I am not a neatnick but can't deal with a lot of chaos either. I travel 250 miles every few weeks to take care of my mom. Mostly, she likes the company. Before I leave I straighten my sewing room so it is ready to go when I get back and so my husband can use his corner of the room in comfort. I share with him. He has 3' of a 12' table to do his photo stuff on the computer. He doesn't really mind when I am in creative mode and have pulled things out. We recently purchased a freezer and had to put it in the sewing room. It has become my design wall. I did have to move the ironing board to the guest room across the hall. I have a fold out cutting table so I keep a large area of the floor clear so I can use it when needed. I only completely unfold it when I am pinning a quilt, half up is plenty of space to cut. I have utility shelves (inexpensive)covered with a curtain for my fabric. It is accessible but neat. I have seen some good storage ideas here for tools so will probably do some of those to get better use of my space.