Hobby Hideaway

[kewlyloch]

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone had ordered a Hobby Hideaway lately (or already own one for that matter). I am interested in getting on and actually used their quick order form on their web site a week and a half ago. Now one ever contacted me back to finalize my order. I tried sending a email to them as well and did not get a response. I just tried calling them and got their voicemail that says that they are out of the office, so I left a voicemail. Anyway, I just wondered if anyone has dealt with these people before.

FYI - their site is http://www.hobbyhideaway.com.

[sarah9678]

I have never heard of them but just wanted to say...Holy Cow! That is beautiful.

[sassybee]

LOL----when I saw the title of this thread, I thought you were referring to the spot where you "hide" all the hobby supplies from your dh untile he is at work! LOL

[jtax]

I haven't but checked out the site. WOW these are very cool! Beautiful work/storage area!

[kewlyloch]

Yeah, I really want to get one. When I told my DH about it, he was like Yes - order it! He wants me to get all my stuff put away!

[bethtrue]

I have one; ordered it last June and it took about 3 months for them to build it and deliver it. The company is a small family operation and so I think sometimes they are on vacation. Actually now that I think about it, they are probably at CHA since they are located in Long Beach, CA. Their customer service leaves a bit to be desired, and they tested my patience a few times but in the end the product is beautiful and I love it.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[kewlyloch]

Awsome! I am glad I finally found someone who has one! Thank you betrue! They look just wonderful and I really want one. I thought that they might be at CHA as well, so maybe that is what it is. I will keep trying to contact them though. Do you mind telling me what accessories you got on yours and what you like best, or things that you could do without? I have pretty much picked out what I want, but love to her what you think of yours.

Thanks!
Jennifer

[bethtrue]

I actually want to order more accessories - it was hard to figure out initially, what I needed, so I wanted to wait 'til i had put all my stuff into it, you know?

Currently, I have the small and large tip-out bins installed on 2 shelves on the back wall. On the right-hand side door I have the door slat rail system (with the standard 5-bins, 1 tray and 2 hooks). I didn't get anything on the left-hand side door. I also got a couple extra cabinet shelves. I would like to order more things for the door slat rail system on the right-hand side.

Keep in mind that if you order a lot of stuff for the doors, when you want to shut the doors and you have stuff out on the workspace, the stuff on the doors will run into the stuff on your workspace. So i'm glad I only have the slat-rails on the right hand side becuase this way I can shove everything over to the left side and close it up quickly & easily.

Also to close the lever-desk, you can't have anything voluminous on the back desk panel or it won't close; I didn't realize that when I first purchased it, and its a bit of a hassle. For example I have a clock radio that I leave installed and I always have to move it around. This may not make sense to you if you haven't seen the product in person, so I just wanted to warn you. There's only about maybe 3-4" of clearance when you fold up the desk top.

I got it in a rubbed-black ("antiqued") finish since its in my kitchen and matches my kitchen table.

Did you see that the website says they will be doing a price increase on Feb. 15 so be sure you get your order in by then!! They are expensive pieces of furniture as it is!!

I find that I don't have enough "drawer" space for small items like my punches, pens, adhesives, etc (things that wouldn't fit in the tip-out bins) so I ended up placing one of those small Sterilite wheely-carts under one side of the cabinet.

Hope this helps (and doesn't just confuse you further!!). :-)

Also, they say that there's no pressboard in this product although there actually is; you should confirm that when you speak to them. The guy (Jim Patton) is really nice but a bit forgetful; I think they are just really busy and short-handed sometimes.

[kewlyloch]

Thanks for the info! This actually helps a lot! I was thinking of getting the slat rail system for both doors, but now maybe I may just get one, concidering what you said about the closing the door problem. Something to think about.

When you say "Also to close the lever-desk, you can't have anything voluminous on the back desk panel or it won't close; I didn't realize that when I first purchased it, and its a bit of a hassle." Do you mean when you go to fold up the desk piece it fits really snuggly up to the back shelf? I was thinking of getting 2 shelves for the back wall, but without the tip out bins.

Did you get the side cabinets as well? I want those with mine and was thinking of getting doors for the bottom. That way I can store my stamp sets in there.

Yeah, I saw that price increase thing. That is another reason I am freaking out because I can't get ahold of them! Eekk!

[bethtrue]

Hi Jennifer - This is hard to describe - as you probably know, the desktop surface is in 2 pieces; the front piece sort of levers up and slides back into the cabinet on top of the back-piece of the desk surface. Their big selling point is that you can leave work out and just slide the desktop up & in and close the doors and "VOILA" clean and tidy. But my issue is that the distance between the front piece and the back piece of the desktop surface is minimal, so you can't keep your work out on the back-piece or the front piece won't slide closed.

But there is room for the 2 shelves; you just have to install them high enough so that the desk surface doesn't run into the shelf when sliding it closed. The desk surface comes to about 3-4" from the back wall. Does that make sense at all? :-) I'm sure I'm not describing it well ... its nothing that would have dissuaded me from buying it, i just think its a bit of a hassle when I'm wanting to "close it up" to clean up (and keep things out of the hands of my 3-year old) and I have to rearrange/shuffle things in order to get the desk to slide closed and the doors to shut. But if I was working with minimal supplies it probably would be fine. Its just that I have to drag darned-near everything out when I work. :-)

The built-in Ott Lites are really a nice feature; they're awesome. Be sure to have a spare electrical power strip ready when they come to deliver your armoire (they basically put it together in your house; the top and the bottom pieces, then install the desktop surface) - I had them build-in the power strip so that it fits neatly along the back desk surface; that way its always there when I need it.

I did not get the side cabinets due to space constraints in my kitchen; those would be great for stamp sets. That is my current problem, with my armoire now i have NO SPACE for my stamp sets (I have about 75 SU! sets) so those have to go elsewhere.

