I am taking on the room where I spend more time than any other: my Workroom. Part library, part sewing room, part home office, and part art studio, my Workroom has to do it all. This week I am talking organization and KonMari. Can you really KonMari a sewing room? I have the answer!

Here we are! The penultimate ORC post for this round, and I’m excited to show you some of the organization I’ve incorporated into my Workroom. I have been working to organize the many items and multiple purposes in this room for weeks, and I’m very pleased with the results. The room isn’t done yet, but it is so much more functional and easy to use! This is proof that you can make a big change in just five weeks!

Lighting at Last!

First, an update on lighting: I have some! Last week I wrote about the struggles I had to find the right overhead lighting for this room. I was trying to get adequate indirect/direct lighting here without spending a fortune. Well, fixture #3 ended up being perfect. Because the bulbs are at the end of the spokes, the light is cast both up toward the ceiling where it bounces (indirect) and down toward the floor (direct).

It isn’t at all what I had originally pictured in the room, but it works. How do I know? This weekend I spent a lot of time sewing Bambino’s Halloween costume — Harry Potter robes made from black fleece. I’m not sure there could be a better test for a lighting scheme! I was able to sew late into the night illuminated by a combination of my two overhead lights and the new task lamp I purchased. It all worked very well, and the costume was finished ahead of schedule!

This project also gave me a chance to really use the dedicated sewing area in my Workroom. Unlike the Guest Room Refresh, I don’t have any sewing projects for this ORC — which seems really strange! Maybe I will need to make a pillow just for fun! But while sewing this costume, I really gave that work area a test and found a few places where I needed to tweak my organization. Overall, though, it worked beautifully! I’m so pleased about that!

A KonMari Update

So what have I done? Well, I started with Marie Kondo’s book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I discovered Kondo about four years ago. We had just moved to Los Angeles, and I broke my foot while moving boxes in our new house. While I convalesced, I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and then took on using the KonMari method on our home. It made a remarkable difference in so many ways! I truly unpacked our house — something we hadn’t done in several moves. And I took carload after carload of unused items to be donated. When you move frequently as we have in the last decade, it is easy to just move boxes from one place to another without actually opening them and evaluating what is inside!

And then we moved again. This time to Colorado.

We arrived two years ago, and my Workroom was an afterthought. I shoved boxes inside and just shut the door until the rest of the house was unpacked, and we were more settled. Then I hastily put things away without truly thinking about function or organization. And I got to work.

Well, two years later that just wasn’t working. So a big part of this One Room Challenge has been organizing and evaluating every item in my Workroom. I broke a big KonMari rule. To truly KonMari your home, you are supposed to consider your house as a whole. But having done this relatively recently — and doing a good job of maintaining the rest of the house — I decided to just take on the Workroom, treating it in essence like a studio apartment. I did all of the KonMari Method steps in order, and I used Marie Kondo’s principles — just on a much smaller, more concentrated scale.

I have taken loads of items to be donated. I have sold a lot on the Marketplace. I am part of a Freecycling group, and I’ve been able to give away a bunch as well. And in the end, I am confident that what I have left is useful and will spark joy in the many creative pursuits I take on in this room. Ultimately, having a room that is functional and beautiful sparks joy — far more than any individual item might.

So can you KonMari art supplies? Yes! What about sewing materials? Yes! Office supplies? Yes! Photographs? Yes! Books? Yep. Even books.

I have some tips and tricks for using the KonMari Method on a sewing room, art room, or craft room, and I pulled them all together in one spot.

The best part of the KonMari process is all of the space that is freed up! I took a whole box of books to be donated. I got rid of tons of almost-empty art supplies. And consolidating materials gave me storage containers of all kinds which could be repurposed in other places and ways.

Workroom Organization Solutions

One of my goals for this Workroom Makeover is to use what I already have and to keep purchasing to a minimum. Not only does this save money, but it is also a greener approach, so finding organization solutions has been a creative experiment — and it has been successful! I am so pleased to open my drawers and bins and to see tidy divisions largely created using shoe boxes, bins, box lids, jars, cans, and containers I already had. Frankly, part of making the storage attractive lies in grouping like items together. Nothing is jumbled or disorganized. It is tidy and pleasant to look at. I’ve even sorted markers and pens by color which just makes everything prettier — and easier to find and to put away again.

