Decorative and cheap storage options for cluttered work/living space?

[brymble]

The good news is that I'm crafting and making art again. Since I mainly work with beads, fabric scraps, found papers and images, and altered objects, it was cheap and easy to build up a stock of materials to work with. The bad news is that now I have all these yogurt containers full of bottle caps and shoe boxes full of recycled denim scraps and altoids tins, and even when they're neatly organized on the shelves, it still looks cluttered because of all the boxes and small containers. I need to organize my organizers! The "overflow" from my bedroom work area gets stored in the living room, on the same shelves that store the kids's odd-shaped board games. Everything's kept tidy in its place, but because of all the weird boxes and containers, it still looks cluttered.

I would be overjoyed at any suggestions to help me those shelves. (My workspace and the living room book cases can use some help, too, but I'm starting with that set of shelves.)

[faye_cat]

If the shelves are arranged right, you could have fabric cover them like a door or something...so that if you don't want people to look at the clutter, you could just close them off?

I'll keep thinking....I myself wouldn't mind, but then again I'm a rather cluttery person lol.

[brymble]

I wanted to do something like that, with panels made from recycled denim and tension rods, using the pockets for further organization of small, frequently-used items like scissors and pencils. The problem is that some of the boxes jut out farther than the front of the shelves, especially the board games, so the panels wouldn't lay flat and would end up possibly looking lumpy and uglier than the clutter.

I have consistent clutter issues. Creative personality. That's why I'm doing the living room shelves before my actual work space. I get some kind of possibly dysfunctional security from the clutter myself, but the living room where the shelves are is everybody's space, and my kids don't want their friends thinking their mom's a slob!

[Sharedaughter]

I wanted to do something like that, with panels made from recycled denim and tension rods, using the pockets for further organization of small, frequently-used items like scissors and pencils. The problem is that some of the boxes jut out farther than the front of the shelves, especially the board games, so the panels wouldn't lay flat and would end up possibly looking lumpy and uglier than the clutter.

I have consistent clutter issues. Creative personality. That's why I'm doing the living room shelves before my actual work space. I get some kind of possibly dysfunctional security from the clutter myself, but the living room where the shelves are is everybody's space, and my kids don't want their friends thinking their mom's a slob!

Brymble,
Would it be possible to fasten open-backed shelves to the front of the bottom two shelves (or however many you need) with brackets or something, top with pillows for seating, and store the larger items in that? Then add curtains or doors?

Glo

[Corvis Canis Latrans]

You could also extend outward whatever the fabric was hanging on....example if it's attached to the top of the shelfset, put a board on the top shelf (or a few sheets of cardboard/foamcore, whatever's sufficient to support the fabric) that is the same dimensions as the shelf, except extends out as far as you need it to so that the boxes won't make it lumpy. Either affix the board to the top or weight it down sufficiently and that way it could easily be removed later.

And now this thread has given me ideas, because I've been dissatisfied with the clutter on my shelves.

[Mickay]

I recommend that you read Marie Cohn's book on cleaning and organizing space. It's really cool. The book has a lot of tips on how to quickly and conveniently decompose things. Also don't forget about cleaning. I think that the vacuum cleaner is enough for cleanliness in the house and getting rid of dust. Here is a useful article https://bestvacuum.reviews/vacuum-under-100/ . Since your craftsmanship involves many small details, I can recommend that you arrange a separate place in the room where the sheets are to be laid, so that it would be more convenient to collect scattered beads.