Chaos in the Craft Corner

I'm slowly unpacking a myriad of boxes and totes to set up my fiber arts studio space, sewing area, and general arts-and-crafts area.  It is a mammoth task!  The basement of our new home was formerly a formal dressmaking studio - the previous owner's ex-wife made prom dresses and bridal wear. There is a changing room and some huge mirrors on the wall, and it's all white with a black floor. The white does make it bright and light, even though it's a basement space.  I might paint some selected walls in different colours eventually, but for now, I'm just trying to get things set up.

Here are the stairs down to my studio - welcome!

If you went down there right now, you'd probably look around and say "Oh my god..." or some variation thereof!  It's a bit muddled at the moment.  When I started out, the entire place was just stacks and stacks of boxes and totes.  It was hard to find a place to take a picture!

That precise area in the above picture is now partially set up as my fabric area.  I've unpacked about half the fabric stash now, and it has been put onto shelves, although not in proper order (yet).  I'll eventually sort it into fabric types and even colours, maybe.  Some wool fabrics may be wrapped for moth prevention purposes.  The totes on the far right are all full of wool sweaters from thrift shops, all of which will be felted at some point and used in making mittens or other felted items.

Next to the fabric area is my eventual sewing machine and serger area, and I will have an ironing board nearby.  Here's before...

...and here's now.  (I won't say "after" because it's nowhere near finished!)

The sewing room is a small room off to the side of the main room, which is where I will be keeping all my spinning fibre and probably a large portion of the yarn stash.  The fibre is partially sorted about about 75% of it is unpacked and shelved, and even somewhat colour-organized.  I'm quite pleased with this area.

My large floor loom is still at the Nova Scotia farm property (which is very slowly being renovated and will eventually be sold).  I have my table loom set up, and also some shelves with coned yarns for weaving.  I discovered another large tote of coned yarns a couple of days ago, so I need to figure out where that will go!  The wool or partially wool yarns are all wrapped for protection from moths.

I have a cubby-hole unit set up for acrylic yarns, many of which fellow knitters and crocheters will recognize as Lion Brand Homespun from this picture.  I don't need to wrap those so they make a colourful display.  I'll also probably leave the cotton yarns unwrapped when they have a spot to go.

I have a lot of undyed fibre and yarn that must be assigned a space, but I'm not sure where it will end up quite yet.  I also have lots of bags of processed fibre that need to be stored.

You can see there is still a whole lot of chaos, but I really have made considerable progress from where I started.  Eventually, I really do believe this will all be organized and accessible.  The trouble is, at the moment, I haven't yet started unpacking the actual yarn, which is a large portion of my craft supply stash.  That's why there are so many boxes and totes still in attendance!  Some of it has gone into a chest.  I have two more chests to fill, and then there will be more shelving put in place.

So while the chaos at the moment is still overwhelming, I really am excited about how it will all end up when I've had the time (and shelving) to complete my organization.  Then I'm hoping to be able to host knit nights with friends....but for now, there's nowhere to put a chair!