I have a vision of the perfect studio in my head.  Unfortunately, I don't think there is a storage solution that works perfectly for me.  My new studio isn't completely done but it's getting there.  I tell myself that some day, I'll manage to get that studio out of my head and into my house.  It is definitely a work in process.

Here is a good look at my playpen.  The desk you see has many, many drawers on each side.  I purchased some plastic inserts that turn the drawers into 16 square storage spaces.  I fill those spaces with findings and stones.  In the beginning, it was a great storage solution and I could store all of my materials.  Now it's another story.  I can probably only fit about 1/3 of my stuff into the desk.  I recently purchased the wooden contraption that is sitting on my desk.  It is designed to hold tools and has a dowel that can be used to store and use beading wire and wire.  I haven't gotten it completely loaded up but I love it.  It is so nice to be able to just reach over and come away with whatever length I want.  It doesn't look nice though so I may have to do something about that.  We'll see.

The rug in my studio is just there because we didn't have anywhere else to put it when we moved in.  It is a shag rug and it eats beads and findings.  Seriously, if you drop something on this rug, it disappears forever.  Obviously, I need to get a different rug in there.  The walls are painted lime green.  I want a contemporary rug with crazy colors.  Maybe lime green and black.  I'm looking now but I haven't found the right rug yet.

Two walls of my office are filled with floor to ceiling bookcases.  I store just about everything here.  I have plastic containers that I label and store stuff in.  The cardboard boxes are my mailing supplies.  You can see my tumbler on the shelf.  I also store all my soldering stuff on these shelves.  I have a couple of shelves where I store magazines and all my beading books.  I store odds and ends that I use in my booth here as well.  Most of my booth stuff is in a big plastic bin in the basement though.

I keep out a few of my busts and put my new pieces on it for a while when I first finish them.  Sometimes after I've looked at them for a while, I want to make a few changes.   If I didn't have them out where I can see them, I probably wouldn't make those changes.  I think all the changes I've made turn out to be good changes.  Even with 2 walls full of bookcases, you can see that I still have stuff all over the floor.  I wish I had another desk for doing soldering.  It is kind of a pain to have to get all my soldering stuff out every time I want to solder something.  Then, of course, I have to put it away because I use my desk for other things as well.  The perfect studio would have a separate soldering station.

This is the obligatory close up of my desk.  You might wonder how I can make anything with all that crap piled up on it.  Whenever I finish a piece, I clean off my desk but sometimes I'm working on 3 or 4 pieces at the same time.  I pull out my stone bins, for example and stack them on my desk so I can have easy access.  You can see a seed bead bins in this picture.  I use the small Ott light with a magnifier on my desk.  I also have a floor ott light that adds additional light.  I also wish I had room in my studio for a separate photo station.  Now, when I need to take pictures of new pieces, my husband sets up the light box on our dining room table.  We're constantly setting it up and breaking it down.  Although, it has been on my dining room table for a week right now.  We don't usually eat in the dining room but every time I walk by I feel guilty.

The best thing about my studio is that it is on the first floor.  It sits between the family room and the bathroom.  It has one wall of windows so the light shines in nicely.  It is so nice not to have to go to the basement when I get the urge to create something.  I don't feel so isolated this way.  Also tied for the best thing is the fact that it has double doors that can be closed.  They're not French doors.  They do not have glass in them.  When you close the doors, you can't see the mess that lurks behind those doors.  That is a very good thing.

That's the tour of my studio space.  I'll post some more pictures when (if) it ever gets completed.  If you have some unusual storage solutions, I'd love to hear about them.  I'm always a bit disappointed in all the systems that I use.