More Downsizing in my ARTHaven

My large black shelving unit is gradually diminishing in size! Some while ago I dismantled one section, having downsized the stuff quite a bit, and got rid of a lot of rubbish and things I no longer need. I more or less cleared the second section in time for this week’s WOYWW.

Today Wonderwoman, my home help, helped me clear the stuff off the top of this double unit so that I could remove the top. She is going to have two sections to store things in her chalet, and will need the double-width top shelf for those, and I needed to put a single-width shelf to complete the single unit.

I had not really intended to do anything further after she had gone, but I couldn’t resist clearing the shelves and demolishing the superfluous unit! Then, of course, I got further tempted, and removed the books from the bookcase so that I could move it up into its new position across the end of the now single shelving unit, and then replaced the books again. After this I was bushed! This is what it looks like now.

Everything I want to keep is now so crammed into the remaining section that it isn’t that easy to access. When I create a new ARTHaven when we move house, some of this stuff will be distributed around the room in the different work zones I intend to create, which will release more space to store things that are at present cluttering up the rest of the room, and even other rooms in the house!

Some of the stuff which was originally on top of the unit, and the remaining boxes from the second section are now taking up space on the floor!

The box in the front right of the picture is crammed with all my dyeing and batik stuff. This needs some serious sorting and re-organising. Eventually I hope to have an old kitchen sink with cupboards underneath to hold all my “wet” craft stuff like dyeing things. Propped up against the pile of stuff beyond is a cork board with dyed wool samples pinned to it. I did this many years ago, and each sample has a label on it giving the proportions of each dye to create that particular shade. I am really keen to start doing this again once I have the facilities – the colours are gorgeous, and using this method, I can duplicate any shade I want. The dyed wools will be used for knitting and crochet, and mixed media projects, and I will also be able to dye wool and silk tops for felting and other techniques.

Until we move, I shall keep this stuff stacked up in boxes. I have also unearthed a great deal of paperwork, most of which is in the ring binders you can see stacked on top of the remaining large shelf unit. I have got to go through all of this and intend archiving a lot of it digitally, and I expect quite a bit can now be disposed of.

The downsizing of my ARTHaven is going well, and I feel very positive about getting things reduced to an amount suitable for moving when the time comes. I can’t wait to start creating a new space from scratch, and getting properly organised for the first time since I started all this!