I must start with a confession: I cheated. I cheated on IKEA.

BUT, it was with another Scandi. Does that make it alright then?

I have shared with you before in this post that I have no studio or a separate room in our home that I can call my own. I do not have a dedicated craft room. This in turn means that all my drawing, painting, crafting thingies (for a lack of a better word) are stored wherever I am able to find a place for them. Something like this:

And here come a couple of issues. First of all, I detest mess with a passion. So every single time I opened my closet and looked in I felt this knot in my stomach. But I had no choice. I had no other place to put my things, and I had no other way of storing them. There was no better alternative.

And the other thing is that this very setup I felt prevented me from actually starting a project. Because first I’d have to load myself up like a Sherpa, and take everything with me I thought I’d need. Then I’d do a u-turn and pick up the things I dropped in the process. 2 minutes into the project I’d realize I left something in the other room. Get up, go find it, get back to business. 3 minutes later the same thing. 5 minutes … you get my point. With all this back and forth I’d loose focus, I’d get out of that creative zone, all my creative juices ran dry. Many times the mere thought of having to go through all this impeded me from starting a project in the first place.

I got to the point where I thought enough is enough! I decided to change things up a bit and buy myself two trolleys: one for my crafty bits, and one for all my drawing and painting bits. I took matters (the screwdriver) into my own hands, and this is what I ended up with:

Move the slider to see the before and after pictures.

I know at first glance it doesn’t look like a huge improvement. Or an improvement at all. But here is the thing. Each trolley has a dedicated purpose. So if I am in the mood to draw I roll the little trolley out, set it up next to me, and presto! I have everything (and I mean every-little-thing) I need to draw. Even the things I’ll think of 2 minutes from now. And the things I’ll need in 3 minutes. And 5 ….

Trolley for my drawing things
My pencils, markers and more

So why did I decide to go with the Danish Jysk and not the Swedish IKEA? The dusty pink color is nice, but that was not the (main) reason behind my choice. The IKEA trolleys for some weird reason don’t have a handle. When I was visualizing how I’d use them I thought that handles would be a nice addition. Now, having used them I think they are a must! I get that IKEA wants to cut some money saving corners, but mutilating the trolleys was perhaps not the best choice. Lucky me there is a pinky alternative!

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