A Dedicated Hobby Space
Creating a Space for your self-care
Written by Jessica Komarow / August 17, 2024 / Profile photo: Author's Puzzle Room with Prism puzzle by Soon Cho
At first, it was just one shelf in a closet.
Then, that shelf turned to two. When I had outgrown that space, I moved to a spot in the living room, and then an entire bookcase in the corner of my bedroom… and then a bigger one that took up an entire wall. Any then there was the other side of things – having a job working in social media, as well as the added layers to the puzzle hobby of doing work with various puzzle brands and posting to my own Instagram – I also obtained a variety of tripods, puzzle boards, and other supplies that started popping up all over the place.
I’m not sure when I went from that one shelf in the closet to puzzles bursting out of all of the various empty corners of my house but it was when a puzzle finally fell on my husband’s head as he was trying to get a jacket out of his side of our shared closet that we knew something had to be done, and thus, the “puzzle room” was born.
Some people have a woodworking space. Some people have a craft room. Some have home libraries, home gyms, home theaters – the list goes on. In our home, my husband has spaces in our basement that serve as a workshop and a technology area and my kids have their own playroom. It never really occurred to me to make a dedicated space for myself and my own hobbies until we were quite literally bursting at the seams. Here was a spare room in our home that had been used in so many ways – a spare guestroom, a home office, a home school room – but that had never found its permanent title.
The Setup
For shelves, I had a few requirements. I wanted bookcases with adjustable shelving that could accommodate a variety of box sizes. I wanted them to be tall enough to reach my ceiling, or at least relatively close so that I could use as much vertical space as possible. I also wanted them to be white as I knew the puzzle boxes would be colorful and relatively busy so putting them against a neutral palette would look the best for the aesthetic I was going for. I ended up with the Billy Bookcases from Ikea and these hit all the marks. They are affordable, adjustable, easy to assemble, and easy to acquire. I was able to put together seven shelves in an afternoon and was ready for the organization.
I also wanted to make sure that I had a good puzzle table in the room that could accommodate up to 1500 pieces at a time and fit in front of the single set of windows we had in the room for natural lighting. I found a great open-box deal online but this is something that could likely easily be found on Facebook marketplace for a great secondhand deal.
The last thing I wanted to consider was lighting. I wasn’t *just* going to be using this room for storage, but for puzzling itself so bright light was a must. There is one set of two big windows in the room to bring in as much natural sunlight as I can, but living in the woods in New England means that even with that, the light situation is pretty obscured by trees. My husband replaced the contractor-grade overhead fixture with an adjustable smart light that I can use an app on my phone to control. I also purchased the Canvas Lamp foy my table for a closer lighting source that doubles as a mount for my phone for overhead content creation. The final light I have in here is a large soft box kit that I use to diffuse light for photography. These three options give me a variety of lighting combinations that I can adjust for all of my puzzling needs!
The Organization
Now, the fun part. There were so many options for ways to organize the puzzles that it started off a little overwhelming. Considering all of the various ways, I could have organized alphabetically or by box size. Some people like to organize by color for a rainbow theme. Some people leave big spaces on their shelves for decorations. I really wanted to try and use my space as efficiently as possible because I knew that I had a *lot* of puzzles to store so I decided to organize by brand. Given that most brands tend to stick with the same styles of boxes, I was able to adjust the shelves to each brand’s box size and maximize the shelf space.
I kept a 3-tiered cart in a corner to organize some of my puzzle accessories like my box top stands, my timers, and sorting trays. I use a shelf on there for my most-used content creation equipment like camera lenses and mini tripods, and I use a space behind the shelves to organize all of my backdrops. I keep a bin in the room as a flex space typically for puzzles that I plan to bring to my local swap or give away to friends. The closet in the room holds vintages puzzle and puzzle boards.
The Gift of Self-Care
I have talked here before about puzzling and mental health, and the benefits I have seen in my own life. Creating this space didn’t just bring a new level of organization to my home, but feels like an investment in my mental health and self-care. As a stay-at-home mom, my days are filled with lots of activities that revolve around the needs of my family and I think it can be easy to forget that *I* have needs too. Taking care of myself gives me the energy to serve my family, and puzzling (typically alongside a good audiobook) is my favorite form of self-care. It brings me balance and peace in my busy mom-life. I now have my own space that is fully and completely mine to do just that. The positive effect on my mood after spending even just a little time in my little sanctuary is something I can’t describe. I’ve even felt a boost in my creativity!
My advice to you – give yourself the gift of a “you” space. Wherever you can afford the real estate whether it be a corner or an entire room – make a space that is just yours. Give yourself the physical space to relax and decompress whether it be with a puzzle or whatever your favorite form of self-care might be. You are worth it.
All photos in this article is taken by Jessica Komarow
Get to know the Author: Jessica Komarow
Jessica is a puzzle Instagrammer and blogger and a member of the Puzzle Parley Steering Committee. She is a millennial mom of two little girls by day, and loves to sit down with a puzzle and an audiobook at night. You can find her at @PiecefulPuzzling on Instagram.