I have a confession to make. Our workspace has become a hot mess. It’s where tools go missing and creative energy goes to die.
Back in the fall, we decided to move our entire operation to my basement. Prior to that, we were storing furniture in my garage and painting outside or often in my kitchen. I couldn’t take having half-finished furniture in my kitchen any longer, so we decided the only solution was to move it all to the basement.
The problem is, when we moved to the basement nothing had a designated space. We had no shelves and things just got piled here and there. And for the past couple months, this is how we’ve worked…digging for the sander, and not remembering where we put wood glue. Allow me to elaborate…
Are you cringing? My personality just can’t work in the midst of chaos. I would go down there and literally feel paralyzed by the mess. There just never seemed to be time to do anything about it, though. Between trying to crank out projects for the blog, our booth, and custom orders, there just wasn’t an extra hour in the day for organizing this space.
But this weekend we finally made time to start tackling the beast. We purchased this MCM style shelf several months ago. We picked it up because it was insanely cheap ($6), but quickly realized it just didn’t fit our brand or the feel of our booth. So instead of selling it, we’re keeping it for our work space. Now it’s home to all our paints and sealers.
That cheap little dresser next to it holds all our knobs, hardware, screws, and other miscellaneous items. We bought little plastic bins at the Dollar Tree to separate everything in the drawers.
Did I also mention that there’s virtually no natural light down here? It’s like painting in a cave and sometimes I have to haul a drawer upstairs just to get a good idea of the true paint color. But at least most of our things finally have a home and it’s so much easier to work and get things done down there.
It’s still not perfect. I intentionally didn’t move things out of the picture to make it look cleaner than it actually is because I wanted you to see our reality and not a polished online version of reality. Our giant pile of furniture-waiting-to-be-painted is on the other side of the basement, and while I’m not thrilled with it, it’s away from our workspace and doesn’t bother me too much. Eventually, we may start renting a storage unit, but for now, we’re just making it work.
So why am I sharing this with you? Because things online tend to be portrayed as perfect. And that is SO not what we have going on over here. We paint furniture in a cave. We would love to have a nice, big, organized workspace with natural light. But for right now, it is what it is. If you’re holding back from starting your furniture painting business because you don’t have an ideal space, sister just jump in! You can make it work.
Do you work out of your home? If so, do you have an ideal workspace or are you in the making it work club?
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Oh my gosh Amy – we can totally relate! It is so hard to keep all of our tools and materials corralled and organized. We just completed a HUGE basement and garage clean out. It was way.no.fun! Your workspace looks amazing now. Happy creating!
Amy, speak to my heart sister – my garage is SO scary! I’m afraid I’m going to break my ankle like every time I walk in there ha ha. I really appreciate you posting this because you’re right it is hard to be creative in a messy space yet equally hard when you feel like it has to be perfect before you start. This is a great reminder a little creativity and gumption can make a huge difference. Hugs, CoCo
This is just what I needed to see, Amy! Painting in the kitchen just does not work! Love what you’re doing in your basement! You go!!!
I know you think it looks bad, but I’m actually seriously jealous of your work room! I finally got a designated storage room for all my junk but since I’ve had to shop for more things to sell later in the year so there isn’t any moving room in that space anymore, let alone working room. I’ve just been happy the weather has been nice so my “work room” is the deck 🙂 I think your space looks pretty good! Have a great week, Amy!
I’m very late on seeing this post but can’t tell you how much I appreciate it!
I too struggle with the “messy work-space” problem. I get paralyzed by the mess and it does kind of kill creativity. I’m in the midst of an garage overhaul and it’s just crazy-comforting to know that people who turn out such beautiful work as you do sometimes have the same problems. I think your space looks good and I admire your honesty.
Thanks!
It really is paralyzing, isn’t it? Good luck with your garage overhaul! I bet it’ll feel so much better when you’re done. I’m so glad you stopped by, David!