Demolition

It was only two years ago when I was dreaming of my perfect craft room.  I researched and planned and agonized over making sure I had a place for everything.   And my dream came true.  Here is the big reveal of my craft room circa October 2010.

I loved my new room.  I had the perfect spot for everything in my rubber stamping and card making world.

Then my creative mind changed gears and I started sewing again.  I had no room for a cutting table, ironing board, fabric storage, and all my sewing accessories.  My sewing machine and serger lived cramped together on the same table with barely enough room for me to sew.  My sewing area spewed forth into the basement entertainment area and where the pool table was supposed to go.  I think that was the last straw for hubby.

Being very supportive of my creative endeavors, he suggested I take over his work-at-home office for my sewing area.  He could move his office into the weird room we have in our house that doesn't really get used for anything.

How could I say no?

Last weekend was spent clearing out my craft room (gee, I have a lot of stuff!) and his office in preparation for construction to begin.  We are tearing down the wall between our two rooms so I will have one HUGE craft room.

Here are a few pictures of our rooms.

My empty room.

Closet and wall to be removed.

The wall that is no more!

One big room!

The final room will be about 11'x23' (I think).  And I will have no problem filling it up!

But before it gets put together, I have to decide what color I am going to paint it.  Although I really liked the So Saffron walls, it is time for them to go.  I was thinking of a neutral gray so I could accessorize with color.  The floors will be bamboo, and you can see the two egress windows that let in a lot of light.

What do you think?  What color would you use?  (Please don't say tan or beige - our whole house is tan!)  Should I go for color on the walls, or color with accessories?  I am really liking aqua and orange right now (not necessarily together), but don't know if I want them on my walls.  Help me decide.

Thanks for your input!

K

Are You Ready for a Tour?

Finally!  It's only been 2 months since I received my ScrapNcube order, and I'm finally settled in.

Well, almost.

I just got an email yesterday that ScrapNcube is offering 10% off all orders placed for a limited time only.  I have been keeping a list of what I need to store a few more of my items, so I will be placing another order soon.  Then I will have to rearrange and get organized again.  Merry Christmas to me!

Without further ado, here is my room before and after.

Wall A.  This makes my eyes burn.

Wall B.  This makes my eyes water.

Wall C.  My 30 year old desk I had in high school!

Wall D.  I can't stand it anymore!

Do your eyes hurt yet?  I'm so glad I don't have to look at that ever again!  I don't know how I ever made anything in that mess.

Are you ready for the big reveal?

Drum roll please...

Ta-da!  My new Craft Cave!  All organized and no clutter!  Believe it or not, this was taken over two weeks ago, and with the exception of a few papers on my desk and my coffee cup, it looks the same.

Wall A.  The white shelf holds only part of my stamp collection.  I'm still working on that unmounting thing.  The hanging file drawers hold all of my 12x12 patterned and solid papers.  I work standing up in the corner so I can get natural light during the day.

Wall B.  All of my 8 1/2 x 11 papers are stored in the two file drawers.  The file unit was custom sized to fit between the corner tables to fit my room.  From left to right in the cubes, I have my color organized embellishments, embossing folders, ribbon, more ribbon, individual stamps, and misc. punches and tools.  Most of the items I have in the photo storage boxes will find new homes in the cubes I will be ordering.

Wall C.  Empty space I can fill up with more cubes!  I couldn't bear to take down my kids' artwork, so it just got rearranged.  The window on this wall is the original basement window we left in place when we added on to the side of the house.  It still lets light into the main part of the basement.

Wall D.  I love my new punch storage.  I kept my sewing table the same for now, but it may change.

So there you have it.  I am still in awe everytime I walk in my new room.  I hope it never wears off!

I will post some more detailed pictures of my before and after storage later this week.  It is amazing how much room I saved by going with the ScrapNcube system.  Plus, it is soooo much nicer to look at.  I can't say enough about the superior quality of their products and the excellent customer service I received.  If you are thinking about getting organized, I highly recommend that you check them out at http://www.scrapncube.com/ .  You will not be disappointed, and it is worth every penny!

(Disclaimer:  This is not a paid advertisement for ScrapNcube.  I just love them and their products!)

Make it a great day!

K

Making Progress

I have spent the last four days, almost entirely, in my craft room.  My ScrapNcube order arrived on Thursday, and my room wasn't even close to being ready.  I still needed to move most everything out and paint the trim.  Back track to 3 1/2 years ago when we first moved into this house.  In my haste to get my room together, I elected not to paint the trim.  I had painted the entire house, and couldn't bear the thought of painting the trim.  (Note to self - don't ever do that again.)  Right now, my craft room is the only room in the house that has painted trim.  And that makes me feel special.

I finished moving things out on Thursday, and prepped to paint.  I won't tell you that I elected (not forgot, but rather chose) not to caulk after I taped everything off.  Stupid!  (Note to self - don't ever do that again.)  Visions of the perfect room must have been clouding my brain, because I obviously wasn't thinking clearly.

Friday morning was spent painting the trim, and then we started moving things in.  My order came on 2 pallets, and it took almost as much work to get them unpacked as it did to put them together.  It took the entire day to get all my tables moved in and assembled.  I moved a few things in on Friday, but was so exhausted I had to get some sleep.  I wanted to sleep on my new tables, they were so pretty!  But that wouldn't have been very comfortable, so I went to bed instead.

I woke up early Saturday and started the big move-in.  I don't even think I made my coffee before I started.  I knew I hadn't ordered all the cubes I would eventually need, but I have a place for the things I use on a regular basis.  Once I decide how I want to store the left-overs, I'll know which cubes to order.  Moving all my paper out of my closet and into the file drawers has freed up a ton of shelf space in my closet, so now I have that storage space to use.

I can't tell you how happy Mr. Brown made me when he delivered my order.  This is one of two pallets.

Here is a peek at how I organized my embellishments.

Each color has a drawer of its own, with a few drawers having more than one color.  I tied a colored tag on each knob so I can see what color lives inside.

Here is a look at my orange and yellow embellishment drawer.  I decided to include my SU markers in my color drawers, and I'm not quite sure how that is going to work out. I'm going to give it a try, though, because that frees up other drawers I would otherwise use just for markers.

I have my ribbon stored in a similar way with colored tags on the knobs.  I love that my ribbon is now protected from the light (and dust).  It looks so much neater, too.

Here is my red, pink, orange, and yellow ribbon drawer.  I organized my ribbon with SU brand first, followed by other manufacturers for each color.  I was amazed at how much ribbon fit into each drawer.

I spent a good part of Saturday, and most of the day today unmounting and combining my stamps in SU storage cases.  My record is eleven sets in one case.  Granted, some of them are single stamps, but it would still take eleven boxes to store them, and I reduced that to one DVD sized case.  I'm not even close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, but if I do a few sets a day, I should be done in a couple months.  Just kidding - maybe a couple weeks.  I hope!

Here is a look at my record combination case.  It is the Extreme series and the Just (sports) series.  Eleven sets in one!!!

And that is why I don't have any pictures of my whole room yet.  It is still a mess with stamps, and cases, and stuff all over the place.  But I am making progress, and it looks so much better than it did.   I will try post pictures of my whole room soon.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you understand why I haven't been stamping lately.  That is going to change, though, now that I can get to all my stuff!

Toodles!

K