Please tell me it can be done?

[Arizoso]

I'm (sort of) determined to turn my guest room into a craft room. Don't need a guest room, but do need a room to work on stained glass, and sew, and paint, and do all the other things that aren't done so well where the cats have free access.

The problem is that the guest room is full to the gills with stuff which I can't possibly throw away. Trust me, it's not a matter of me being a packrat who gets physically ill at the thought of getting rid of those odd screws or 2" bits of ribbon. It's more serious than that. We're talking my childhood teddy bear, framed pictures of the cat I had 14 years ago, a pretty dress I've never worn and never will wear (but it's pretty to look at hanging there on the wall), boxes and boxes of fabrics for future sewing endeavors, a twin bed which I have to keep just in case, the 1903 couch I bought for my first apartment in '82 and hauled all the way from Germany - you see my dilemma?

I look at those piles and piles of stuff and try to figure out where to store what so I don't have to throw anything away. This house is small, but I have a crawl space and some sad excuse for an attic. So... have any of you gone through a project like this (emptying what amounts to your main storage room) and made it work? CAN it be done??

[AmyBoz]

Arizoso,
First of all, it can be done. But, you've got to eliminate certain phrases from your vocabulary, like "stuff which I can't possibly throw away." You can, and it sounds like you need to!

The couch you can keep in the room for seating, and if you absolutely feel you can't get rid of the teddy bear, you can sit it on the couch. But the dress? Out. Seriously, you will never wear it...it makes it clutter, junk, etc. and it needs to go. You don't have to keep the twin bed. If you must have the twin bed, then the couch has to go.

If you are serious about turning this into a functioning room, then you are going to have to make some hard choices, but in the end, it will be so much better.

The fabric you need to go through and figure out which fabric you think you'll REALLY use and organize it and then sell the rest. Think about how long you've had the fabric. If you haven't used it yet, will you ever? Really?

It's time to do some soul searching and get to business. Keep us updated and good luck!

[Arizoso]

Well, were you right or what?! LOL! I stuffed 8 garbage bags with things to donate to the thrift shop and 10 (and counting) bags with throwawayables to take to the dump. 6 paper bags with burnables are already burned.

The couch is set up along one wall, with my sewing stuff in the shelf next to it. I can do cross-stitch while sitting comfortably now.
The bed frame (WWII hospital bed) will be taken apart and goes in the crawl space, the mattress goes under my bed in the other room.

Plus, I'm making my main work table out of the two interior doors which have been leaning against the wall for a good 3 years now One door will be cut to make the table sides, the other will be the top, material for braces should be in my construction stash outside.

In the mess, I found two old suitcases which come in handy for glass storage, two desk lamps which I forgot I had, and a whole bunch of picture frames which I'll use to frame made-to-fit stained glass pieces. Packrattery is really a good thing, considering that I won't have to buy any of those items now

Since most of the glass I have is in smaller pieces, I did buy some plastic "shoe box" storage containers for $1 a piece at the dollar store. Filled with glass, they're almost too heavy to handle comfortably, but they're the right size for the pieces I have. Still need a bunch more of them. And for the bigger pieces, I'm making wall racks out of 2x4s from the construction stash.

It feels really good to see it all come together

[AmyBoz]

That's wonderful! You're getting the room of your dreams and clearing out the clutter in the process!

[Michelle]

Good job Arizoso!

I had to do something similar when I got pregnant with dd #2...I had been using her bedroom now as a storage room, and I had to chip away at the clutter little by little to turn it into her bedroom.