What to do with the craft room?

I am in a phase of re-organization. It hits me every now and then. I feel the need to declutter and simplify - make our life work in the space around us.

Right now, my main focus is my craft room/office. It's the space where I sew and embroider, where I store my scrapbooking supplies, and store all my miscellaneous craft and magazine goodies. But the space has some problems. First of all, right now, it's packed to the gills. There's bins of fabric scraps, hundreds of paint colors, glitter, my oil paints and easel, back issues of my favorite magazines, archived issues of my magazine, and so much more. Plus, I need at least two workstations - one for my computer and one to for sewing. And I'd like it to look clean, and clutter free so I can actually relax in there as well.

So, I'm planning a redo. My first thought was to have some streamlined, professional cabinetry built in. So, I headed to the Chapel Hill Lowes and made an appointment with a designer, who was terrific. I chose a Kraftmaid cabinet and a quartz counter top. His design was simple but attractive, with lots of storage for my tiny scrapbook stuff. But I had a bit of sticker shock when I saw the price. $9K installed.


Next stop, Pottery Barn, where I perused their Bedford Collection of office furniture and hutches. While these are really attractive and reasonably well-built (I actually owned a lot of these pieces in my previous house) they don't give me a lot of vertical storage in the hutches. And then there's the bigger problem, they're really massive and don't fit in my 9X12 room.




























On to Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen, where I hoped to find the same type of furniture, on a smaller scale. No dice. Most of the options were nearly the same size as the adult offerings and I still had the limited wall storage.


So, I headed to the Internet, where I searched IKEA. My favorite was this gorgeous collection. It gives me lots of wall storage plus two workstations. And the price makes my giddy - I think I can do it all for under $3K. But given that this is where I'll spend much of my time and I will likely be really hard on the surfaces, I'm a little worried about furniture that I have to put together. Is this IKEA stuff really durable enough for working on every day?

So, today, my mom, the kids and I headed for Furnitureland South. If you haven't been there, you should really go. My sales rep is Todd Needles and he's terrific. He's helped us with TONS of furniture in our house. Plus, Furnitureland South is about 40% off retail price - seriously. People from New England drive all the way down to North Carolina to buy here. Lucky for us, it's about an hour away. Anyway, Todd helped me narrow down the million square feet (no kidding) of showroom space to the Loius Loius Collection from Stanley. The price is right on this collection (about $5K) but my big concern is the peninsula desk, which will seriously eat into the floor space in the room. There will be 4 feet of walk space around the desk if I choose this option, and I'm worried it will look too crowded. Plus, I can forget room for a chair or the credenza that's in there now....
























So, here I am, just about back to square one. Wondering what in the heck I should do. I would love to do the built ins, but worry that I will be putting money into a space that will never see returns when we sell the house. (I do think many people will see it as a wonderful homework space for kids, though). I want it to work for now, but I know we won't be in this house forever. What to do? What to do?


C

How Can I Get More Zzzzzzzzzzs?

I can’t figure out how to get enough sleep.

Now that Baby B is nearly walking (and unloading all my Tupperware drawers, emptying the pantry, and getting into the toilet paper) I am busy every moment he’s awake. The WG’s school starts at 8am and I spend a couple hours each day doing the pick up and drop off routine. It seems that the only time I have to work lately, is well, late.

Hubby has been traveling these last three weeks and so I start dinner around 5:30. We eat dinner at 6:00, then it’s time for baths, dressing for bed, brushing two sets of teeth (one much tougher than the other) and reading three books each. I finish up around 7:30 and then it’s downstairs to clean the kitchen. By the time I’ve checked my home voice mail, my work voice mail, email, put in a load of wash and gotten the kitchen clean, it’s nearly nine. Then, it’s time to work on the details for the next magazine party, plan the photo shoots, or write articles. On average these days, I’m getting in bed a touch before midnight and I’m still so keyed up that I need to read or watch TV for half an hour before my head stops spinning.

I absolutely love my life. I have such a great mix of work and family. My kiddos are great and my job is terrific – I love what I do. But the one thing I would change is that I would get more sleep. If I had more childcare, I know I could get more done during the day and get more sleep at night, but I guess at least for right now, I’m willing to forgo sleep for time with the kiddos. I guess I can always sleep when they go to college.

Multi-Tasking for a Cause

Right now, I am standing at the kitchen counter. I’m checking emails on my laptop, listening to the WG play in the family room, watching Baby B finger feed bananas and diced carrots and listening to the hum of the lawn mower outside. I’m also frying okra (WG’s favorite), making mashed potatoes, setting the table and boiling eggs for breakfast tomorrow morning. Oh yes, and I’m catching up on the day’s news on NPR, opening the mail and doing laundry.

It seems that many of my days end this way – multi-tasking and rushing way through the dinner hour. I wish that I could slow down and enjoy my husband, my kids and myself during this time of day, but it seems to be at odds with the very concepts of being a mother. And I hear from the moms I interview for the magazines that it only gets busier. As the kids get older, I know they’ll be homework to check and after school events to make life even more complicated.

As I look around, I realize that I am the only one multi-tasking. WG is marching around the living room playing the flute. Bennett is discovering spitting with squeals of delight. And Mel is enjoying taking care of his lawn.

I guess that’s what it means to be a mother. We take on the craziness – the hurry scurry of life – so that our families can enjoy the simple pleasures. It’s because I’ve had a million things going at once that they have a home cooked meal at our dinner table, the time for stories and cuddling and clean, fresh pajamas every night. And as I stand here, I’m happy to take on the chaos for my family if it means they enjoy the gift of an average evening at the Williams house.