Scrapbook Studio - Around the Room - Part 2

Hello!  Welcome to Part 2 of this 10 Part Series on where I create and how I keep it organized.  Today I am going to take you around the room to get you acquainted with the space as it is today.

Entering the room the main work area is the main hub. This set up gives me the ability to scrap with 2 friends by just moving the sewing machine.  I recently moved the printer to the counter space to give me more space on the desk for tools and supplies I use all the time and to preserve maximum work space.  My main work area is on the right side of the desk, which maximizes my ability to see my different creative options, as well as reach behind me to the closet and paper storage.

The 2 main desks have wood tops over 2 bases with both sides extended to the window with an additional base with a half size table top.  This furniture design worked well when I decided to move the desks to the center of the room. I like the flexibility I have with this furniture.  I turned the end folding table into my permanent sewing station (not that I have started sewing regularly. I am still a bit intimidated, but eventually I will tackle that thing).

Pottery Barn has a line of desks called Bedford very similar to the ones I have, but I couldn't afford those.  After a lot of searching I found something very similar from my very favorite store, Target. They still carry the line it is called Coastline.  What I loved about both of these is that they are component pieces.  So I was able to select the pieces I needed to design the room the way I wanted.  

I have seen the Pottery Barn desks in person and I am satisfied the quality of the Target desk is just is good.  The only real difference (other than price) is that the handles were different and the Pottery Barn brand had label holders on the drawers.  All of the Target pieces came put together, so we just had to unpack them from the boxes, set them in place, place the tops over the bases and install the handles.

Someday I think I may look at changing the desks to a a counter hight configuration. I think I may like that  better for creating, but I am more than happy to continue working in the space as it is.

Next, a closer look at the shelving and counter space on the left side of the room.

By moving the workspace in the middle I freed up the wall which is about 15 feet long.  I was able to fit 3 of the IKEA Expedit shelves.  I wanted counter space, for my frequently used tools, so I chose the 2 by 4 cube configurations and then utilized the wall space for vertical storage.  

These shelving units are inexpensive, easy to assemble and a good size for various scrapbook and craft items.  There are several configurations possible and at least 4 finishes for most styles. They could be useful for many different scrapbook spaces, regardless of your room size.

Next, from the corner to the left of the door looking to the back of the room:

I do have a large window in this room, but the room is in the basement. I only get great natural light in the late morning hours.  I have incorporated overhead lighting in my ceiling fan as well as 2 floor lamps and an Ott Lite which can usually be found on sale at any of the big box craft stores.  I got mine several years ago during a 40% off sale.  That lamp is my lifesaver most hours of the day.

While I didn't get the desks from Pottery Barn I did splurge on a few desk/office pieces from the Bedford collection.  These were:

The 2 drawer paper organizer and paper tray (not available), both on top of the shelves holding paper (above picture).  On my desk I use the caddy with 2 long and 3 short vertical slots (seen in first picture).

I also bought a few other pieces from Pottery Barn that are not available any longer (at least not online), including the shelves to the right of the window, a wall mounted DVD holder (seen in the second picture above, over the counter space) and the wall mounted craft room organizer (below the white board to the left of the window).  I will talk about how I use these in later posts.

The closet and paper shelves are behind my main work area.  In this picture the door is to the right and window to the left.

Just giving you a peek in the closet here.  There are all kinds of storage ideas in there that I will share in a later post.

Next, looking back at the door.

One of the things I love about my room being in the basement, is that I don't always have to clean up mid project.  My kids are little and are not down in the basement unsupervised and rarely do visitors come down.  Also, the room is at the end of the hall, so even if someone were to come down we could shut the door and no one would know what kind of mess I have going on.

As I mentioned yesterday, I added an additional IKEA Expedit shelving unit in January. I am much happier with this configuration as it allows much better storage space options.  I upgraded my Cricut last year to the Expression, so I moved it to the desk to make it more accessible and usable.

Next,  looking back in the corner to the right of the doorway.  

My "thinking" chair has been with me for about 20 years now.  I bought it at what was then called STOR, it was IKEA before we had ever heard of IKEA.  The chair is black but it looked out of place in the room, so I found a pink chenille blanket to cover it and some pillows. My dog, Marti loves to come sleep in that chair while I am creating.

The 2nd sewing machine is my "Target bargain basement" machine.  I figured I would keep that for sewing on my layouts and use the better machine for fabric.  Although, I have been using the better machine for both, so I may part ways with this one.

Tomorrow I hope you will join me for Part 3 - The Desk and What is at My Fingertips (most used tools). We will start getting into the details of how I use my space.