Don't come for me but we are talking Spring Cleaning

It looks as though spring has finally decided to peek her little head out and make an appearance. It couldn't come soon enough for me. Now don't get me wrong, I love the rain and I know we are going to need it but I just need the occasional warm day and sunshine to break up the monotony and remind me that the sun does indeed exist, even in Oregon.

Now since we are talking about spring, I am going to bring up one of everyone's least favorite topics. Spring Cleaning. Love it or hate it, we all know it's something that should be done and honestly more often than once a year. Today I am talking specifically about your craft area and getting things back into shape in order for the creativity to flow.

I have been asked a lot lately to do a video of my craft space and at some point I may, but honestly I am reluctant for a few reasons. I am as likely as the next person to spend hours down the rabbit hole of perfectly curated craft rooms. Drooling in envy at all the extra white spaces and plotting how I could make that work for me. But to be honest, it wouldn't. I am lucky enough to have a completely dedicated workshop and I know that isn't the case for everyone. I also hate the idea of anyone thinking that if they don't have said dream space that what they do have can't be functional or that they can't possibly utilize any of the ideas because their space doesn't look like those fabulous influencers.

If you have ever seen my space (usually blurred out in the background of photos) you will know that I don't believe in white anything. I have almost nothing white in my entire house and certainly not in my craft space. Now calm down all you lovers of pure white everywhere, I'm not saying that you can't or shouldn't have white, I am just saying that it doesn't work for me. My workshop is a mixed use space. I am eclectic when it comes to my crafting and have a variety of mediums that I use so I tend to gravitate toward dark woods, multi purpose and second hand finds that I can upcycle to work in my space. When I was young I remember going into my dad's garage workshop and he had these old dressers that we kids had obviously outgrown, they were horrible colors of yellow and green but they had fabulous drawers and a bench style that worked perfect for keeping his tools and adding a worktop. My dad has since moved, changed jobs, retired etc and yet when I went into his shop a few months ago those old dressers were still there (he has painted them a time or two since), but the point is you don't have to run out to the nearest IKEA and grab every piece that some influencer recommends. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with the occasional trip to IKEA if it fits your budget and it works for you. What I am saying is make use of what you have or shop around. The important part is to make your space, well uniquely yours, and utilize what works for you. I have an ancient roll top desk that I picked up at a goodwill (I think) for like $50. It is one of my favorite pieces and it made my craft space so much more functional than the tabletop style desk with no storage, I was using previously. I love anything with lots of storage especially if you are tight on space.

When we are talking about crafting, space is prime real estate. Whether you have a huge space or a cubby in the kitchen, you need to make that space work for you. For a very long time I dreamed of having one of those craft box things. I thought it would be fabulous to keep everything contained and organized but alas I am a messy maker! Call it my creativity that just can not be contained but I have a little bit of stuff spilling out everywhere in my workshop and I just don't think those little cabinets are worth the cost. Plus I hate putting things like that together. Once a week I go through my space and do a cursory tidy and organize. Then monthly l I do a bit of a deeper clean. This helps me to keep the chaos under control should god forbid anyone come in here and see what it actually looks like on the daily. But we are talking about Spring Cleaning and that is topic all on it's own.

So let's get down to the nitty gritty of it shall we? The first thing I do when Spring Cleaning is bring in 3 tubs, 1 for things to throw away, 1 for things to give away and 1 for things that need to be put away. (See Mom I do listen) Then I clean off all the surfaces in my space. Everything on them gets put into one of the bins and I deep clean each surface. I personally use un-paper towel rolls from Heather's Treasures and some all natural cleaner that I make myself, but you can use whatever works for you. I also take this time to clean off all of my printers and check the ink levels of each. After the surface cleaning is done I head to the drawers and cubbies. I hate the word purge but I like to look for items that no longer serve me and into the donate bin they go. There are lots of people out there that have "rules" on when to get rid of things and I am not much of a rule follower in that way so, if you want to keep it then do and if you don't then don't. I clean out all the bins and drawers with a little vacuum and then wipe them all out. I have little labeled containers in all of my drawers, because otherwise I would just throw stuff in there willy nilly and shit would be everywhere! So I clean out the little containers too before putting them back. I even wash the windows, clear out any cobwebs, sweep and mop, you know all the tasks I truly hate but have to be done. I work with a lot of wood so things are often covered in a layer of dust and cleaning the windows makes a huge difference in the light that comes in.