Jewelry Studio Reset with Inciting Incident
If you are self-employed and work from home, carving out some square footage to dedicate to your work is a wonderful way to grow your business and create work/life balance. While it may seems silly to have two desks/work spaces, it can be helpful to have a space that you go to for “work work” and a separate space for “life work.” If you’re just starting out, or if you live in a high cost-of-living area, those separate spaces may very well have to be in the same room. That was certainly the case for my client, Inciting Incident, who runs a jewelry business out of their bedroom in Oakland.
Amanda’s work area had slowly devoured their personal space, making it nearly impossible for them to turn the work part of their life off. As their business grew and they acquired more tools of the trade, their workspace became increasing cluttered and disorganized. At some point they decided it was time for a reset, and asked if I could help them make it happen. Here’s what Amanda’s jewelry studio looked like before we got started:
BEFORE
I offer both virtual and in-person organizing services, and this project was a bit of a hybrid of the two. Amanda sent me detailed photos, measurements, and a video walkthrough. They already had some great ideas for the space, so sketches and shelving were provided as well. It is so important to work with an empathetic and strategic organizer that will help you design a system that you can actually maintain. It is imperative to listen to a client about their needs, habits, and bandwidth when helping them lay out a space. Here are the sketches of what Amanda thought would work best for them:
CLIENT SKETCHES
Amanda knew they wanted to say goodbye to the big cabinet with the fold-down desk. It can be hard to let go of such unique and beautiful furniture pieces, but it just wasn’t working in the space.
When I create a blueprint for a project, I like to include visuals. I often incorporate inspiration photos, recommended products, and/or existing furniture. It’s sort of a mood board, and creates a visual snapshot of the finished product. Personally I find this much more motivating than a simple sketch with a list. Here’s what the blueprint looked like for this project:
We identified three main goals for the reset:
Separate areas for bench work and admin tasks
Everything has a home
More definition between work space and personal space
Amanda did the important prep work of removing all the items, sorting them into categories, and and throwing out anything that was no longer needed. They also removed the old cabinet and, with some help from their partner, put up the new shelving system. For an in-person session, doing as much prep ahead of time helps you get the most bang for your buck when it comes to hands on organizing!
It was so helpful to work together in person so Amanda could explain what all the different tools were for, which ones were used most frequently, and what ideas would not work for them. We had to pivot from the blueprint a couple times due to space constraints, which is also easier to do in person. An additional benefit to choosing an in-person or hybrid option is having someone there to keep the process on track. If you’re doing this type of project alone, it can be really easy to get distracted or overwhelmed. By having an organization coach on site, they can keep you focused on small tasks that add up to big results! Here are some process photos from the day we spent together working through the categories:
We had a really productive day together and some delicious takeout from Burma Superstar. I absolutely LOVE working on this type of project with my coaching clients, and look forward to taking on more organization projects in the future. If you’d like to book a consultation, book a free intro call or drop me an email.
By the end of the day there were still had a few loose ends that needed to be tied up, but we had gotten through about 80% of the process together.
AFTER
BEFORE
As you can see, the space is so much more compact and functional! With all the space we freed up on the left side of this wall, Amanda was able to later add in a separate small desk for admin tasks. Not having to clear off space on the work bench to tackle things like email and shipping will be one less obstacle in taking care of the less sexy parts of small business ownership.
We used a lot of free cardboard boxes to keep the cost affordable, but we did purchase some small parts organizers for all the little metalworking bits and bobs, as well as a small piece of pegboard for easily accessible tool and supply storage.
AFTER
Thanks for following along! I hope you feel inspired to reset a space in your home or workplace after reading this. Just to recap, here is the process I use for organization projects with clients:
CLIENT UPDATE AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS OF USE
VIRTUAL ORGANIZATION CONSULTATION PROCESS
Intro Call/Email
Photos + Measurements from Client
Assessment Session
Blueprint Creation
Blueprint Review Session
Client Organization
(Optional) Ongoing Support Calls and/or Hands-On Help
Finished Photos from Client
Reflection Session + Maintenance Plan
“Organization isn’t about perfection; it’s about efficiency, reducing stress and clutter, saving time and money and improving your overall quality of life.”