Almost two years ago, I gave you a peek at my pitiful temporary work space. A few months later, I showed you the new room in its pristine state. I recently had a request on the Go Make Something message board for an update on what my workroom looks like today. Those of you who are squeamish might want to avert your eyes…

This is what you see when you walk in the door, which is at the very end of the hallway—a good thing, because that means nobody has any reason to be down there. To the right of the door is a cabinet, and the closet. To the left, just out of this frame, is an entire floor to ceiling wall of shelves. On the wall straight ahead are a window, the end of my work table, which is sort of built like a bar sticking out from the wall, and a lateral file with drawers on top. On the fourth wall is another counter with drawers underneath, and storage above, and my sewing machine, with a window above it.

Over the end of my work table is an absolute requirement in all Texas homes—a ceiling fan. Mine is on a wall switch, which also powers the lights. It’s sensitive enough that I can dial the fan down so that it moves air, but doesn’t move the tissue paper on the table. The windows in the room provide a great deal of light. The one in this photo is covered by blinds because it faces my neighbor’s alley access to his backyard. The other window has no blinds covering it, and faces south. I suppose if my neighbor behind me angled his head just right, he could see straight into the room, but I doubt it. We have a good 100 yards between the backs of our houses.

The floor to ceiling shelves to the left of the door hold books, plastic bins filled with supplies, and boxes waiting to be altered. I have a box obsession, so I recently added the very top shelf to get them up and out of the way.

The plastic bins are unlabelled, which is just plain stupid. I do sort of know what’s in each one, but seriously, there are days when I just have to fish through them until I find what I’m looking for. Notice the fine storage of my iron here, with the cord trailing down. This is because the small ironing board that’s propped on a set of rolling drawers next to the door doubles as my photography station. Did I mention that my office is now undergoing renovations? That means photos are taken in a temporary space, and my computer lives in the bedroom. It’s sort of crowded…

This area also tends to hold finished projects. They’re just sort of lined up on the fronts of the shelves until I figure out what to do with them. Poor planning, because if I need something in a book or bin behind them, I have to shift everything around. I’m hoping I’ll be able to store finshed things in the office when it’s completed. There’s a dead wall in it that really can’t hold anything other than really shallow shelves.

The cabinet to the right of the door. I use this to store vintage ephemera and other paper items that might fade in the light. I try to keep them in plastic bins to avoid any infestation by silverfish, which like to hang out in old paper. So far, I haven’t seen any. I also store glass items like old photo plates and medical vials here, because it’s the one place in the room that doesn’t take a big beating.

On top of the cabinet are bottles and cans. Some day, when I’m trying to avoid working, I’ll run around the corner to Home Depot and get more brackets and shelving, and add shelves over this cabinet. Sadly, they have to be shallow, because the heating vent is right over this area. Anything that sits on top of this cabinet gets blasted with hot air, which is probably why there’s no paper up there.

Notice how the doors are still pristine and white? I roll my ironing board, which is covered with a white t-shirt, around to the front of the cabinet, and use it as a background when I shoot photos.

To the left of the cabinet is the closet, which still doesn’t have any doors on it. That’s bad, because it holds all my fabrics, and there’s a window in the adjacent wall that streams sunlight into the room. I recently realized that I was lacking places to hang things for photography, and adding some white bi-fold doors would solve both problems. Don’t hold your breath, though—I just hate hanging doors.

I wisely filled this closet with wire shelving on adjustable brackets, with just a little bare space for my dress forms and hanging fabrics. As I eventually reduce my fabric stash, which is leftover from when I was a costume designer, I can reconfigure the shelves without a lot of effort or expense.

Turning the corner, here’s my sewing machine. Oh, how the mighty have fallen! I used to have a whole room dedicated to sewing, but I just don’t do that much of it any more. I usually have a bunch of crap piled up around the machine, so when I do need it, I have to rake it all off to make room. The left side of the machine cabinet doubles as a power station, since there’s a big power strip facing it. I’m usually charging batteries for the camera and my drill there.

This is the window that faces my backyard, in all its weedy glory. There’s a whole fenceline of honeysuckle about ten feet away. It smells lovely when the window is open.

To the left of the sewing machine is this run of drawers and storage. Somewhere in there, there’s a countertop. I originally thought this would be my work table, but for some reason, I ended up using the other countertop for that. See those lights up above? I’ve used them maybe once. This area is constantly full of projects in progress, and just isn’t a good place to get anything done.

So, down below, there are a bazillion drawers, none of which are labelled. Again, stupid. I sort of know what’s in most of them, but there are a few that just have junk leftover from my old workroom in them. The row of drawers with blue handles is a new addition, and they’re sort of empty right now.

Next to the drawers is a filing cabinet with four drawers that hold beeswax supplies, ribbons and fibers, beads, and oversized books.

Above the countertop is a whole wall of plastic storage. On the right side are CD holders with unmounted stamps in them, and tilt out drawers that hold inkpads. In the center are drawers with embellishments in them. On the left is a very small set of shallow shelves that hold a few mounted stamps.

Turning another corner, there’s a lateral filing cabinet that holds all my papers and cardstock in the top drawer, and foreign text, map pages and assorted other background type papers in the bottom. On top of the shelves are plastic drawers with supplies I need most often: paints, mediums, and ATC supplies like blank cards and sleeves. The wire grid cube holds my scraps. All this is right by my right arm when I’m working, which is very convenient.

OK, here’s my work table. Yes, there’s a table under there somewhere. I’d just finished this month’s issue of The Monthly Muse when I shot these photos, so it looks like a bomb went off. It’s usually just a little cleaner than this, with the center section of the table completely empty.

On the end of the table at the left are two rotating holders that I think were designed to hold kitchen utensils. One holds all my brushes, and the other holds hand tools and pens that I use most often.

The black pole in the center of the table is a tripod. If you’ve ever wondered how I do the step by step photos with two hands in them, this is how—a table mount tripod, and a camera with a time delay switch. Most of the time I work with that black pole right in front of me. I’ve learned to ignore it.

Beyond the table, you can see my great wall of shelving, with books on the left and storage bins on the right.

Below my work table is storage. Rolled papers and wood pieces stored in a shoe bin that’s laying on its back to the right, and wire shelves to the left. These shelves held lots of scrapbook paper until recently, when I gave it away to the girls in my local group. Right now, it’s sort of bare. I’m not sure what will live there in the future.

The floor below my work table. Yes, that’s an incredibly large trash can, because clearly I need one. I work standing rather than sitting—I just got into the habit in school, and never stopped. To keep my feet happy, I have the whole area under the table covered with fatigue mats.

That’s probably more than you ever wanted to know about my work area, but I’ll bet you’re relieved to know that you’re not the only one who creates a huge mess when you work!