Small Space Inspiration

Today I worked super hard on the studio, de-cluttering, tidying and reshuffling.  I need to get a third work desk in here which will also act as a sewing desk.  My poor sewing machine hasn't been set up for over a year now.

With two bookshelves and an industrial shelving unit as well as the two desks, the space is a little tight.  My hope was to clear enough to take out the industrial shelving and put a decent length desk in its place.  I also had visions of lots of lovely clear wall space to put artwork.

Alas, despite my best efforts, it's not to be.  I still need those shelves to store supplies and so can only squeeze in a little desk.  To assure myself that it would still look ok, I went looking for inspiration and found this gorgeous image of Lotta Jansdotter's studio.

Image by Lotta Jansdotter via Pinterest

Hopefully I'll have some before and after shots to show you of how my space is looking on the weekend.

Operation Tidy Up the Creative Space - Stage One Complete(ish)

The messy brown cupboard (as opposed to the messy built-in) looked like this....

Now, replaced, looks like this...

Thanks to an Ikea bookshelf with glass doors, a dad who went with me to pick it up and bring it home and a hubby, who despite being sick, did a little each day to put it together for me.

The top houses some of my craft books, organised into type and a few little nick-nacks...

Some antique wooden Japanese language tiles... some mini geisha getta, some shadow box pieces of mine...

Some very large Japanese antique cotton reels, that I plan to do something with one day...

And then, behind patterned, frosted glass....

...my Japanese cotton fabric stash as well as a few kimono pieces that I'm using at the moment...

While they were neatly folded, I couldn't resist taking a few photos... I know they won't stay like this for long...

... now, the rest of the room to do...

Slowly...

I assure you that Operations Tidy-Up-The-Creative-Space and Make-This-House-A-Home are still happening... just both at a snail's pace. Here's a sneak peek at one thing I hope to have finished and filled in the next couple of days...

I'm A Lean, Mean, Organising Machine

Well, truth be told, I'm not so "lean". I feel like I'm getting more and more rotund by the day. In the course of about a week, I've gone from having what I thought was a cute little baby bump to having almost lost my waist and looking like I've eaten too many Timtams. I'm not sure where it's all coming from, I've put on almost no weight since I got pregnant (I actually was losing some for a while when the morning sickness was at its worst). Dh says that I must be "redistributing", though I can see any part of my body that looks thinner as a result.

I'd also like to think that I'm not mean.

BUT, I am an organising machine! I have... wait for it... only nine weeks and two days until I leave Japan. It's really snuck up on me! Until the new year hit, I was always able to tell myself that I wasn't moving until "next year". The panic hit on New Years Day, the move was no longer "next year", but instead could be counted in weeks.

In a matter of days I have: booked and paid for flights home; booked a hotel for a stopover in Cairns to visit my brother, sil and to meet my new niece on the way through; procured quotes and decided upon a shipping company (I'm in the process of booking); had what turned out to be a very stressful, but worked out in the end type of conversation with my health insurance company in Australia; booked the hospital for the birth (I'd already booked the doctor); arranged recommendations for a thyroid specialist for when I get back; arranged for quotes for a moving company for our belongings that are in storage; arranged the move in date for an apartment; spoken to the Australian Customs Service about the kimonos I'm importing into the country; and started sorting out our apartment for things to be sent, things to be thrown away and things to be given away.

Funnily enough, I didn't do any of this (except some sorting) while on holidays, but have been madly doing it around my full-time job.