This post could be subtitled “the art of selective photography” or “how to make your office look somewhat clean when your toddler’s home for spring break.” Because I’ve got to admit, parts of this place are pretty rough. But that’s life, and I really work in here many, many hours a day.

It’s not pretty, but it’s where the work gets done. And most of the work gets done here, at my desk.

This giant L-shaped glass-topped beauty is a great place to spread out projects. As you can see, my computer is on one side and there’s a crafty workspace on the other. The desk holds some of my office essentials like pens, clips, a stapler, my dictionary and stylebook (journalism training never quite goes away) and a box of old business cards that I use constantly for writing down notes, making lists, etc. I do wish it had drawers, but other than that I love it.

One thing I’ve done recently is to give my cutting mat semi-permanent residence on the long side of the table. That way the surface is a little protected if I have a quick cutting or gluing job to do (I still break out newspaper for painting jobs) and I can measure things easily when I need to.

Here it’s helping me to show off a couple of my favorite “storage ideas”: little baskets to hold scraps and stuff. I call these my baskets of inspiration.

The little blue basket holds scraps of fabric and ribbon, which I often grab for mixed-media projects. The bigger basket is a lot of stuff I’ve been working with recently or want to use again soon, so there’s little bits of yarn and embroidery floss, findings and charms. Some yarn needles and sewing pins live here, too, so they’re always easy to find.

The desk has this little upper shelf that I’m sure is supposed to be for a monitor, but I use it to hold things I like to keep accessible. My mug rack with scissors on it is up here, as well as my fancy pens (for now; I keep waffling on where they belong), my grandma’s button jar (the pom-pom is just sitting on top for whimsy) and a little box I bought recently that holds sewing needles and a bit of thread.

Over there you’ll also find my ball winder and yarn swift, which is that crazy wooden thing. I am a professional knitter and I need to wind a lot of yarn balls, and I love having them out all the time, even if they are in kind of a strange place.

Next to my desk, mounted on the wall, are some overburdened bookshelves full of knitting books. Underneath you can see a vintage thread ad; this is where my sewing table is going to go as soon as I find one.

On the opposite wall sits my printer (this is an office, after all) on top of a wooden filing cabinet. Next to the printer is an obnoxiously green file drawer I picked up at a local vintage shop; it holds my paint. On top of that is a blue tray from Hobby Lobby with some yarn I want to use soon. It’s really inspirational to have a little of it on view aside from what’s in my shoe hangers on the doors.

What I’m not showing you is the back wall, which is lined with bookshelves full of crafty books. They’re lovely shelves, but there are also books in front of the shelves, a pile of fabric here, a basket of plastic Easter eggs there. It’s would be kind of like a crafty staging area if it weren’t such a horrific mess. Let’s just pretend that part doesn’t exist, why don’t we? At least I can admit I have a problem.

Sarah