Arkiv kreativ – At home with Jenny Ekstrand

This is where we live

Jenny Ekstrand, 41, family therapist. Her husband Andreas, 48, works in real estate. Their daughter Vera, 10, and son Frank, 7. The family lives in a house with 127 sq.m. of living space + 82 sq.m. of additional space in Kungsbacka on the Swedish west coast. You can follow Jenny at: @arkiv_kreativ on Instagram and Arkiv Kreativ on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/arkivkreativ.se

Contrast between work and leisure time

Jenny works as a family therapist, where the focus is on conducting difficult conversations with families that are experiencing a crisis or social problems. At home, her favourite hobby is crafting. “I enjoy my work, but it’s nice to have a hobby that contrasts with it and allows me to be creative and do things with my hands.” Jenny has an arts and crafts page @arkiv_kreativ on Instagram and has enjoyed sewing, cutting, painting, gluing, drawing, building and decorating since she was little. “I have always been creative and try to pass my enthusiasm on to our children by encouraging them to explore crafting in various ways.”

How did you use to store all your crafting materials?

“It’s just over a year since we moved into this house. We used to have a flat in Gothenburg and I would keep all my crafting stuff in boxes spread around the flat in the bedroom and other places, wherever there was room to squeeze them in. I would use the dining table for crafting activities, which really wasn’t ideal,” Jenny says.

“We often had to interrupt the creative process to clear the table for dinner.”

What were your wishes for this hobby room when you started designing it?

“I wanted a proper overview of all my materials so that I wouldn’t have to waste time looking for them. And I also wanted drawers and shelves for the children’s own crafting items that they could easily reach. I envisioned beautiful blue-green walls that would create a feeling of calm behind the white storage units. It’s a colour that I created when decorating our bedroom. I was really pleased with the colour and there was some paint left over that I could use in the cellar.”

Jenny began by planning the layout of the storage in the 10 sq.m. hobby room using Elfa’s visualisation tool.

“It was important for me to place as much storage as possible on one wall and maximise the storage by taking it all the way up to the ceiling. Elfa’s planning experts provided valuable input, such as gliding mesh drawers. They also suggested using the door for storage, which was a brilliant idea that hadn’t occurred to me.”

Fitting out the space

The storage system comprises tracks and hang standards, wire shelves with dividers, click-in melamine shelving, wire shelf baskets, hooks, circular hooks, storage boards, storage rail, gliding mesh drawers, boxes and label holders. “It was much easier to assemble that I thought it would be. You simply had to screw a track to the wall and then hang the standards on it. Elfa’s products are carefully-designed, versatile and have a classic feel to them.”

To the planning tool

She was also given help with structuring and organising the space by the organisation consultant, Sandra Fantini at Sorted.se. All the fittings in the hobby room are based on Elfa’s wall-hung systems, which Jenny strongly recommends. “They create a very roomy feel in the space. Built-in storage would have looked heavier and clumsier. Now it’s easy to clean the floor and the room feels larger.”

See on door storage inspiration

“An organised space stokes the creative juices”

Jenny says it is important that the space for her craft and hobby items is organised and structured to allow time to actually get on with crafting and being creative. “The key to doing lots of creative activities is to have everything you need at your fingertips. You get creative ideas just by seeing the material! Our children sometimes say “I don’t know what to do” and all I need to do is get some crafting goodies out and they’re soon busy with their fingers. An organised space stokes the creative juices and allows you to get started much quicker.”

See the click-in system

Storage for rolls of giftwrap

The door-hung storage unit is ideal for long rolls of giftwrap that don’t fit inside regular drawers. “The wall-hung Elfa system doesn’t take up much space but has room for an unbelievable number of items. Everything has its own place which is both practical and harmonious. Previously, it was easy to forget that I even had some of the materials because they were packed away where I couldn’t see them. So when I couldn’t find what I needed I would buy items that I already had.”

See giftwrap storage

Dedicated space for arts and crafts in the home

Are you pleased with the results? “Absolutely! I’m especially happy now that the children have their own drawers of crafting materials that they can use as they like. It is so smart that you can adjust the height of the shelves and gliding mesh drawers in the Elfa system, and can rearrange the storage configuration later on.” Jenny’s husband Andreas is also pleased that she now has a structured and organised space for all her crafting essentials. “He works in real estate and isn’t the least bit creative or into crafts – quite the opposite! But he is happy not to be stumbling over jars of beads or having to clear a space on the table when it’s dinner time for the family.”

Jenny’s professional tips for hobby crafters!

Not everyone has a whole room that they can spare for their hobby. We were really fortunate that we could. But you can do a lot with just a wall too. For example, you can create a hobby station in a bedroom and use all the wall space up to the ceiling for storage. If the space looks messy, you can hide it behind Elfa’s stylish sliding doors.

Take a good look at the materials you have so you know what storage you need.

Go for transparent storage, like mesh boxes and clear plastic drawers so you can see everything. You need to have your materials “on display” so you don’t forget that you have them.

Try to make space somewhere for storing projects that are in progress, but not yet completed.

Sort your crafting items according to what they are used for. Things you use together should be kept together. Paints and brushes shouldn’t be stored far apart.

An organised space stokes the creative juices