Organizing Tip: keep a collection of bins, jars, and containers nearby as you are sorting and organizing. I collected containers from around the house (and I keep a stash just for these kinds of projects). As I worked on each drawer, I had an assortment of containers to work with, and I didn’t have to run out to buy anything. My stash includes:

• Shoe boxes

• Small, study boxes

• Glass jars

• Plastic jars (like peanut butter jars)

• Spare bins and baskets

• Tin cans and containers

I found that as I went through the KonMari process, a large pile of empty bins and containers began to accumulate as I got rid of items. I even freecycled some of those containers that no longer sparked joy. And I still have a small collection for last minute projects as they arise.

Here’s a peek into my desk drawers. You can see all the different types of containers, boxes, and bins at work:

A Place for Everything and Everything in its place

The key to long-term tidiness is two fold: managing the amount of stuff you have AND designating a place for everything so that putting it away is easy and clear. As I approached my drawers and shelves and bins and baskets I wanted each to have a clear purpose and for every item in the Workroom to have a specific place where it lives.

So, for example, my planners and journals now live in an old basket I had in another part of the house. It can be moved easily when I am working on one project or another, but it also has a spot under my desk where it can be out of the way. And the basket is attractive — something that is always important to me.

For more specific items, I created some organizational tools, too. I have a lot of stationery — more than I thought even. And my old greeting card organizer had, at some point, gotten wet so it was time for a new one. Rather than buying something new, I created a card organizer from an Ikea bin. I used the same method to organize my stickers which I use in my planning practice. I’ve put together a simple tutorial for making both organizers which could easily be adapted to any collection of similarly-sized items.

So far I have only purchased the following organizational items:

• 1 large white plastic bin

• 2 lidded baskets: I wanted them to match the two I already owned, because they are very visible.

• 4 archival boxes (found on the Marketplace for $5 each)

Everything else has been repurposed or redistributed from another place. I do feel like this Workroom is a bit of an Ikea retrospective — a parade of Ikea’s greatest organizational hits over the years. But I also love that I can tell you, for example, that the wooden magazine holders are now at least 15 years old.

That also tells you a bit about how many containers and storage solutions I already had — but it also is an indication of one of Marie Kondo’s bits of wisdom. She talks about how we tend to try to organize our stuff, putting it into more and more containers, when what we really need to do is evaluate the stuff we have first. And that is so true! The less stuff we have — even in a creative space — the fewer organizational tools we need.

And then there’s this bit of truth which I just keep repeating to myself over and over…

I don’t know who said it first, but that is a hard truth that has become a mantra, and those words have actually made the does-it-spark-joy question easier to answer, too. If it does not spark joy, then it could be money again — either sold or as a tax deduction.

Closet Organization Solutions

I haven’t even talked about the closet really. And honestly, it was already half-way done before I began. About six months ago, we installed Ikea’s Algot closet system. To be clear: I am in NO WAY compensated by Ikea. But I absolutely LOVE the Algot closet system. We first installed it in the 1948 Subdivision Sweetheart, and it is a game-changer. It is easy to design and easy to install. It is relatively inexpensive. And it works beautifully! We are slowly installing it in all of the closets in this house, too.

When I did the Guest Room Refresh, I moved the inventory for Bambino’s Closet (I resell Bambino’s outgrown clothing on Facebook and Kidizen) into my office, and we installed a few Algot shelves to help make that happen. But I went through every item in the closet as part of the KonMari Method — and I was able to move my entire book inventory in there was well which is super-helpful! And now the closet is so tidy!

The closet contains the doors to the crawlspace, so the bottom half of the closet needs to be accessible. We have had these drawer units from Ikea for about 15 years. They have had many, many lives (and several repairs — one fell off a moving van once). I’m pretty sure they are currently living their best life, though. One unit is filled with gift wrapping supplies. The other holds my photography gear, the gift drawer, and some miscellaneous items. As with my desk, each drawer has a discreet purpose. And since they are on wheels, they can be easily moved as needed. I’m a big fan of putting castors on things — anything! It makes furniture so much more flexible!

Tucked into the closet’s corner: a hamper full of wrapping paper. The other corner has room for hanging items and stores my tripod. Both corners are easily accessible when the rolling drawers are pulled out.

