure hope you didn’t found this post boring… but I just wanted to show you
my “store space” after all the work I had to make it look like this.
Hope you’re having a great weekend!
Je t’embrasse!
September 20th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
looks so clean and organized…my place looks as though a bomb went off in it….
September 20th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Ik vond het helemaal niet saai, maar juist heel interessant. Laat me al beginnen met te zeggen hoe blij ik ben dat je plaats hebt gevonden voor al je spulletjes! Ik scrap net als jij aan onze eetkamertafel, en ik heb de volledige bovenkant van onze bibliotheekkast aangeslagen voor mijn spulletjes. Ongelofelijk hoeveel plaats mijn weinige spulletjes, want ja, ik vind nog altijd dat ik niet veel heb, innemen. Ik weet nog hoe trots ik was toen ik de kast voor de eerste keer organiseerde. Hoewel dit nog niet zo lang geleden is, moet ik dringend opnieuw orde op zaken stellen… organisatie is niet mijn sterkste punt haha.
Ik heb al aan mijn man voorgesteld op de benedenverdieping bij te bouwen, zodat we een extra kamer krijgen die nu mijn scrapkamer zou worden, en die we dan later als we oud en versleten zijn, en we moeilijk trappen kunnen doen, kunnen gebruiken als onze slaapkamer. Hoewel ik dit hoogst vindingrijk van mezelf vond, was mijn man niet direct voor het idee gewonnen LOL. Maar wie weet, misschien ooit, ik geef het idee nog niet direct op haha.
xxx Peggy
September 20th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It’s looking wonderful. I am jealous, now. I felt good that I wasn’t the only one digging in boxes…I guess I am the only one left. LOL
September 20th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Helemaal geweldig en wat goed dat je je er toe gezet hebt. Ik hik ook al tijden tegen alle rotzooi aan en stukje bij beetje ruim ik wat op maar wat een werk zeg heb jij verzet.
Nou en nu maar genieten en het netjes houden ( pfff mijn grote probleem)
Groetjes Linda
September 20th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Oh Marit, I’m so happy for you! You really did some fantastic organizing, it sure paid off, it looks wonderful!
September 21st, 2009 at 2:06 am
Wow, ur sure a lot better organized than me.
oh yea and…
pig
September 21st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
You are so organized – I love it! I just love seeing how others organize their scrappy stuff! Thanks for sharing!
September 21st, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Wat heerlijk voor je!!!! Al je spulletjes netjes bij elkaar en zo voor het grijpen.
Gewoon al fijn he om er tussen te zitten.
Wat schrijf je op een prettig leesbare manier!!!
xxxx
Chimene
September 21st, 2009 at 8:32 pm
Cleaning absolutely does count as exercise!! I had to laugh when you said you were such a hoarder because there is a show on TV now about hoarders and I’m hooked on it! haha Oh, and the National Geographic mags? I hit the jackpot and got a whole box of them from 1955 from my local 2nd hand book store, for free!!!! I can hardly wait to look through them and use for them art journaling too!!! Loved seeing how you arranged everything, it feels so good doesn’t it??
September 21st, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Deze post saai? Je schrijft op zo`n leuke manier dat het helemaal niet saai is en ik moet er juist om lachen 🙂
Maar wat een goed werk heb je geleverd, Marit! Lijkt me heerlijk dat alle spulletjes nu een plaatsje hebben gevonden.
Fijne week, liefs Viv
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:51 am
wow! good for you!
I only have a teeny bit of space for my stuff, and that’s how it’s been for a couple years now so I just have to keep purging and organizing it all constantly so it fits! Great idea for the shed though!
September 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 am
it looks wonderful … very organized. a lot of work but worth it. 🙂
I’d love to have my own scrap room too … i have everything in my bedroom
September 23rd, 2009 at 1:43 am
Wow,, it looks so nicely organized!!!! I bet you love it so much!!!! thank you so so much for visiting and commenting at my blog. Please stop by again. I look forward to getting to know you!
xoxo,
ja
julieannshahin.blogspot.com
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:36 am
Wow.. Marit..geweldig van je!! Wat een workout!! En super dat je alles een plekje hebt gegeven, het is hartstikke mooi opgeruimd… (ik heb soms het idee dat ik steeds aan het opruimen ben, ik ben nl. ook zo’n bewaarder… en er komt steeds meer bij 😉
Maar het voelt goed h