My Tinker Box

Mary Ann

Have you ever seen the magazine, Where Women Create? It is an exquisite collection of spaces where woman make beautiful arts and crafts, write books, and birth other creative endeavors.  The stories of these makers are told, and their homes and workspaces are shared.  As you leaf through the magazine, it is fun to daydream about having a creative space just for you.  

I have owned two homes and been lucky enough to have a creativity space in each one.  In my current home, I have a primary suite that has a room off the bedroom that is about 12’x12’.  I call it The Tinker Box.  It is where I lose myself, where I fully immerse myself in my various passions – I write, draw, make jewelry, do crafts, wrap gifts, work on my photography, and dream a lot.  It is my happy place, a place where time stands still. 

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (can you imagine learning how to spell that name in First Grade?) coined the term Flow which means to be fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity (thank you Wikipedia for the definition.)  In the zone is another way of saying it!  So having a space where you can experience what you love is a special gift that you give yourself.  

I spent a considerable amount of time designing this space.  The walls are painted white with a black fan.  There is a large window that I left plain so I can fully open it up to view the pond and wooded areas near my home.  

I painted a big kitchen table black and got a large piece of class cut to cover the top of the table.  This is my desk and workspace for projects.  I bought 4 tall, black bookcases each with 7 shelves from a cabinet company and that stores all my projects. Two bookcases are behind where I sit at the table, and they house my photography equipment, photography books, and many containers of photos.  There is a bookcase on each side of the table making a big a big T.  One is where I keep my general craft materials and the other has my writing materials.  I color coded them with containers from Big Lots and Dollar Tree – green for photography, orange for craft materials, and blue for writing. The color really stand out on the black shelves adding color to the room.  

Under the window there are low black bookcases from Wayfair. I use that to store all my ribbon and decorative items for gift wrapping.  I also store some of my teaching materials there.  On the opposite wall from the table and bookcases is a credenza where I store personal paperwork and travel info.  On top of credenza is a lamp, TV, and printer.  There is a little table next to it where I have a small refrigerator and an electric hot-water kettle. 

The walls are full of framed posters and inspirational signs.  There is a vision board reflecting my retirement aspirations.   A bulletin board is nestled between the two bookcases and above the table.  I also have a merry-go-round horse on the wall that once hung in my daughter’s nursery.  Everywhere I look is something that has meaning for me.  My puppets (that is for another blog) and knick-knacks – tchotchkes – are sprinkled around the shelves. 

I am writing this blog as I sit in my Tinker Box.  It is where I can make my dreams come true and let my creative spirit run wild.  It is where my imagination blooms, and my passions can take wing. It is where I have fun, and it is a safe place to take risks. It is where magic happens, and I  am so thankful to have this special space for creativity.