My Minimalism Journey, Studio

Chaos in the Craft Room!

tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

So a couple days ago John and I decided to switch back my studio to another room and our bedroom back to the primary bedroom.

In case you have no idea what I am talking about, see this post from June 2025 – Thrifting for the Studio.

My studio is located in the former Primary Bedroom of the house. A couple years ago my husband John and I decided we didn’t need that much room for our main bedroom and moved to a smaller bedroom. Originally it was a carpeted room but in summer 2024 John put in a floor.

I’ve always had a small space to sew and craft until I met John and then a couple years ago we turned our primary bedroom (which is fairly large) into my studio.

However In my small crafting spaces I created entire bodies of work such as those I exhibited in my solo show (see 2019 post Solo Show Seattle Municipal Tower, Part III) The Wardrobe Meets the Wall. (And no new body of work has occurred in my large studio!)

I made that entire The Wardrobe Meets the Wall collection of 12+ quilts in a tiny little back bedroom of my house in Oregon where I had to use part of my hallway as my design wall.

I know of course I traveled a lot in 2025 but this has been an ongoing problem – I don’t seem to be as “creatively inspired” in a large space. I just had a gut feeling that I needed a cozy little space of creativity again.

So we switched the rooms back and Chaos in the Craft Room ensued:

Moving the contents of my large studio and walk in closet into a much smaller space was quite the undertaking!

The good thing of this move is I spent a couple days preparing for it and purging what I didn’t really need. It seems that I thrifted stuff to fill the space – I expanded to fill the space…

It took a couple days after we switched rooms to settle into my new room, which is less than half the size of the space I had in the primary bedroom, and here is what it looks like now:

Yes my design wall had to be split into half as it wouldn’t work in the room in it’s full size.

Besides giving me a small cozy space to work in to stimulate my creativity, John and I also made this switch because we are considering selling the house someday and moving to a smaller Ranch-style house. We recently toured houses in a cool new development in another section of the Denver Metropolitan area and fell in love with a one story house with a basement that could be finished however we liked.

We aren’t ready to sell/move just yet, but we were going to have to switch the rooms back anyway someday in order to put our house on the market.

So what became of my huge stash of craft supplies (most of them thrifted)? Well I moved all the sewing related supplies that didn’t fit in the studio shelves into the closet in my new studio:

The non sewing supplies got moved to the closet in the upstairs guest room which had previous housed my clothes, which are now moved into the walk in closet off the primary bedroom.

And…

As far as the Primary Bedroom, John and I took a couple days and turned it into a relaxing bedroom sanctuary. I want it to be our private sanctuary so I am not sharing any photos. (I recently saw on YouTube a tour of a Hollywood actor’s home on the Architectural Digest channel and she wouldn’t show her bedroom because she said that was her private sanctuary. That inspired me!)

Well here’s to getting into my cozy new studio and creating!

Unknown's avatar

Published by tierneycreates: a fusion of textiles and smiles

Quilter, crafter, obsessive tea drinker and lover of all furry creatures (especially dogs and cats) - join me on my tierneycreates blog as I share stories from "A Crafter's Life".

29 thoughts on “Chaos in the Craft Room!”

  3. Hello T, This post is inspiring because it shows us that not all ideas for a new space work out. And finding the muse or getting inspired MATTERS! And if you never found the vibe or a working groove in the new space – it means you never attached and moving to the smaller space was ideal.

    I had this happen, a little, when we moved. Just could not find a place for an office. So I did most of my work on a laptop while slouching on the couch – and that is not good long term. I finally tried the guest room – and it happened just for me to work on a project. I took apart a calendar and gently hung up the months with tacks. rolled in two desks (a while back, I was thrifting in little rock and a place had about a dozen rolling desks from a hotel – they matched our wood floors in color and so I thought I would try them out. I bought three and wish I bought five or six. Anyhow, rolled two in, added a lamp, and guess what? It has been a working office for most of this year! And my posture is much better in proper chair as opposed to slouching on the couch.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      1. yes, what a sweetheart to help make the move back! and whew, I know from experience that just moving our other office back in the day was a lot – and how much more when you have the crafting supplies.
        and we will meet up, one of these days!
        I know you travel and so we will have to plan it for a time when you are not traveling.

        also, speaking of travels – did you know that I took two photos while traveling because they made me think of you. I will try and share them soon!

        Liked by 1 person

  4. Aside from all the work involved with such a major re-arranging/re-purposing of spaces, I say ‘brava’ for following your gut, getting back into a cozy studio, and re-gaining a private sanctuary! ‘Bravo’ to enabler John, too.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  5. I know how much work you put into these changes. I’m glad you’ve discovered the need for a cozier space to keep that creative spirit moving forward. It’s also lovely that you and John have a relaxing sanctuary. It’s so important.

    I hope you’re having fun planning ahead for a smaller and more manageable space. One story homes make good sense as we age. I hope you’ve had time to rest your backs, and that you can put your feet up for a bit.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. sounds like a game of musical chairs lol.

    I’ve been toying with the idea of having a shuffle. Of moving my sewing room into the master bedroom and having the sewing room as my bedroom, since I now have the entire house to myself. Can’t quite get up the motivation to make the change though.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  7. That is a major undertaking! Looks like you did an amazing job! I recently squeezed my sewing into a smaller area as well. I am struggling to get around in there- my ironing board is way too close to my sewing machine. Not sure what will have to go to make more room, but something will eventually.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  9. Looks good. I find too much stuff impedes my creativity as well. You end up becoming a curator of things instead of a creator. There might be some joy in the curating but it it the creating that is good for our souls.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  13. I’m always looking for blogs to follow, any while I’m not a quilter, I wandered over from Knitting is So Fun, and I LOVE your studio space. My third bedroom is my office and space for supplies for a couple of crafts. I’ve been working on getting it in better shape for both cross stitch and bookbinding stuff! My studio is my sunroom – that’s where most stuff except bookbinding happens. Progress is being made 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for your comments :-)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.