What else? Guess that's about it. Hope you can get going with yours; at the time I ordered (at Scrapbook Expo in San Diego last year) they told me it would be 10-12 weeks 'til they would build it; and then it took probably another month 'til we could arrange a delivery time. So be ready to be patient!! I was so anxious it drove me crazy.

[soupysp]

I just spoke to them they are friends of mine. They have had e-mail and message problems with some new equipment they installed. They have another number in case you can't get through. 562-234-4245. They will be there all week.

[kewlyloch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by soupysp

I just spoke to them they are friends of mine. They have had e-mail and message problems with some new equipment they installed. They have another number in case you can't get through. 562-234-4245. They will be there all week.

Thank you so much for the number!! I will be calling them shortly! :mrgreen:

[kewlyloch]

Thanks for all the info bethtrue!! This helps a lot. Thanks to the other poster who knows these guys I will be calling them today and getting my order in! Yea! I am so excited!! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[kewlyloch]

Hi guys. Just wanted to let you know that I was able to get through and placed my order! Yea! I also lucked out. They had an extra oak one that they had left over from Christmas (which is what I wanted) so they just need to finish it up for me and I can have it in about a month! :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[ppofct]

if you look in thier web site and customer gallery, that is my armoire and matching credenza. The credenza houses my stamps

[ppofct]

if you look in thier web site and customer gallery, that is my armoire and matching credenza at the very bottom. The credenza houses my stamps

[kewlyloch]

That is cool. I am getting the side cabinets with doors on the bottom for stamp storage. I like the credenza idea though. I just don't have room for that. It would be nice though!

[ppofct]

i know what you mean, I had to have them in separate rooms. So I asked to make it no taller than my couch, because it sits behind it - like a sofa table. . My armoire is in my family room.

[stampin'momma]

Wow I didn't know anyone actually bought those things. I saw it and fell in love last year at the scrapbook convention. I took the flyer home to my dad and voila nearly a year later he built one to my spec's. They are a gorgeous and wonderful piece of furniture. ENJOY!!! Check out my gallery for pic's of mine. It is funny the other comments about them installing it in your house. It was like that with my dad. He was here for hours. My DH said we have to make sure when we sell our house they know it doesn't go with the house it comes with me. I thought they were too expensive but my dad spent nearly $1300.00 on materials alone!!! He said he'd make another one for a friend for$4500.00. He is also making me two sets of 12 x 12 filing cabinets. I'll post pic's of those soon.

[kewlyloch]

Wow, your dad is awsome. With all the accessories and side cabinets, mine is going to cost a little over $4,000, so the cost seems to be about the same as your dad is making them for. But, still, that is awsome that he made one just for you and does such great work!!

[bethtrue]

Wow - Stampin Momma - your dad is great!! :-D When I tried to shop around and compare costs for one of these units, I felt like the Hobby Hideaway actually came in fairly comparable, price-wise, once I had all the accessories, plus delivery etc. It is very high quality; built to last. But it is an expensive piece of functional furniture, that's for sure!

So exciting to hear from other people who have one of these... up until now I had never known anyone else. But I know they're out there from browsing the customer gallery of photos on their webpage. They told me to submit a picture of my unit once I got it all "loaded up" but so far its just been too messy and unorganized for me to get around to it. Some day.....
:p

[kewlyloch]

Hi Ladies. I finally got my Hobby Hideaway and it is all set up and ready to go. I have posted some pictures in my gallery: kewlyloch's Gallery at Splitcoaststampers. I love it! It is awsome!

[SnazzyStamper]

I must have gotten my Hobby Hideaway just before you....but just got myself organized. I should also take a picture of my unit with all the doors open now that it is full.

I'm pasting a link to my gallery. Not sure if that's the way to do it.

SnazzyStamper's Gallery at Splitcoaststampers

Anyway, I eventually got slat rail on both doors and later put in some other goodies. I need to take more pictures tomorrow during the daylight.

I love having my primary accessories withing arms reach. Everything goes back as soon as I'm done, rather than piling up on the table. I used to just dig myself out of the mess I made once a month or even less. Now I keep a bin for waste and another for recycle and manage to keep myself "clean" enough to shut the doors when I'm done. The product is fabulous and I'm ordering a matching piece for hanging files of 12x12 and 8.5x11. This keeps my hobby out of the mainstream of little fingers, but keeps me near the action of my family. I can't say enough great things!

My DH actually did the assembly. I purchased it in Cherry with doors to cover everything. I knew I would need every inch of space and then some since I was moving out of an entire bedroom. But amazingly, everything fit it the unit! I'd just like to move the paper out to leave some room for future toys!

[Cyn in WA]

what a beautiful piece of furniture. If only....

[kewlyloch]

Wow, SnazzyStamper, your's looks just as full as mine! Don't you just love it? I am so pleased with mine and the only thing I need now is more time to spending working at it!

[YouInkIt]

WOW! I had seen this website a while ago but wasn't quite sure if all my stuff would really fit in there - but the pictures you guys have posted has convinced me! I really would like to get one of these but right now we are renting and I would hate to have to move that. I will look into when we *eventually* buy a home of our own. Right now I am really lucky as I kinda get a whole room to myself - it is techincally not just my stamp room but the office as weel. It is probably 3/4 stamping and 1/4 office stuff - but don't tell my hubby, I always say that it is 50/50! ;)

[soupysp]

As a customer myself, living fairly close to their shop allowed me the luxury of seeing first hand the quality of their workmanship during construction of my armoire. We have since become friends mainly due to their kindness and my total love of their product-MY ARMOIRE! It really grows on you-I keep finding new ways to store, organize, and most important-have fun. I'll never be sorry I got mine and I know my daughter will love it long after I'm gone.