Craft Room Makeover!

One of the reasons I've been absent a lot lately was due to the fact that my crap craft room had gotten out of hand. There was Too. Much. Stuff crammed into too small of a space, it was a PITA to do anything creative in there, and I was too overwhelmed to do anything about it. Here is a photo of the "before", or actually when I was just getting started and had put a few things on my desk. You can see things crammed into every nook and cranny and it's chaos. I moved the chair so you can see the shi stuff under the table, too.

But when a friend blesses you with a free corner desk, you take that as a sign (and motivation!) to shake things up and make it work. The main hold ups to my big plans were 1- hubby needed to get the farm truck running so we could go and get it. 2- I needed to figure out what to do with stacks of boxes of retired stamping stuff that were in the way, and 3- what to do with the crappy shelving units (and the stuff on them) to make room for my old craft desk, which I loved and didn't want to re-home. Here's an "after" photo taken at about the same spot.

Hubby spent almost two weeks working on that *insert bad word that rhymes with trucking* truck, coming in utterly exhausted nearly every afternoon. But, bless his heart, he somehow managed to do a job that should have taken two strong men and six pairs of hands. Meanwhile, I ordered another small shed to match the one I already had on the porch for my garden stuff, assembled it, and started moving the boxes of retired items out to it.

The things (mainly DSP and cardstock) that were on the crappy shelving units were sorted through, retired things pulled and stored for later sale, and the "keepers" were stacked out of the way. I took apart the shelves, and moved the very heavy 48 slot cardstock holder out of the way. Boy, did it need a thorough dusting! I planned to put the old craft table where the shelving units had been, with the paper holder on top. Since the table is 30" x 63", and the cardstock organizer is 12" x 38" that means there is plenty of room for a friend to come and craft with me!

The heat/AC unit is above where I had stored my stamps on a not very sturdy shelf (see first pic) and I noticed there was an issue when the stamp cases were stored on end. I think the heat blowing on the cases made some stamps slide a little bit off their stickers. I needed to find a way to store them flat. I found these clear acrylic DVD holders and they worked perfectly! Hubby drilled small holes so they could be screwed to the wall directly under my Stamp n Storage punch holders, but they are stackable, too. I just wanted them off the desk!

They are high enough on the wall that all my Storage by Stampin' Up! ink pad & marker trays can fit on the desk underneath, yet I can easily reach just about anything I need from my chair. The few exceptions would be punches near the top of the punch holders, and the ribbons in the storage bins on the very top. (I also have one of those bins in a desk drawer to hold my embossing powders, embossing buddy, and heat tool.)

Speaking of drawer storage, embossing folders and dies are also in bins in the desk drawers! I love how neat and tidy everything looks now! My creativity goes AWOL if there's too much clutter - it clutters my mind and I can't think. It's gotten worse as I've grown older, too. And yes, I usually clean up after each project before starting fresh on new ones, unless I'm planning to use the same stamps and accessories for another card right away.

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Natalie's Crafting Chateau

I just got home from helping my friend Natalie organize her craft room, and what a wonderful, wide open, happy room it has become! She had been overwhelmed with boxes and storage bins of assorted stamps, tools, ink pads, ribbons, paper, etc., all over the floor (not to mention the treadmill and weight bench taking up a good portion of the room), and didn't have a clear vision of how to get it organized so she could actually find things and use them!

We started by designating areas to put things as we (well, really it was Natalie who did the work, I just barked orders, lol) sorted through it all.  The treadmill became the landing place for all things stamp-related (all stamps, acrylic blocks, stamp cleaners and scrubbers). There was a laundry basket to toss the ribbons into, all the ink pads, ink refills, sponges, daubers, and markers were set together by the revolving storage rack, and everything related to the Big Shot and Cuttlebug (dies, embossing folders, cutting plates, etc.) was set by the Big Shot and Cuttlebug.  Heat embossing items (powders, embossing buddy, heat tool) had their own spot.  Same for embellishments (brads, eyelets, buttons, glitter, pearls), as well as cardstock and patterned paper.

I could see a lot of progress about halfway through the day, but Natalie wasn't quite convinced, because it still looked cluttered from the boxes and bins in the middle of the floor.  After everything was sorted and a lot of things purged (really no need for ten year old catalogs!), we rearranged the storage units, assembled the one unit still in the Ikea box, and then started the fun task of putting things away.  Toward evening, when most things were neatly up on the shelves, and most of the empty bins removed, she started to get excited.

There is still some work to be done, like putting the ribbons into the ribbon organizer, getting the punches on racks, the rather large task of sorting through the stamps currently residing on the treadmill, and gathering up the piled shipping materials into their organizers (lots of the stamps are going on eBay!), but now there is a plan that Natalie can follow.

This morning when I got up, I found her in the room walking around with a big smile on her face.  It really made my heart happy that, for the first time, she felt good about her craft room instead of overwhelmed and depressed. She has the absolutely PERFECT space to have friends over for stamp classes now, and when she wants to do any project, she'll know exactly where to find the things she needs to make it!