This post is way overdue! It’s time that I share my craft room/studio with you. Some things have changed since the initial set up because they just weren’t working as well as I had hoped but the set up as it is now is perfect.
A little bit of background – I share the basement with a spare bedroom, bathroom and a play area for the kids. I am lucky enough to have the largest portion for my craft room/studio. This was one of the reasons for our move last year. In our previous house, my studio was in our rec room so when I held classes, the family was confined to the upstairs. This wasn’t a problem when the kids were younger and were in bed by 7 but now that they are older it was becoming a bit unfair. We decided that a two storey house with the studio in the basement would solve the problem and it has! Everyone is loving it.
So here’s a little tour. This first photo is what you see when you come down the stairs.
We inherited this beautiful piece of furniture from my parents. It’s actually meant for a dining area sideboard but it works perfectly for storing tons of stuff! I have magazines, old catalogues, resources and my team meeting supplies in the cupboards. The drawers hold manuals, packaging, empty containers and retired ribbon. Then along the top is where I keep my upcoming class sign up sheets.
This is the view from one of the back corners.
This is the big shot station. It’s actually a butcher block type table that we had picked up at a garage sale a couple years ago and used as a kitchen island in our previous house. It holds my printer, unfinished projects (in the bin on the bottom shelf) and then my big shot(s). I picked up the gorgeous frame from IKEA last year and have still not done anything with it! My intent is to spray paint it and then add some burlap and use it for display purposes. Some day…
I have my cardstock stored in bins that were made for me by our contractor. They are 12×12 but I store both 12×12 and 8-1/2×11 full sheets in here.
Next to the paper storage, I have an Ikea Expedit shelving unit with my scoring tool and some apothecary jars with embellishments. A frame that I repurposed with chicken wire to display some cards. I’d like to eventually spray paint the frame… but again when there’s time, which there never seems to be.
Along the back wall I have some Ikea kitchen cupboards and butcher block counter top. The two photos show the entire span of it. It is 16′ of awesomeness! I love this set up.
Beginning from the left, I added an Expedit shelf on top.
Initially the intent was to hang it but I’m on the shorter side so I wouldn’t have been able to easily reach the upper shelves so we just set it on top and it’s the perfect height.
To the right of that shelving unit is my crafting space. This is where I create. Right now it’s set up as the technique station for stamp club. But my ink pads are right there, I have a little bin with all my most used tools (adhesives, bone folder, scissors, etc.). To the right of that area, under the counter is a filing cabinet with all my scraps of cardstock (I’ll share more on that tomorrow).
Then to the right of the filing cabinet is another cupboard and Expedit shelving unit. This is mostly resources and business supplies.
To the right of that is my computer work area. So it has my laptop, planner and Silhouette. I spend a lot of time sitting at this spot.
The last cupboard is a pantry cupboard and this is where I store my albums, extra page protectors and retired patterned paper. The top cupboard is binders with MDS downloads and other resources. As you can see, I will soon outgrow this cupboard so I may need to find a different spot for the stuff along the bottom shelf. However, there are a few empty albums along the top shelf so I’ll be ok for awhile:)
And here is the second post where I share with you how I store some of my crafting supplies. This is what has been working for me. It has changed over the years. I’ve tried several different ways to organize my papers and embellishments. It really is all about trial and error. You need to find what works for you and your space.
Let’s start with embellishments – my apothecary jars hold washi tape, buttons and bakers twine. Buttons are the one thing that I have a weakness for, I don’t get rid of retired buttons – they just get dumped into this jar once they retire:)
This is the first drawer to the left of my crafting area. I picked up these drawer organizers at the dollar store and they hold our little embellishment containers perfectly. These are mostly current accessories so the drawer is pretty empty at the moment:)
The next drawer over holds my current ribbon – again the drawer organizers are from the dollar store. Our rolls of ribbon fit perfectly – except for the burlap ribbon. I forgot to take a photo of the way I store my scraps but in one of the Expedit cubbies above this drawer I have a tray with a bunch of jars and in the jars are my scraps which I have by colors (orange and yellow in one/blue and green in another etc.).
My punches are stored on IKEA’s picture shelves. They hold the new style punches perfectly. I only have a few of the old style, my most used ones are laying down (upper right) and the rest I have in drawer.
Full sheets of cardstock (both 12×12 and 8-1/2×11) are stored in these paper storage bins. I have them stored by color family with the in colors doubled up at the bottom. That’s what works for me, as a demonstrator, but I know many crafters prefer to do it by color.
My scraps are stored to the right of where I craft so they are right at my finger tips. I sort them alphabetically with whisper white and very vanilla at the front because they are most used. It doesn’t look like I have many scraps at the moment because I make a point of purging at the change of every catalogue. Big scraps get donated and little ones get recycled. This helps keep it manageable.
Current patterned paper gets stored in this bin which sits in one of the Expedit cubbies. Again it isn’t very full at the moment because it’s the beginning of a new catalogue. By the end of the year, it’s pretty full. This isn’t the way this will remain, I plan on picking up some 12×12 storage trays that fit the Expedit so that they can store flat. But that will happen down the road…
Retired and non SU! patterned paper gets stored in these plastic bins in the bottom of my pantry cupboard. When I’m doing my own personal scrapbooking, this is where I head first because I’m not concerned with what I’m using and if it’s still available. You can see I also have my retired 12×12 cardstock there – I rarely get rid of 12×12 cardstock. It’s always nice to have lots of color options for scrapbooking.
The IKEA drawers are nice and deep so it’s great for storing stamps. I don’t have any rhyme or reason to the organization, they are just added to the drawer. I have one drawer for holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween etc.) and then this one for everything else.
I think I’ve covered most everything, except maybe Big Shot stuff. I will cover that another time, I just realized I forgot to take photos of it. Hopefully, this has given you some ideas on how to organize your crafting supplies.
Have a creative day!
Sherry
