5 Tips for your Art Studio Renovation

Nestle and Soar folk art studio is like many creative spaces...MESSY! It is my nature to have multiple projects in the works simultaneously, and so every horizontal surface is usually covered. I set things down to grab another item, and like a whirling dervish, the mess spirals out of control.

I am not complaining. I think that this is the best way for me to let my creativity flow!

I also think that a certain amount of calm has entered my life with the renovation of my studio, even though it is likely to be messy again in the near future. Here are 5 tips I would like to share from the past two weeks of serious organizational work.

1. Daydream about your ideal space before you begin. I don't recommend waiting the 14 months it took me to take action, but I do think a good planning stage is important. Sketch ideas, do your research of storage furniture, and think through your process.
2. Ask organized friends for advice. While I admit to having a creatively messy personality, I have several friends who are organized beyond my wildest dreams. Their input proved invaluable.
3. Purge like crazy! I made eight trips to Goodwill Industries and had to call my trash service to arrange for extra pick-ups. It was amazing to me (as well as to my family -- well, actually, they probably figured it out well before I did) how much accumulated, unused stuff I'd acquired.
4. Use your vertical spaces. Because I need to spread out projects on horizontal spaces to work with my fiber, I have learned to count on vertical spaces to store supplies and display objects. It has been such a blessing to have a dedicated pick/pack/ship area, for instance, that has wide-open horizontal space to work with shipping orders. Everything I need is within easy reach using the wall surrounding the space.
5. Add seating to encourage others to visit you in your newly organized space. It is great to have high functionality, but not at the expense of making the studio a cold, work-only environment. My family can come drink coffee or a glass of wine in my studio while I zip along on my sewing machine. My students sit around my ping-pong table to work, and later that day, a ping-pong riot breaks out when the fabric scraps have been swept away! Organizing is wonderful, especially when the end result fits into your whole life.

You can check out all that I make in my Nestle and Soar Studio here! I would love to hear about your organized creative space!

Thanks for stopping by,
Georgianne