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I too am getting ready to get myself a new craft room set up. I've found it very helpful to look at the gallery of stamp spaces. It's under special collections.
__________________ Hi..my name is Anne... I'm a stampaholic.
SCS member #16986
Ok... this one's a no-brainer, but it made me happy! I only have a stamping cabinet, not a room, so I have to make everything fit very precisely. I just put a new shelf in this weekend so that I can store my sets sideways instead of one on top of another... they are so darn easy to pull out now that my husband made fun of me for just standing in front of the cabinet and pulling them out and putting them back in! Sidways set storage... it's a good thing!
I went to IKEA and got a kitchen rack that holds little buckets or a silverware thing- I use this to hold my scissors, paint brushes, and regular writing pens. I also found at Target a sterilite dresser, it has 4 drawers and they have actual tracks and wheels. I store all my stamps in it. It also has the ability to be combined with other items from that same line (shelves and cabinets) My husband tried to tell me we could use it in the garage when I quit stamping. I had to laugh at him..... Like that will ever happen! I love the stampn stacks that SU sells.
I went to IKEA and got a kitchen rack that holds little buckets or a silverware thing- I use this to hold my scissors, paint brushes, and regular writing pens. I also found at Target a sterilite dresser, it has 4 drawers and they have actual tracks and wheels. I store all my stamps in it. It also has the ability to be combined with other items from that same line (shelves and cabinets) My husband tried to tell me we could use it in the garage when I quit stamping. I had to laugh at him..... Like that will ever happen! I love the stampn stacks that SU sells.
Congratulations! I know you're excited! I love my stamp area! I have two or three suggestions!
1. alphabetize your stamp sets - not completely, but I have all of my A's & B's on one shelf. C's & D's on another, etc. You have to work it out a little. I have an alphabetical listing of all of my stamp sets. You can then see how many of each letter you have. (does that make sense?) (I had to do it, I have over 100 sets!)
2. get a label maker! Label every drawer or box that you can, after a while, you get to know where things are, but when you get to working it's just easier to look up and see a label telling you where all of your scissors (or whaterver) are! And, it's easier to find the things you don't use as often! Enjoy your new space!
Congratulations!!!! I know you are thrilled! I'm thrilled for you.
I love my stamp room. So far, I like everything about it. I have pegboard behind my table, and I use it to hang tools (scissors, pliers, crimper, brayer, etc). I also have open shelves - without a door, as well as cabinets with doors. I love it. I can get to what I need when I need it. My stamp room is in my gallery - www.splitcoaststampers.com/go/shell. It works really well for me. I have a lot of table space, and that works really well. My stamps are out of the way, but close by.
Congrats, again, on getting yours. Have a great time getting it all together!!! That's a huge part of the fun.
i look forward to the day that i can tell you all about my stamp room!!! as for now, i have to fit all my stuff in little metal boxes and an ottoman that i got from ikea!!! someday though, i will have my own stamp room and i can't wait. for now, i'll just keep my happy little system going!
__________________ Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.
William Wordsworth
Wa-hoo! I'm finally getting a stamping room! For those of you have already have one, I'd like to pick your brain a bit...
What do you like about the way that you've set things up?
What has worked really well with your set-up?
What would you do differently?
I appreciate any and all feedback!
Oh man ~ congratulations!!!!
I need to upload a new pic; I just did the floors in Pergo.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hodegard
What do you like about the way that you've set things up? What has worked really well with your set-up?
1. Shelves, 18" from desk surfaces to ceiling. Get a good stepstool. DH installed the support bracket directly into the wall studs (each & every stud - I have a ton of stuff on my shelves).
2. Incorporate an L-shaped desk for max. space use.
3. Label everything.
4. Melamine (fancy name for plastic) worksurface. Office Depot has great prices on workstation-style desks. Easy to remove ink/glue/etc.
5. Comfy chair - five prongs w/wheels.
6. Attractive storage units. Try Hold Everything or Exposures.
7. Lighting - good lighting. My room is 14x14 and I have four ott light bulbs in the ceiling fan light fixure, three other ott lights and another desk lamp with a color correct bulb. The bigger the room the more lighting you will need. I bought all ott products at dickblick.com.
8. I wanted/needed my room on the first floor - I have one in diapers, and do not have a live-in. Sooooo, I get to cook and do laundry all day! Having it all on one floor makes life soooo much easier!
