Curtains Corkboards and Crafts o my!

I've been a busy lady the last few weeks. Spring break was a great opportunity to get some things done in my office/art studio. I am crazy organized at my job, but my studio resembles organization of the chaotic kind. I have a mild obsession with getting my bookshelves to look "presentable", but since they hold everything from books to notebooks, printer paper, pen holders and cats (well, 'cat' would be more appropriate), I spend way too much time being concerned about their appearance.

The room is set up in different stations--on the right when you enter the room I have a closet, a metal shelving unit, and another closet. The unit holds all my fabric and sewing notions. The bottom two shelves hold my paints, drawing bins and brushes. Moving clockwise my sewing station is next, then in the corner is my office--a computer desk, laptop and printer/scanner. I have a bookshelf on the side of my desk in the middle of the next wall space. The corner with windows has my easel, chair and painting table. Another bookshelf is next to that one, which is right by the door. Now, all of this is working for me for the most part, I have a swivel chair that I move to the right when I want to sew or scan anything, and i reach over and grab things off the shelf. But the disarray of items makes me nuts.

I needed to make the room look more creative so I could feel more creative. I decided to cover the shelves with curtains and add some color to the walls. I cannot paint here as it is a rental, so I bought square corkboards and covered them with different swatches of fabric. I have colorful pushpins for hanging pictures of things that inspire, or things that I'm working on. I love the way it looks, it's practical (super important for organization), and I can work without the eyesore of clutter. Fine, yes, it's a bit girly of me, but so what? If it makes me feel more inspired or motivated then I win. Like my momma always said, "Necessity is the Mother of Invention".

I also sewed a cover for my printer/scanner.

One of the bookshelves. There is a cat on the shelf, causing it to bulge out a bit. The area has since been cleaned up, but I don't have a storage unit so this spot is unsightly. Any ideas?? I don't want to cover it with fabric, for fear of the room starting to look like it's being painted or abandoned.

I used a 24" tension rod for the shelf. Above is a study of Da Vinci's Lady With An Ermine in oil, painted in 2005-ish.

 Here is a short tutorial of the steps to make the fabric-covered corkboards. I bought the cork at Office Max (they give you a student discount there!); they come in sets of 4. The quilting fabrics I chose were on the expensive side so I purchased only 1/4 yard of each, except for the purple flowers which was leftover from a quilt. I had to sew pieces together to fit the 12x12 cork squares, since the fabrics were 9" wide. Each fabric made two corkboards. I hot glued them, fixed hook and loop circles to the backs, and stuck them on the wall.

Lay the pieces out to measure.

Sew together and press seams to one side.

Lay flat under cork and get to gluing.

I use a low-temp glue gun for fabric projects. It's all you need and it won't burn you while you're maneuvering the fabric.

Add the hook and loop circles, but BE WARNED--stick one side to the cork, then attach the other circle to that one, sticky side out--then you can place it on your wall and they will match up perfectly.

Now I can be organized in a space that inspires me. I spend a lot of time in this room, and it was getting pretty bad staring at a white wall. The corkboards are decorative and they serve a purpose, yay for harmony!