Edited to add: I accidentally deleted this post from my blog last night. Thankfully, I had a copy on fb and was able to copy it and replace the deleted post.
There's a lot of pictures but I'll show you around... we began working on this room about a month ago. What started it was a plumbing problem I had to clear over half of the contents of the room to make room for the plumbers so they could put holes in the walls in order to get at the plumbing problem [whole house hot water lines re-plumbed]... we had a slab leak so they had to re-route above ground to fix it]. The redecoration was a long time coming, since the move last year in July. So for over a year. Although I had set it up initially it had long housed a jumbled collection of mismatched furniture, jerry-rigged shelving [a vintage bench used for a shelf], boxes, crates that were used just *until* and in general just too much stuff for one room without planned organization. For such a long time I've had a dream of an organized space with a place for everything and everything in its place. Ya know?
If your decorating inspiration is on a small budget then IKEA comes to the rescue. I researched other peoples spaces on the web, blog-surfing and such and decided upon two IKEA Expedite units, one with 5x5 cubicles and one with 4x4 cubicles. Mainly I wanted functional and I chose white because it goes with everything. Most of my other wood around the house is the dark espresso stain. I had three choices birch, black-brown or white. I felt the black-brown would make the room seem dark and smaller and I didn't want to go with the birch because most of my other furniture in the house is black-brown [or espresso] and I didn't want to start mixing wood colors. So I chose white because it seemed more craft-roomish?! But it also seemed brighter and cleaner. Something cheerful for my *happy place* Turns out that everything fits, everything is functional, and everything is beautiful.
AND we only got intwo three four one huge small fight. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that we had to make SEVERAL trips back and forth to IKEA for different exchanges/units, YES, I MEASURED... the first u-turn was because we forgot to load one item and left it on the loading sidewalk [that was one trip], then we I decided to exchange the entire purchase for one smaller unit because I didn't measured wrong[nuf said??], the truck broke down on one return trip and triple AAA had to be called and the truck towed. During the towing trip one of the boxes that we were returning flew off onto the HIGHWAY and had to be retrieved promptly. On top of all of this it was hot and Mr. M had a kidney stone festering. Did I mention it was HOT. We only got in two three four one huge small fight. Oh I mentioned that already.
I didn't have one IKEA meltdown and we also had lunch while there. I always get their *Swedish meatballs* lunch, pretty yummy.
Welcome to my new space [I'll have some before and after]
First, the before, quite a lot of stuff but no where to house it [all pictures follow the text and click on any picture to enlarge]
View of the two new Ikea units and nice and empty
Another after shot this time with the shelves filled
Another after shot, a view from the door with everything put back into the room and my new red-checked country curtains. I have curtains on the closet door shelves also to hide the clutter when not in use. I removed the existing closet doors because they slid back and forth and you could only access one side at a time. Above the table you can see the stamper shelves that I made out of a repurposed wood futon. I painted them with black chalkboard paint. I did another post about these shelves here, and here <------ This was before I painted them black. But better closeup pictures....
One view with the curtain closet doors shut nice and organized
A close up of the new cafe curtains, in red-checked gingham
Close-up of glitter, flocks, flower-soft, glazes. I use two of the expandable spice rack shelves found at most Target, Wally and Container stores. I like having my stuff out to see and grab easily and with the three-steps to these expandable shelves they hold a lot. Sometimes I will have a grouping of current season stamps on these shelves to get inspiration.
Close-up of glitter, flocks, flower-soft, glazes.
Close-up of my SU and Copic marker collections. My SU markers are in a 4-pocket acrylic display. These are found in most Office Depot/Staples type stores. I have had this forever and have always loved it for use in storing my markers
Loose ribbon storage. These are the Best Craft Organizer brand wound on spools and stored in trays. Each tray holds six holders and each holder holds 6-12 ribbons depending upon the width of the ribbon. I did an entire blog post about these. Check it out at an appropriately titled post called RIBBON <----- here. With tons more photos to see each tray individually. These are perfect for the bulk ribbon we crafters like to purchase in every style and color. I purchased all of my misc loose ribbon from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts if you want the best, the MOST ribbon with a great selection and if you are just getting into papercrafts PHPCs imho is the place to go. She gives you the best value for the $$. You will be able to stock up and save.
This is another office supply type tray. This is my tool, glue and just everything catchall. Its always right on top of my desk to the left. It's my grab and go tray. Again, everything easily accessible.
