Settled Closets, Settled Minds
The snow was gone by noon. I wondered if it had even been necessary to scoop the porch and steps clear of it that morning. But then, this is me we're talking about; if there's snow, I'll shovel. This time may be the last.
These maybe snowy, maybe rainy, maybe blustery spring days are just the sort I need for reorganizing a few shelves here and there, getting things fresh and set to rights in a snatched hour of time for a new seasonal lifestyle. In my experience, purging and organizing are an ongoing part of a life well-lived. Every year, and possibly every season, brings some sort of change, some sort of renewal, and necessarily, some sort of letting go. Assessing our needs for what might facilitate our best experience in the everyday is the first step to realizing a well-fit life. An it can start with one shelf in the master bedroom.
When I designed our master bedroom, my foremost intention was to create a space that would serve several functions, yet gracefully retain its primary role as bedroom and private sanctuary. This 13' x 8 1/2' room would need to be laundry, studio, and bedroom. Just looking at those words together may very well conjure an image of an over-stuffed, messy, disfunctional space. But I knew, with careful planning from the beginning, there could be harmony here.
By building two wardrobes into the corners at one end of our bedroom, with a nook for my writing desk in between, I created what may very well be the most powerful 4'x 8' space in the house, because, in essence, I was able to make two additional "rooms" that don't even exist: a laundry room and a studio. The wardrobe to the left of my desk houses a compact stacked washer & dryer, and the wardrobe to the right holds our laundry hamper, drawers for clothing, a shelf for my pilot's travel bags, and two remaining shelves that function along with my nearby writing nook to create that final "room," the studio; the place where I write, where I do my interior design work, and where I sew.
The lower of the two studio shelves in the wardrobe holds the printer and miscellaneous supply, while the other holds basic sewing tools. I wanted, at a moment's notice, to be able to set up the sewing machine on my desk, have my current work in progress easily accessible, and get right to work. (The files and such for the interior design portion of my work are kept in a vintage leather bag under the bedroom window.)
It was these two studio shelves that received a recent refresh.
Because they run 27" deep, the challenge was to make all the depth useable and accessible, not just the space toward the front. Thinking of the space in three dimensions, I was able to maximize all of it with a collection of storage boxes and a small chest of drawers.
Three Swedish Bigso boxes are perfect for keeping gift wrap and lengths of ribbon, office supply, and ephemera contained, and a larger file box is just right for holding the current sewing work in progress.
Pushed to the back of the sewing shelf, the work in progress box sits beside a small chest of drawers (from Ikea, years ago) that holds thread, knitting needles, and zippers. In front sits my sewing machine and the vintage tackle box filled with sewing notions.
On the shelf below, the three Bigso boxes are lined up at the back and the printer is front and center. A woven storage box (Costco, years ago) holds the power cord and foot pedal for my sewing machine. This 3D puzzle-like system of storage containers keeps the shelves from getting stuffed with stacks and heaps of miscellany all jumbled together.
Settled closets, cabinets, and wardrobes somehow settle the mind. Now in the studio, there's a place for everything, easily reachable, easily put away - with an armload of things for the donation bin to boot.
Another free hour coming up, another shelf or two.
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