Carving out a work space

It’s fall y’all! I hope you’re taking the time to soak in God’s autumn artwork. The foliage here in Pennsylvania is simply breathtaking right now.

I am so blessed to live in such a beautiful area.

OK, on to today’s topic. Let me start by telling you a (true) story. See if you can relate.

I recently woke up on one of my days off (which are few and far between, by the way) and said to myself, “Myself. I really need to finish re-finishing that thrift store buffet that is supposed to go in the dining room. I must have it done by the holidays!”

(I will not go into detail about how long this particular project is taking me. Let’s just say I started working on it in the month that rhymes with starch.)

So the first thing I did was look for some clothes to change into that I didn’t mind getting espresso stain on.

15 minutes of searching later: I found a pair of paint-covered sweatpants on the basement floor and an old sweatshirt in the garage. Sigh. OK. I was finally dressed and ready to gather my tools.

20 minutes later: I found and gathered the appropriate brushes and rags needed to do the project. I made my way to the garage where the buffet was sitting patiently waiting for its makeover. Hmmm. I needed to set the buffet on something so the stain didn’t drip on the garage floor.

15 minutes later: I gathered enough newspaper to create a dropcloth. I couldn’t find my real dropcloth and, at this point, I didn’t want to waste any more time searching for stuff.

I found my stain and all my tools and was ready to go to work. Wait. I needed a pair of rubber gloves.

10 minutes later: I uncovered two left-handed gloves, one of which had a hole in the thumb.

Now I’m exhausted, so I pause for a permanent little break to watch another episode of “Property Brothers” on HGTV.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that what I needed in this situation was an organized workspace where I could store and easily retrieve my materials. So, this is what I came up with last weekend.

I found a niche in our basement and boldly claimed it as my new creative corner.

Look! There’s so much room for activities (name that movie).

I purchased these bins at Walmart, then filled and labeled them … a place for everything and everything in its place.

After all this work, I took a break and enjoyed this awesomesauce drink and snack.

When I make hot apple cider, I like to add a generous drizzle of caramel syrup. It makes the most delightful caramel apple beverage. Yummy.

OK. Focus, Susan. I also filled and labeled these containers that I already had on hand.

Lastly, I used these shelves to store all of my decorating goodies.

Most of this stuff was picked up at thrift stores or estate and yard sales. I like to see what I’ve got to decorate with instead of digging through boxes to find something.

So there you have it. I’m now on my way to a more organized space dedicated to my craft and home improvement projects.

Before I go, I wanted to announce the winner of last week’s giveaway.

The trivia question was “What important item is missing from this master bedroom?”

Brittany H. from Canada answered correctly. ALARM CLOCK! Congrats, Brittany.

She’ll enjoy a free copy of Ellie Kay’s book, Living Rich for Less.

Happy fall y’all.

This post is featured over at Thrifty Decor Chick and House of Grace.