Craft Room Tour

Even with all the cards I've posted over the past few years, I don't think I've ever posted photos of my craft room. Christina Thomas at Creations with Christina has started a feature on her blog called Make~Motivate~Connect. Each week, she will have a different prompt, and encourage people to link up a photo of their project in response to that prompt at her site. This week's prompt is craft room photos, so that inspired this post.

View from doorway

Our craft room actually is my brother's old bedroom. He got married & moved out 7 years ago, leaving an empty room. What else would you do with an empty room than make it into a craft room? ;) My mom & I repainted the room a lovely lavender shade, with cream on the trim & ceiling. We also pulled up the carpet. Since we also use it as a sewing room & to cut out sewing projects, we didn't want any pins or needles hiding in carpet. We expected to have to lay wood flooring, but were pleasantly surprised to find the hardwood flooring that is in our halls continued into that room! So all we had to do--after pulling numerous carpet staples from the wood--was sand & seal the flooring. I think that was MUCH easier than installing new flooring!

Another view of my scrap desk; plus sewing desk, Raskog cart, fabric cutting table, & storage units

I built most of the furniture myself. My scrap desk actually came about after reading an article in an old scrapbooking magazine. (I think it was a Scrapbooks, Etc. special organization issue.) It was about creating a desk for under $100. I don't know if I spent less than $100, but I got a good desk that has stood the test of time for me! I got 2 wire drawer units (I think they've been discontinued since) & a 4x8' sheet of melamine from Lowe's. I knew how big I needed my desk top, so I had a guy at the store cut the melamine into 3 pieces: 1 to fit the desk, and 2 other smaller pieces that I could fit in the back of our van for other projects. I edged the top by gluing on white ribbon, to cover the raw wood. Then it was just a case of laying the melamine on top of the drawer units. I had made this long before we had this craft room, when I did my scrapbooking & card making in a different part of the house. But it fit perfectly in this new space as well!

Because the room is maybe 10x10' at most, we've had to make the most of vertical space. I created shelf space with a small melamine shelf laid across some small stackable drawer units & 2 marker storage units from Stamp-n-Storage at the back of my scrap desk. I also built an ink pad storage unit to fit perfectly in the space between the top of that shelf & the bottom of another shelf we'd hung on the wall above my desk. I made 2 magnetic boards to hold my larger wafer-thin dies, that are just plywood pieces with magnetic sheets glued on, framed with 1x2 boards that I painted a darker lavender color.

Wall-hung ink pad units: white one by me; raw wood one by Stamp-n-Storage

Medicine cabinet

We had a medicine cabinet that I'd "had" to get for a bathroom renovation we did in our house. It had turned out not to fit in that space, so we hung it in the craft room instead. The cupboard part stores mostly acrylic craft paints, stains, & painting mediums. The baskets underneath (what made me fall in love with the piece in the first place) hold various odds & ends, and I utilize the top to store items I don't use often.

Additional craft table

Twine rack

Opposite my scrap desk is an additional craft table that I built out of melamine for the top & 2x4 lumber for the legs & frame under the top. I keep my washi tape holder (also from Stamp-n-Storage); die cutting machine; and 2 small wire drawer units (from Bed Bath & Beyond) to store paper scraps, 6x6" & smaller paper pads, & some stamps & dies on this table. I also have a lazy Susan style unit with 2 hanging racks by Recollections that I got some years ago, just to store small things. Above that, I have another ink pad storage unit I built for my full-size Distress inks, & a few shelves for paper towels & more odds and ends. I also have another wire drawer unit underneath, and a file cube I built to store large paper scraps in 12x12" file folders; plus a rolling file cart with more 12x12" paper in folders on it. On the wall at the end of the table, I have a rack that I built for my larger rolls of bakers twine, following instructions I read on someone's blog a few years ago.

Stamp, cardstock, & 12x12" paper storage

I keep most of my stamp sets in 2 Fridge Binz on a small shelving unit in the closet. (I totally got this system from Jennifer McGuire.) I made dividers from green cardstock, using my We R Memory Keepers 1-2-3 Punch Board to create file tabs on the top edge of each. I laminated these, trimmed around the perimeter, and printed labels for the different categories with my label maker. On the shelf underneath that, I keep my 8.5x11" cardstock. I have several magazine holders turned on their backs, and slip my cardstock (sorted roughly in rainbow order in job ticket holders) into those. Most of my cardstocks are "off-brand," so I don't bother labeling those. I keep 12x12" colored cardstock & patterned paper in Cropper Hopper holders on the bottom shelf.

Punch holder

Finally, I have 2 punch holders that I made. Basically, they're like over-the-door shoe holders, but I customized pretty much each pocket size to fit a specific punch. After I bound the top edges of strips of clear heavyweight vinyl with bias tape, I sewed each row to my fabric backer, creating pockets as I went. It was not easy, but I like the final results, so in the end it was indeed worth it! I sewed the top and bottom to create a pocket for dowels to slip through. I used a heavy plastic-coated wire that I got from Lowe's, along with wire clamps, to hang each holder, since they are quite heavy. The one on the back of the door (pictured) I initially hung from a regular coat hook--until the hook broke and the holder fell on the floor! So I got a heavyweight tool hook, screwed it to the top of the door, and it has held up just fine. :)

I hope you have enjoyed this tour, and maybe gotten a few ideas for your own crafty space!