My Scraproom: Part 1

Hi, everyone!

I am finally doing it… finally sharing my scraproom.  Sorry it took so long!

This is Part 1 of 2.  I will share Part 2 later this week, along with a cool giveaway that is something from my room. ☺ 

First, here is the first video showing my room.  Please go HERE and then click on the “watch in high quality” under the video – it makes a huge difference in quality.

Here are some photos to go along with it.  I added some text saying what things are.

Here are some notes about my room.  I go into a lot of detail… feel free to skip it all. ☺ 

My room is in my basement.  I like this because the other half of the basement is where my husband has his hobby and storage is nearby.  Also, I didn’t feel pressured to make it “fit” into the look of the rest of my house. Instead, “anything goes.”  Also, this is my job.  Therefore, I like that my work is somewhat separate from the rest of my life.  Somewhat… ☺ 

• I like things closed up, but easy to get to, so use a lot of boxes, drawers and cabinets.
• This room is used as much by the kids, so I have a ton of counterspace to share.  The girls work across from me and share my supplies. 
• I haven’t measured the room, but Ken guesses it is 15′ x 25′.
• My room isn’t always that clean. 🙂  I get a lot of shipments of products (this is my job) so it is hard to keep up with putting things away.  But I really try.  The kids are very helpful.

I used the most inexpensive of everything…

• The carpet is inexpensive burber (didn’t want to worry too much about it) and I keep a small rechargeable vacuum under the counter.  I have mats down under my rolling chairs.
• The countertops were stock from Home Depot.  I wanted something that wouldn’t show ink stains and I got the type with the backsplash to prevent things from sliding off the back.  Love that.
• The large white drawers and cabinets support the countertops along with a few other simple supports.  Got this white furniture at Organized Living years ago. It wasn’t expensive, and since it was meant for office use, it was MUCH more practical and open than kitchen cabinets.
• The paper racks are from Target.  I then use the Cropper Hopper paper holders to slide into the racks – a perfect fit.  I love this system.  I sort patterned paper by color, and also have holders for stripes, dots, etc.
• The many little white drawers are from Ikea.  They come unpainted and unassembled.  I LOVE THESE.  They are great.  If you get them, be sure to sand them well before painting.  My dear parents sanded and painted all of this as a gift long ago.  (I told you I had the best parents.)  ☺
• The jars are all from Hobby Lobby and were very inexpensive.  They are filled with buttons and flowers and a few other embellishments.  I love the colors showing.
• The tall white cabinets are from the closet organization area of Lowes.  They are inexpensive and wonderful.  On the shelves, I use plastic spice shelves.
• The white shelves that look like large squares are from Ikea – the famous Expedit.  I wanted a clean look, so I filled them with red boxes from Ikea and am really liking this system. 
• The wall quotes are from onceuponadesign.typepad.com.  I can’t recommend them enough.  I encourage you to check them out.  These are two nice girls who are working hard and are good people – I love to support that.  Their prices are great and their designs aren’t “stuffy” like many are from other companies.  I love them.  I have other designs in my house, too.  My favorite thing of theirs is the large heart.  It is perfect for putting a favorite photo in.
• I have all of my punches hanging on a pegboard on the wall… very hidden in a corner.  This system is fantastic – I love it.  Inexpensive and very effective.  You can get pegboard hooks and shelves at Home Depot.
• The big buttons are from Pottery Barn – got them on mega clearance. I bet you could get them on ebay.  The big scissors are from Hobby Lobby.

At my workspace:

• My dad had a piece of tempered glass cut to fit my workspace – a wonderful Christmas gift from him.  I adore having this.  When it gets yucky, I just spray it with cleaner and scrape it clean with a razor.  So easy.  Cost about $80 and is tempered with smooth edges.
• Under my workspace are lots of 12” wide drawers.  Here, I have scraps sorted by colors.
• In the drawers closest to my workspace, I have all the tools I need often within reach: wipes, acrylic mounts, blank notecards, adhesives, scissors,etc.
• I also have a large drawer where I put things when I am done using them.  Once a week or so, I empty out this drawer.  That way I don’t have to do it every time I work.
• The “Today I will be happier than a bird with a french fry” is from THIS seller on etsy.com

At my computer area:

• I have all my computer stuff together in one side of the room.  This includes my Mac laptop and large flat screen monitor (it is an inexpensive but really good one from Gateway), printers (both are wide format – one is old and is just used for quick printing), scanner, Quickutz Silhouette, Epson Picturemate, etc.
• I keep my idea books and work papers on a narrow shelf nearby.

In my tall white cabinets:

• In the tall white cabinets, I have my stamps on spice shelves.  This works great so that I can see the stamps, as they all stand up.  This is a great way to save on space, too.  The stamps are sorted by theme.  (I do have a lot of stamps, but keep in mind that is my job – I work for a stamp company.  I would never been able to buy all those!)
• I also have my ribbon in bins in the cabinets.  The ribbons are wrapped around clothes pins, safety pinned closed and sorted by color.  (Thanks, Jana!)
• My clear stamps are stored in large binders inside these cabinets.  (Click HERE for a video on clear stamp storage.)
• In between my my tall cabinets are some more paper racks from Target.  This is my cardstock.  I purged this often and donate to schools.

In my Expedit (white square shelves):

• The red boxes on my Expedit store rub-ons, stickers, chipboard and more.  I like that everything can stand up in here, making it easy to flip through. (I used to use drawers and things got buried so easily.) 
• On top, I have black 3-ring binders for my scrapbook pages.  They aren’t all in there yet, but I hope to have that done soon.

In the small white Ikea drawers:

• In my small white Ikea drawers, I have inks, brads, embellishments and more. 
• Inks are sorted by colors. This works much better for me than sorting by ink types.
• Little embellishments are divided into watchmaker tins within the drawers.
• Several drawers hold various letters.  One drawer has A, B and C, another has D, E and F, etc.  This is a great way to keep old letters organized and easy to find.
• If you get these drawers, be sure to sand them and prime them before painting.  (Mine are painted with a semi-gloss white trim paint.)
• The little white drawers from Ikea – yes, they don’t have labels.  I move things around so much that I decided not to put any labels on them.  But I remember where everything is – it is that engineer mind of mine.  🙂

Other tips:

• I think long and hard before committing to a storage change.  I usually try out one and see if I like it before buying it all.
• I purge often – once a month.  Things I know I won’t use get donated to my son’s school, fundraisers or are given away on my blog.
• Many of my things are from Ikea.  I didn’t have an Ikea until recently.  So, even if you don’t have one, you can get these things.  I bought all the white embellishment drawers new on ebay (30 of them!) and the rest were from ikea.com.

If you have questions, just leave a comment on this post.  I will keep checking it and will edit to add my answers to the actual post.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!