Updating the Vintage Desk

A few weeks ago I showed you how I replaced the trim on my $25 1950’s teachers desk. That was an easy — if rather sticky — project. But that’s not all I have done to update this desk.

First, as with everything else, I determined the best functions for each drawer. The desk holds my Cricut and printer, and has three drawers. It replaces a hot mess of a makeshift table with a file trunk stowed underneath.

I sorted through all of the files — every last piece of paper. And I did a lot of shredding. A lot. I also confined many records to deep storage in bankers boxes. These are great for tax documents and other records you don’t need to access often. They are cheap, perfect for files, and easy to stack.

Once I had my files sorted, my husband created a super-easy way to retrofit the file drawer in the desk so that it will now hold hanging files. He is clever that way, and I am so glad to have hanging files again!

The top drawers each have functions as well, and both were thoroughly cleaned and freshened up. I used some scraps of wallpaper to line the bottom of each drawer — held in place with a light spray of Super77. It’s a pleasure to look inside and see a peek of color!

One drawer holds all of my Cricut tools and supplies. The other holds my shipping materials . In each drawer I put a cardboard box to hold smaller items — also lined with wallpaper. The boxes are held in place with a little double-stick tape on the bottom. They make simple, cheap drawer dividers and keep smaller items corralled.

The shipping drawer is organized in the same way. I use large clamps to keep the envelopes separated and tidy. Half-sheet labels fit easily in the box along with smaller envelopes and packing tape. I print labels for all shipping on my printer, and the portable scale is fantastic. I never have to stand in line to buy postage when I am sending out packages of The Nice List or clothes that I have sold.

Cricut Labels Everywhere!

My family gave me a Cricut Maker last year for Christmas, and I have used it for a variety of projects, but I’m not sure any project has been more fun that the day last week that I spent labeling everything that wasn’t moving in the Workroom. Seriously. So. Much. Fun. I chose a simple font, picked a bunch of coordinating colors of adhesive vinyl from my stash, and I labeled all of the bins filled with art supplies and tools in my open cupboard as well as jars full of sewing notions, and the bins of clothing for sale in Bambino’s Closet. It was fabulous!

Family Photographs and Kids Artwork

As you are supposed to do, I have left the two most sentimental KonMari categories to the end. For me that’s photographs and Bambino’s artwork. And I doubt I will finish both before the big reveal next week. But I have a plan for both categories. And if I don’t finish, I’ll update you when it does happen. For now, both categories are tidy and organized. But they need to be KonMari’d which I haven’t done, yet.

The photographs will all be sorted, and those I want to keep will be scanned, labeled, and archived. The others will be tossed. I know. Throwing away photos seems wrong, but it isn’t. And I will keep some of the prints — I just can’t keep all of them.

As for Bambino’s artwork: I have a flat file of sorts — a tall elfa rack in which all of the artwork is stored. When I am ready to take on that project, it will be easy to pull everything out and KonMari it all. I’m still researching the best ways to digitize kids art. It isn’t all worthy of being saved, but I do want to keep a lot of it. So I need a good long-term solution. Still working on that.

The top three drawers of this unit are empty intentionally. They are for projects which need to dry — collage, paint, etc. This way I have a safe space to tuck things away while they dry or until I can work on them again.

Phew! That’s a LOT of information! But KonMari-ing and then organizing all of these various functions into a harmonious room has been a big project!

Just one more week to wind everything up! It is getting real around here, and I’m happy with how this is turning out. I just need to pull the last bits together and finish a few more projects. Hopefully I can get it all done on time!

If you are interested in ordering a copy of my Christmas organizer and planner, The Nice List, there are some available in my store! I’d love to ship a copy to you this week while I am filling orders! The Nice List is a fabulous way to give yourself a peaceful, organized, and more joyful Christmas season.

Next week I’ll have photos of the entire room FINISHED! I have several projects yet to do before that happens, but I’m excited to get it all done at long last. So be sure to come back next week for the big reveal!

Week 6 | Nov 7 | Before & After

You can follow along on Instagram or like Mid Modern Mama on Facebook for tips, tricks, and sneak peeks along the way, too.

Thanks to Linda of The One Room Challenge for organizing the whole shebang! Thanks also to Better Homes and Gardens, the ORC media sponsor.

Ok. Gotta get back to work!
Ciao!
Angela

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