Stamping Desk - plastic vs wood
 

I can't stand it anymore! I'm taking over a corner of the living room - the heck with the traditional living room being always neat and unused - I need "me space".

My question is: I see in several pictures the white folding tables like I've seen at Sams - are these sturdy? I was afraid they might have the "give" some folding tables have. (I love eyelets so the table has to be able to take a little pounding.) I wondered it they would be best or if I should check out yard sales for a small wooden table to use.

I love the idea of the flip out storage bins from Home Depot for use with punches - much better than my storage of a punch here and a punch there!

Thanks for your advice.

Although I like the feel of a wood desk, my Sam's Club tables work great too. For eyelets, I just use a wooden cutting board underneath my eyelet mat and it works GREAT! The table does wiggle a little bit, but that's not a problem unless you have other people working at it with you.

Happy stamping in your "new" space!

Kelly

I have plastic and I like how easy it is to clean. It's really sturdy. But, the plastic is textured. I always stamp on either a foam stamping pad (i think by rubber stampede) or a mouse pad.

Our scrapping group works at the plastic folding tables and they are wonderful for everything except setting eyelets. We just do those at a separate nearby countertop. Good excuse to get up and get a stretch now and then. Have a wooden table at home and prefer it for a permanent set up.

I have a wooden TV dinner table I use for eyelets, right next to my stamping cardtable. Since my surface for stamping is soft I use an old hardback picture book under scrap paper for stamping.

YES!
 

Oh yes, I am so into this thread!!!
I have a very large, rectangular living room. The tv, fireplace, and many windows are all in this room. Even though I had a separate stamping room, I would still take things into the living room to stamp. SOOOOOOOO....I turned one section of the living room into another stamping room! WOOHOO! I bought 2 six foot Lifetime tables at Sam's, put them in an L shape, added a chrome roller cart from Sam's, and now I have a GREAT stamping space! I have literally made more cards in the last 3 weeks since I did this, than I have made in 3 years!!!! It's been wonderful. (I too struggled with the beautiful house thing, "messing" up the living room atmosphere, etc.; but hey, it's MY house so I just DID it!)
I agree that for setting eyelets, use a small cutting board--I use bamboo--and it's perfect. There is no problem with the plastic tables, I LOVE them! (have 2 more in my "real" stamping room).
GO FOR IT! And have fun...you will be glad you did!
~~~HUGS~~~
Diane

Another consideration with plastic (and I love my plastic table) is that it WILL melt if you get it too hot. So while you're picking up a nice wooden cutting board for pounding eyelets...grab a glass one for heat-setting things that take a while, like shrink plastic and tile coasters. And yes, that is the voice of experience. (I still can't believe I did that....)

Kate

If you can get wood, I would rather use that, then you do not need to make sure you have something else to work on. If it is any kind of table with a leaf, you'll then need to be aware of stamping on the cracks. But, if you can not find a resonable wood table, plastic is lookin' good!

My plastic table works great, however make sure that your husband does not use it in the garage while building anything. My husband is currently building me bookcases, and while using his saw he accidentally cut into it and now I have a table with a saw blade mark going all the way across the end of it. We are probably goign to have to sand it down and then I am hoping CE will work to glue it back together:-)

I have 3 tables, one is the textured plastic top and the other two are the brown laminate top. I can't stamp on the plastic one. It has too much give in the surface and makes it difficult to get a good image. Just my 2 cents:)

My husband did the same thing LOL! He didn't go all the way across, just all the way through to the bottom.

I have two 6ft plastic heavy duty, folding tables and I love them. They are textured, but I stamp on top of a sturdy plastic mat, and no problems.

If I were working in a public space, I'd go for wood just for a more "livable" look... but in my studio, my DH installed laminate counters along two walls. They're much sturdier than a folding plastic table (which I used to have) and clean up easily... very important for a mess factory like me! :) You could probably install a length of countertop and some base cabinets for your work area. Looks good and it's nice to have closed storage underneath. (My counters don't have cabinets underneath... I have open wire cubes for storage instead.)

Just my $0.02...

Thank you all for your advice. I'm going to look around yard sales this weekend for small table but it I don't find one very very cheap then Sam's tables it is.

The reminder about the plastic melting sounds exactly like something I would do! I need to get board to use with eyelets anyway - my dinning room table has these holes where I forgot to use padding - thank goodness the placemat covers them!

I melted a cutting mat that way! Now I use a clip board with the heat gun- keeps my fingers away nicely too.

I had exactly the same problem with my plastic table...much too much "give" to it! I use an old butcher block table now and use the plastic table for other things. I suppose a wooden cutting board placed on a plastic table would make a more solid stamping surface, though.

I got really luck. My DH called about a year ago to tell me the office across the street from him was throwing away the office desks to make cubicile spaces! I got my butt down there in a hurry to grab one.

Okay- I'm a fanatic about keeping everything in its place. I love plastic tables but let me suggest something that I used when living in a small townhouse...a computer amoire. Everything stays inside and you can close and lock up your stuff if needed. It also acts as a nice piece of furniture.

I also know someone who keeps stampin stuff in a roll top wood desk. A beautious piece of furniture that doubles as her crafty space.

Have fun with whatever you do!

Melissa

I have one white plastic table and one ugly brown folding table. The brown table is much firmer to stamp on. I just bought the second one in white because it was light enough to carry home in the car by myself.

Next time I will buy it through a big box office supply store that delivers free over $50.