Or, more accurately, Standing Still.
There has been a major setback with our house move, which is now unlikely to happen before mid-February, unless there is the secular equivalent of a miracle in the next three days. This has caused deep disappointment and frustration.
This is one corner of my workroom, after spending most of last week packing in anticipation of a move this week:
I can’t afford to take seven weeks off work while I wait for everything to iron itself out, so now I will have to spend this week UNpacking. Frustrating because I had planned the first couple of months of 2024 with great excitement, thinking the house move and associated disruption would be over by early January, but there we are.
I’ve been really looking forward to moving in to my new work room in the new house. Currently I have a space measuring about 8 feet by 4 feet (that’s not including the space taken up by the spare bed), with one elderly built-in cupboard housing everything. Some of my sketchbooks are too big to fit on the bookshelves on the wall, so they have to live in the cupboard, along with everything else.
And the problem with keeping sketchbooks (and paints, drawing paper, blank cards, collage papers etc) in a cupboard is that you either never see them, or you have to rake lots of things out of the cupboard to get at the thing you want. I’m looking forward to being able to organise everything more sensibly in our new home, where my work room (still the spare bedroom) will measure about 11′ square. Even with the spare bed in it, it will be a big improvement on what I have here.
The surprise benefit of packing is that you find all kinds of things you’d forgotten about. I found a couple of hand-stitched patchwork quilts:
Both pieced with fabric scraps, using the quilt-as-you-go method, so the backs are multi-coloured too.
I found a few unfinished pieces/samples, which I’ll do something with at some point:
and this uncharacteristically glitzy sample made from layered dress net and recycled scraps:
and a rather more sedate sample that probably needs a good iron:
and a few completed sketchbooks like this one:
So while I’m unpacking, I’ll try rearranging things a bit to see if I can make it easier to work in for the next few weeks. Or however long it turns out to be…
Oh, how disappointing for you! I can’t imagine having to pack and then unpack. Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.
I hope so too! It seems such a long way off right now, very disappointing.
the only thing worse than packing and unpacking is surely packing and unpacking twice!
so sorry to hear about this setback, but hope all will be well in the end … wishing you some semblance of peace in the midst of it all
ha, yes I suppose that’s true. It’s taken a few days to talk myself into a space where I can get on with it, but yes, it will be worthwhile in the end. Provided nothing else goes wrong in the meantime 😆
Fingers crossed!
Oh no! Hopefully there is some way to live with boxes opened so you can get to a lot of your things, but not completely unpacked, in order to still retain some semblance of order and also not have to totally pack all over again 🙁 I think you and your family should have a New Years together during which you deliberately refuse to think about boxes, or moving, at least for 24 hours, and just have a collective reset of some sort. I hope things will change soon for you! Hugs.
thanks so much, Naomi. It’s been pretty stressful for a while now, even when things were apparently going well, but yes – we’re taking some solid time out over Christmas and New Year just to calm ourselves down. I’ve been sorting through the boxes today and have left some of them packed but open – as you suggest, I can haul things out if I need them and if not I can just tape the boxes up again.
Sometimes life takes a crazy turn. I have never had the luxury of one room being just for one thing. My workroom has a spare bed and also it’s an office. My sewing machine is set up. I added a chair and a lamp. It’s not large by any means, but it’s cozy. Somehow I manage to create in that room. I have tubs of all sizes jammed with yarns, fabrics, buttons, on and on in a small closet in my workroom. I have stacked crates of books and another bookshelf that is a small library. I have another bookcase full of fabrics and yarns in baskets. That’s not counting what’s on the floor. I love being in that room. I am grateful for it. That’s definitely where I go when life takes us. I am excited to see your new room in your new house and what you are planning to show us in the new year 😊
That sounds pretty much like my room, MaryAnne. Small but crammed with deliciousness and very multifunctional 🙂 I’m lucky to have any kind of space, and we’re reminding ourselves daily what a beautiful home we already have. It’s no great hardship to be here a while longer. It’s just disappointing that I have to change the plan and its associated timing. Not the end of the world, by any means. Hooray for our quiet corners 🙂
Karen, sorry about the delay but as they say, something’s happen for a reason.