Cat ceramic pencil holder. I have my most used tools in here
Drawer of Ephiany craft punches and misc soldering tools
I have my sewing baskets stored on the top. The wicker looks nice. I now have room to store these in this room. I used to keep these out in my living room. I like that ALL of my craft supplies are in one area now.
One side of the *L* the red boxes come from Ikea and hold my sewing kits, and extra samples of different items
Full view
The other side of the *L* shaped wall I showed some of the close-ups earlier in the post up above. Here I store my inpirational books, paper, journals, magazines, 12x12 paper, ribbon and washi tape collections.
I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my new space and maybe have picked up some ideas for your own areas. Now if I could just find my mojo, my scissors ,),) and get back in here and CREATE one of these days. Where's my ???? ....sometimes I can't find things when they are all neat and organized. Ha!
There's a lot of pictures but I'll show you around... we began working on this room about a month ago. What started it was a plumbing problem I had to clear over half of the contents of the room to make room for the plumbers so they could put holes in the walls in order to get at the plumbing problem [whole house hot water lines re-plumbed]... we had a slab leak so they had to re-route above ground to fix it]. The redecoration was a long time coming, since the move last year in July. So for over a year. Although I had set it up initially it had long housed a jumbled collection of mismatched furniture, jerry-rigged shelving [a vintage bench used for a shelf], boxes, crates that were used just *until* and in general just too much stuff for one room without planned organization. For such a long time I've had a dream of an organized space with a place for everything and everything in its place. Ya know?
If your decorating inspiration is on a small budget then IKEA comes to the rescue. I researched other peoples spaces on the web, blog-surfing and such and decided upon two IKEA Expedite units, one with 5x5 cubicles and one with 4x4 cubicles. Mainly I wanted functional and I chose white because it goes with everything. Most of my other wood around the house is the dark espresso stain. I had three choices birch, black-brown or white. I felt the black-brown would make the room seem dark and smaller and I didn't want to go with the birch because most of my other furniture in the house is black-brown [or espresso] and I didn't want to start mixing wood colors. So I chose white because it seemed more craft-roomish?! But it also seemed brighter and cleaner. Something cheerful for my *happy place* Turns out that everything fits, everything is functional, and everything is beautiful.
AND we only got in
I didn't have one IKEA meltdown and we also had lunch while there. I always get their *Swedish meatballs* lunch, pretty yummy.
Welcome to my new space [I'll have some before and after]
First, the before, quite a lot of stuff but no where to house it [all pictures follow the text and click on any picture to enlarge]
Right wing before
Doorway view before
Dismantled before
Drywall patches from the plumbing repair 1
View from the door showing the new closet shelves and a partial of one of the Ikea Units
View of the two new Ikea units
Another after shot this time with the shelves filled
A close up of the new cafe curtains, in red-checked gingham
Closeup of flower bellies
Close-up of glitter, flocks, flower-soft, glazes. I use two of the expandable spice rack shelves found at most Target, Wally and Container stores. I like having my stuff out to see and grab easily and with the three-steps to these expandable shelves they hold a lot. Sometimes I will have a grouping of current season stamps on these shelves to get inspiration.
Close-up of glitter, flocks, flower-soft, glazes.
Close-up of my SU and Copic marker collections. My SU
Loose ribbon storage. These are the Best Craft Organizer brand wound on spools and stored in trays. Each tray holds six holders and each holder holds 6-12 ribbons depending upon the width of the ribbon. I did an entire blog post about these. Check it out at an appropriately titled post called RIBBON <----- here. With tons more photos to see each tray individually. These are perfect for the bulk ribbon we crafters like to purchase in every style and color. I purchased all of my misc loose ribbon from Pink Hedgehog Paper Crafts if you want the best, the MOST ribbon with a great selection and if you are just getting into papercrafts PHPCs imho is the place to go. She gives you the best value for the $$. You will be able to stock up and save.
This is another office supply type tray. This is my tool, glue and just everything catchall. Its always right on top of my desk to the left. It's my grab and go tray. Again, everything easily accessible.
Below are some pictures of closeups of what I have stored on my new Ikea Expedite shelves
Cat ceramic pencil holder. I have my most used tools in here
Drawer of Ephiany craft punches and misc soldering tools
I have my sewing baskets stored on the top. The wicker looks nice. I now have room to store these in this room. I used to keep these out in my living room. I like that ALL of my craft supplies are in one area now.
One side of the *L* the red boxes come from Ikea and hold my sewing kits, and extra samples of different items
Full view
The other side of the *L* shaped wall
