I walked in to my craft room on January 1 to be confronted with this:
It looked very intimidating at first and truthfully I almost just closed the door! But I knew there was no way I could ever feel even remotely creative in the chaos. I thought I would share with you how I managed to get it straightened out in a relatively short length of time just in case yours happens to be in the same shape!
First of all, I knew I would get frustrated if I spent all my time cleaning so I decided to spread the project out over three days. Plus I gave myself a time limit for each day - no more than three hours per day. Secondly, I divided the room up into sections and tackled the sections one at a time.
(as always, all photos are clickable for a larger view)
Day 1:
I chose to clean my work table and the floor in front of it first. Afterall if I did suddenly get the urge to make something I would need to get to that area! And yes, that meant I had to walk over all the "stuff" that was in the floor, and consequently, in front of drawers, shelves and closet to put things up! If I spied something in another part of the room that needed to go in the same spot as what I had in my hand, I would pick that up too if I could. But for the most part I kept to my section for the day. Time spent: 2.5 hours
Work table Before:
Work table After:
Floor in front of work table Before:
Floor in front of work table After:
Day 2:
I felt good about my progress so it was easier to walk in the room on Day 2 despite the fact I still had to step over the stuff in the doorway to actually enter the room. On this day, I chose to clean off the computer desk and bed. I did not have as much time as I did the previous day so I had to work fast. A lot of the surface of the bed and computer desk was taken up by "homeless" completed layouts. I took them along with the albums they belonged in downstairs to be done while watching television that night (and yes they all have homes now!). Time spent: 1.5 hours
Computer desk before:
Computer desk After:
Bed Before:
Bed After:
Day3:
By day 3, the room was really taking shape and I was excited to see an end in sight! On this day I cleaned up the last two sections - the floor in front of the bed and the stuff in the doorway and and in front of the closet. Time spent: 3 hours
In front of bed Before:
In front of bed After:
In front of closet Before:
In front of closet After:
Doorway before:
Doorway After:
Here are some additional after photos:
By spreading the cleanup over several days, giving myself a time limit per day as well as dividing up the room into sections, I really accomplished a lot without getting frustrated and tired of the effort. Try it next time and see if it works for you.
