A New Challenge

I have been following several blogs and two of them are by sisters. Traci has Beneath My Heart and Cyndi has Walking in His Grace. You should check out their blogs! They are sponsoring "Organizational" challenges. Cyndi is concentrating on organizing our heart/lives. Traci is working on organizing our home/lives. Traci has a challenge right now about organizing a closet in our home. I decided last weekend that I needed to have a makeover on my craftroom and closet so this motivates me to get to work. Tonight I took pictures and I am thinking about where to start. It always helps me to make a plan of action. I am going to share some "BEFORE" pictures if you all promise not to judge my mess!

Every year around Christmas I find myself making lots of goodies and letting things pile up in this room. It is nice because it is in my basement and guests rarely go in this room (unless they are coming over to scrapbook). The boys have their own corner with craft/art supplies.

I know I need an area for the boys, for scrapbooking, for sewing and I like to leave an area for wrapping presents/making cards. My closet is nice and big and at one time it was very organized. I like to keep a "gift stash" of presents I pick up on sale or ahead of time for specific people. I have gift bags, wrapping paper, tissue paper, fabric, craft materials and books, and so much more. This closet could be organized so much better to really serve the needs of this room and help open up space in the room for working!

Here are the pictures:
Top Horizontal View of Closet



Bottom Horizontal View of Closet



Vertical View of Closet



Computer Desk/corner



Kids' Corner/Diecut machine



Work Area and Scrapbook Storage/Desk



I have NO IDEA how I have let this room get so disorganized! I worked for two hours tonight completely emptying this closet. Everything is sorted into groups: kids' stuff and crafts, potential gifts, sewing stuff and extra material, gift wrapping/bags, pictures and frames, items to donate to good will, trash and party items. Now the big task is going through everything and deciding what types of storage needs I have. I know from experience that I work much better in a clean and tidy space! Now I just have to find time this week/weekend to finish this project so we can walk in the room again :)

What areas in your home need a facelift? Share your photos and ideas!