I was just thinking that your spare bedroom/craft room is so important that its organization is crucial! Two ideas came to mind because I have the same dilemma! Amazon has some fabulous Murphy beds, some even double as storage and the amazing Dream Box that can triple your storage space and close off if you have company! Worth looking in to for your creative style.
Wishing you everything bright and beautiful! Happy Holiday 🙋🏻♀️
thanks so much, Rosemarie. Yes, our single bed has storage underneath, which is really useful. I’ve seen the Dream Box and marvelled at it, but I’ve been adding storage solutions to my Ikea wish list. I think their Kallax system will work really well for what I need. Happy holidays to you too, and here’s wishing us all a peaceful transition into 2024 🙂
I love a kallax! They are very good – I have art supplies, fabrics and much more in mine and it has made a lot of sense of a very small space.
Wishing you a bit of peace over Christmas, and swift resolution in the new year.
thanks so much, Stephanie – great to know that the Kallax is a good option. I really like all the ingenious inserts for it with the little cupboard doors, drawers and shelves etc. I think it will be perfect. All good wishes for the festive season to you too.
I too have Kallax and love the versatility. One word of warning – the drawers, they look great but have a tenancy for the whole unit to come out when you pull one draw.
gah… thanks very much for the word of warning, Elaine. Maybe I’ll think twice about the drawer inserts… Do you have the box inserts as well? I was wondering how sturdy they are as they seem to be cardboard.
I feel your pain. I’ve packed, unpacked, downsized my craft room 3 times now. (Moving, not moving, moving…). I have no idea where anything is anymore, and got rid of stuff I wish I had kept. On the plus side, it is fun to find stuff you didn’t remember you had. I look forward to seeing what you do with those quilts and tops. Happy Holidays.
ah, so sorry to hear that, Barbara. It’s all so frustrating, especially as there’s nothing we can do about it. The delays are further down the chain. I’ve been careful not to send too much to the charity shop (though we have managed to pare down our enormous book collection a little) so that I can have a really good sort out when we get there. Happy holidays to you too 🙂
You should just quit complaining about this and forget about it. There are worse things in life…think of people dying in the terrible war conditions all over the world. It puts things in perspective. You are fortunate to have a roof over your head and food to eat. And why do you have to unpack everything?? Geeze…so many complaints…quit griping…so you can’t move into your new home right now…so what??? I personally have a whole lot of unpleasant and downright terrible horrible things happening to me right now but I just keep it all to myself instead of going online and telling the entire world.
I think I was explaining rather than complaining, but yes, thank you, I do appreciate how lucky we are to have a home at all. I’m sorry to hear that you have some unpleasant things happening to you.
Karen, I’m sorry for the disappointment the delay brings. You were so close to making the move.
You certainly don’t deserve to be scolded for sharing the change in plans with your readers. It seems the commenter was speaking out of a lot of pain. Good cheer to you!
thanks so much Stephanie. Yes, I confess I was surprised by their tone but I can also see they seem to be in a bad place right now. In the great scheme of things, the delay is just a minor disappointment of course.
Oh that is so disappointing, hopefully things will move quicker for you. I love when I go through my stuff and find things I forgot about, it’s like found treasure.
Thanks, Deborah. There are some advantages to staying here a while longer – hopefully the weather will be better in February, for one thing. And we don’t need to sort everything out in a mad rush. But yes, always nice to find buried treasure 🙂
If you ever manage to work out how to organise a studio so that it makes sense, let me know. I can’t make sense of mine at all, and every time I try to make sense of it, I mislay things, sometimes for years!
I do like a challenge 😄
A hard enough thing to do when all goes smoothly. Keeping things crossed for you.
thank you 🙂