Calm Crafting – A Client Experience
We love our crafting clients! They are usually creative and curious. But what is it about crafts that create so much clutter?
I wanted to give you an overview of how we work in craft rooms, so this client experience post is about more than one Northern Virginia crafting space.
Winter is a great time to focus your organizing efforts on indoor spaces that may not always be a priority. What kind of space could you organize that would immediately benefit you this winter? My guess is that you are thinking of the space that you’d like to spend some time in – maybe a library so you can read the snowy weather away. But what we see most often is a craft room. You want to release your inner artist and spend some time creating, but your challenge is that you can’t get into the space or comfortably find your supplies. Our crafty clients decided to give us a call: 1. to get the job done quickly. 2. to use the best storage options for their particular craft supplies. 3. So they can start creating tomorrow with ease and beauty.
Beginning
We love a craft room! Creating something new is relaxing to many. It allows you to use the right side of your brain. But craft rooms come with a lot of stuff. Creative people see possibilities in everything so sometimes it’s harder to know what to keep and how to store it. I have also seen clients struggle with justifying the time and money spent crafting.
Let me tell you about some craft spaces that we’ve worked on and check out the video for some BEFORE & AFTER photos.
A craft space takes some planning to get organized. This is where our free one-hour assessment is very important. At our first meeting, I ask each client a lot of questions, but in a craft room, I need to know what type of craft they gravitate to and what type of supplies are needed for their craft. I’m also scoping out storage options that they already have because we don’t “buy new”? Once we have a plan then we schedule an appointment. Most crafting spaces can be organized in one day, though it may take a team of organizers to do it! This is where our team of organizer shine. We train and work together often. We know each other’s strengths – that’s one of our superpowers! TEAMWORK.
Middle
Almost every organizing job starts with a MACRO SORT. This is very important in the craft room because usually, our crafting clients have more than one interest. Sorting gives us (the client and organizer) a clear picture of what they have for each type of craft they do. Once the SORT is complete, we start the review process. This is where client autonomy comes in. The decision on what to keep and what to let go of is a personal decision that only YOU can do, but it is much easier to do this when you are looking at the totality of what you have. It is the hard part, but I’d like to think that we can make it fun or at least less stressful for most of our clients.
What is it about crafts that create so much clutter? Click To Tweet
This is where the MICRO SORT begins. Sorting within a category for better functionality is where the magic happens. This is where storage is important.
Most crafting spaces require creative storage. Check out the video to see some of the craft spaces we have completed for clients. Often crafters have storage pieces ready to use. We love this! Why buy more? Let’s reinvent how you use what you have. Also a lot of crafting supplies come in creative packaging that we can often use for storage. But I will say, not always. Don’t let the package the supplies came in dictate how you store your items.
End
In the end, our crafty clients have an organized space, where they can find everything they need down to that last tiny bead or that particular pair of scissors. I love to suggest to them that now is the time to shop “their space”. Sometimes they haven’t seen a lot of their craft supplies for a while and have forgotten what they own. If this is you, shop your own supplies before shopping online and going to the craft store. This way you can focus on creating and not shopping.
Sometimes the hesitation of hiring an organizer for a space like this is embarrassing and sometimes feel guilty that you are spending money on a non-priority space in your home. Think of it this way – After 2 years of staying at home, more than we used to you need an outlet, a space where you can focus on creating something new and forget what’s happening in the world.
When the project is complete you end up with a space that is functional and beautiful, that you enjoy spending time in, and that sparks your creativity.
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Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
Janet Schiesl
Janet has been organizing since 2005. She is a Certified Professional Organizer and the owner of Basic Organization.
She loves using her background as a space planner to challenge her clients to look at their space differently. She leads the team in large projects and works one-on-one with clients to help the process move quickly and comfortably. Call her crazy, but she loves to work with paper, to purge what is not needed and to create filing systems that work for each individual client.
Janet is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Productivity and Organizing Professionals and a Past President of the Washington DC Chapter of NAPO were she has been named Organizer of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.
I agree! Clients who like to craft have soooo many supplies. And some have a variety of projects in different states of completion. Creating a space in which to work on and store the crafts is fun and rewarding for everyone involved. I love your video and how you have organized the spaces.
Thanks Diane. We enjoy the “space puzzle” when working in a crafting space. So many possibilities!
We have a craft closet upstairs that we have fondly nicknamed the “Craft Cabin.” We used to vacation in a place that had a craft cabin, and we think of it this way. Of course, we don’t sit inside the closet, but we “shop” there as you suggested to your client. I like having some things on hand because I enjoy all things crafty. It came in handy during the early days of COVID when I was able to find some cloth and elastic strings to make some masks.
I love that wall with all the craft supplies attached. I have a client who is an artist and needs just that thing, but she doesn’t want to drill into the walls… maybe I’ll show her this video and inspire her to reconsider!
Seana, I wonder if you could use 3M Command Hooks to replicate the pegboard wall for your client?
I find that we review our DIY and craft areas during the winter because we tend to do our crafting during the spring and summer. I have always loved organizing the crafting room with clients. It was always a creative time for the client and me.
Oh, I’m not a crafter. I would think people crafted in the winter when you can’t do as much outside. But I guess everyone is different. I’m sure having an outlet like crafting was helpful during the pandemic!
Thank you for sharing my post, Janet! I really appreciate it.
You’re welcome Sabrina.
I’m not super crafty like some people, but I like to keep stuff around “just in case” so I understand the struggle around deciding what’s worth keeping. You just never know, right?
Right!?
Such a great process you shared about organizing a craft room. I love being in creative spaces. Some of my favorite client projects have been organizing craft spaces or art studios. After spending time in those rooms, I feel more creative. They often have inspired me to start new projects. I have a special fondness for art supplies. One of my earliest memories is taking art classes as a local art studio. I used to love standing in their art supply closet. It was floor to ceiling with open boxes. Each box/bin had a different material in it. And the material was both pasted to the front of the bin (a visual cue) along with a written word to describe it. As a student, I could go into the closet and select any materials I wanted to work with. I remember just standing there in awe of the options. Loved that!
Linda, you were an organizer in the making back then. I also have fond memories of taking a painting class when I was 11 years old. I loved it. I also like organizing craft rooms. I have attended a few crafting conferences and got great organizing ideas from the supplier booths. You can make a crafting space so beautiful with different, unusual containers.
I love the “macro” and “micro” sorts. Anything that breaks down larger tasks into smaller, less stressful ones is great!
And you’re right, creative spaces are certainly important and more than worth of organizing. : )
I really love the “macro” sort. How about you?
I’m not a crafter — to me, the best thing about being an adult is that nobody can ever make me color, paint, glitter, or do needlework. My hands are for typing and applying mascara, and not much else! 😉 However, there is something so satisfying about organizing the disparate elements of a craft area, and I love the different solutions you displayed in the video. I also appreciate that you accented the process (sorting, and then decision-making) before looking at containment options. I’ve seen too many people try to reverse it, and that’s never a recipe for success. Great overview of how you work!
Thanks Julie. Yes, I agree. The sort is always first. Often, the client doesn’t have to be present for the sort, so it lessens their fatigue during appointments.