My scrap room

 Here is the main part of my current room.
Left - work space,
End wall - Books, Cling stamps in CD cases in a rack,
SU ink pads in a COLCRAFT (see Facebook) purpose made unit, some punches, sizzix alphabets etc. The upper closed cabinets contain flowers and my large sizzix dies. Underneath plastic containers with punches, ordinary ink pads, sanding blocks, embossing powders, card blank sand various other paraphernalia.
Right - Big shot, dies in CD cases in a rack, boxes full of cards and paper, wooden stamps

This is a better view of the right hand side, the brown and cream file draws are full of wood mounted stamps, as are the drawers on top. Drawers underneath contain finished cards, equipment for the Silhouette and Cricut, glitter, paint, glitter and shiny card, felt and more.
Next to that is a table with my husbands ship that he is building. A very long term project ( I bought it for his 40th birthday, he is now 53) that he does when he is up straight will all the other things he likes to do. He is a very busy man as you can see!





A better view of hubby's craft space, very compact compared to mine. LOL.

This is where I sit to create, I have fab views out of the window of the surrounding countryside. On the wall directly in front of me are the hanging pots containing everything I need to hand - pen, pencils, scissors, glue runner, etc. To the left more CD racks full of cling stamps, Copics, card bases, punches on the window cill. Underneath the desk in the filing drawers are all my sticker type embellishment, the white drawers contain all raised embellishments (buttons, brads, small flowers etc) a drawer for each colour.

On the wall my ribbons and glues. Below my Silhouette and Cricut, another set of white drawers with more embellishments. On the desk, my laptop and printer which you can barely see as they are usually covered up with something I am working on. Also a box of stamps I am going to sell - hopefully.

 Two metal carts full of scrapbooking paper. The tall metal racks hold all the product for my small website.

 Box of stamps for selling

 Close up of ribbons and glue

 Close up of stamps and ink pad storage.

SU Cling stamp storage











Whilst the room works fairly well, it has been added to piece by piece over the years and it isn't as functional as it could be. Hubby offered to make me a purpose built room ( he is a carpenter by trade but can turn his hand to most things) and I was more than delighted to accept. The only downside was I had to do complete plans for him to work from, this took lots of thought and very many returns to the drawing board. Finally I came up with my ideal layout.

This is the layout for the window wall, some new units but reusing the white Ikea drawers. Racks on the wall for my punches.

This is for the end wall where my website product current resides.












This is for the other end wall, it incorporates the COLCRAFT unit, with another unit above for flowers and ribbons. Next to that, two long shelves, the upper one for SU cling stamps, under that, CD stamp storage, under that, shallow shelves for my punches that won't suit the racks. Drawers underneath, the very end drawers (15 of them) will be 100 cm wide and hold all my wood mounted stamps. I am told by hubby that if I fill them up, it is time to sell the old ones I don't use any more!

On the remaining wall I am having two work benches on lockable wheels that will be against the wall most of the time but can swing out and lock together to form a perfect working area when my friends come to craft.

Hubby has been slaving away in his shed making cabinets for me. This is one of two that will hold my scrapbooking paper.

Cabinet carcasses made, drawers in progress

 Looking at the plans

The large stamps holding unit

Measuring up for the insertion of the CD holders

The finished items, the drawers aren't in yet as this would make them too heavy to install.









I will update this page soon as progress is made.
                                                   

 The transformation begins - The walls have been painted and the flooring laid and now the first of the units are being placed. The large end unit with 15 drawers is for my wooden stamps, the drawer fronts and handles aren't on yet. The unit above will hold my clear stamps that I have in CD cases and above that will be my cling stamps from Stampin Up! in DVD cases. The small shelves below will hold my small punches. The open units at the bottom are awaiting their drawers.

My ribbon and flower storage unit has now been added, in the gap underneath this unit will sit my COLCRAFT ink storage. As you can see I was eager to personalise it, so my little chocolate sign adorns the top.









Please keep a mental note of this beautifully tidy scrapping space because it will never look this tidy again! In fact the whole room looks a complete shambles at the moment. All the units are fixed and the worktops on, but now I have to sort everything out from the old units and decide on their new home. This is taking much longer than I thought and has been quite daunting and exhausting. Frankly I will glad when it is finished and I can get back to creating. I cannot believe and nor can Hubby (as he keeps reminding me), how much I have accumulated over my 14 years of paper crafting.



 20th October 2013 - The transformation is complete

Hubby made me a new container to hold all my pens, pencils, glue etc which takes up minimal space on the worktop.

He also made this great little item to hold all my Project Life/ Pocket Page scrapbooking item. I am using the rear compartment to keep card blanks, small sheets of vellum and copic card.

This unit is for the rest of my punches and also houses boxes with my 6 x 6 paper and other bits and bobs I want close to hand.

I now have two of these rolling carts. One to hold my Stampin Up cardstock, underneath, the container holds some 12 x 12 projects that still require completion and several 12 x 12 packs of glitter card ready for my Christmas card making marathon.The other cart holds non Stampin Up cardstock, mirror card etc and some new 12 x 12 Christmas paper I am currently using.

Here is the cart fitting neatly under a work table. Below the picture gives you a better view. I have one metal board from Ikea standing on the table and I plan to get another and have them hung on the wall so I can pin up items/pictures that I have found for inspiration.

I have now personalised this unit with cards that friends have sent,( they are too lovely to throw away) plus some that I have made. The tall unit now houses all my wood mount stamps, the clear cling stamps are in the cd racks and the cling rubber stamps on the shelf above. The lower drawers hold all the items I like to have to hand, adhesives, non SU stamp pads, felt, sanding blocks, light box and stencils, brayer, stamp positioner etc.

Moving round, there is the seating area where I sit to create, with my new storage items in front of me.The first drawers hold (in file folders) stickers, chipboard elements and embellishments for scrapbooking mostly. The next two Ikea drawers hold buttons, flowers, brads and other raised embellishments, a drawer for each colour. Also two drawers with sizzix alphabets.

The next three upper drawers contain everything I need for die cutting and embossing, one drawer for sizzix dies, another for metals dies and a third for embossing folders and my SU dies. Of the bottom three drawers, 2 contain files holding my scrapbooking paper and the third holds boxes and bags for making pretty packaging.
The end wall drawers contain items for my website and above, my sewing machine, Cricut, Silhoutte, printer and laptop with seating area below.

When friends come to craft I can remove the rolling carts, push the tables together and lock the wheels. For extra stability the table has bolts each end which hold them securely.
As you can imagine, I am over the moon with my new room and I can't thank my hubby enough for all his hard work.