Finally, I did a lot of research before I bought or did anything. Try this article by Becky Higgins from Creating Keepsakes scrapbook magazine:
I have found that I rearrange my space often. As I accrue more stuff, I am always rearranging to make more room in the space that I have. I have an 8 ft. table and two bookcases in our basement. I have a two drawer filing cabinet and lots of those plastic storage drawer things under the table on either side of where my chair is. I gives me plenty of workspace and everyting is still @ my fingertips! Good luck w/ your room.
__________________ Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end (unknown)
Happiness-what an unhappy person wants by changing all but themselves.
You know, as strange as this sounds, I have found that I keep my stampin' space cleaner since I have gotten a narrower worktop. It's about 16 inches deep, as opposed to the old kitchen table I was stamping on before. Now I HAVE to clean up after myself if I want to stamp, and my whole work surface is not cluttered all the time!
Gretchen in SC
Hi - I have been lurking for awhile, but your topic inspired me to register and get started - bear with me I am a newbie. I just wanted to let you know what I did for my stamping room. I found an old library card file at a county surplus auction. Many libraries now are going to computers and getting rid of the card files. It is about 5 1/2 feet high and just about as wide. It has over 60 small drawers and three pull out shelves that you can work at if you have limited space. Each drawer has a metal name plate where you can indicate what is in each drawer and find things quickly. I have found it to be my most valuable find!
I finally have a stamping room (though its mixed with the computer). Anyway, I'm JUST starting to set it up..... I definately need MORE storage and something to hold my inks in.
One thing that I LOVE about my area is my 8 1/2 x 11 storage system. I bought inexpensive plastic files and a box of hanging folders. Now each color gets its own folder.... Now that i have the markers, I'll write the colors in the correct ink color.
Hi again! I replied earlier and just got back to read more of the replies. I went to a used office furniture store and bought a really nice comfy office chair (to Sam's for a chair floor pad) and a two drawer latteral file cabinet. The file cabinet is a really heavy duty one, black. The top was scratched up ,so I went to the home improv. store and bought some peel and stick tiles that I thought would go well with it (kind of a marble look) and glued them to the top. (had to cut a couple of them to fit) It's to the side of my table (makes an L ) and makes a nice surface for my ink pads and several other things. I keep my SU and other paper in the top drawer. in hanging file folders, labeled with the colors in each group. Binders, bags, misc. in the bottom drawer.
There are a couple of things I would do different. My personal work area never gets used so I would have been better off putting a different type of cabinets in the back instead of having an open area for a chair. Instead I always work at my tables.
What I love about it is that my computer and business area are totally separated from my other work areas. That is why part of the cabinets are taller than others. I also love my magnetic display board. It's awesome and blends right in.
Of course, I wish my room was bigger but I took advantage of as much space as I could. If you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask. Good luck and congratulations on your room. My stamp room is my birthday, Christmas, anniversary and valentine's day present for the next several years but I don't mind. I just wish it stayed as clean as what it look like in the pictures.
Ok... this one's a no-brainer, but it made me happy! I only have a stamping cabinet, not a room, so I have to make everything fit very precisely. I just put a new shelf in this weekend so that I can store my sets sideways instead of one on top of another... they are so darn easy to pull out now that my husband made fun of me for just standing in front of the cabinet and pulling them out and putting them back in! Sidways set storage... it's a good thing!
:!: :!: :!:
WHY OH WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE???
my life would be so much easier!!! It takes me so long to pull out the sets and then re-stack them ('cause they always collapse when I do...).
I feel like such a dufus (sp?)
I will try and post a picture tomorrow of my "new" stamping area......moved into it last week and am still organizing the space. I took a 5' by 6' walkin closet....emptied it of clothes and junk.....painted the ceiling bright white and the walls a TinkerBell green. It is a very HAPPY space. There happened to be an existing window in this closet so it helps out with light during the day. On one side of the space my husband and I put together a computer desk of sorts from Office Depot.....after much looking around, I found one that meets my needs. Since I am not a demo, I do not need tons of space. On the other side of the wall, I put a three tier sofa table that hold tons of stuff. There are two shelves on either side that hold baskets with my stamp sets. I found some "fun" accessories at Target in the Teen bedding section, curtain, lamp, bullentin board, clock, picture frame and waste paper basket with a lime green and shades of blue theme. All in all, I LOVE my new space, and feel like a "kid in a candy store?!!
Congratulations on your new stamp room. I can relate to your excitement since I just got my new stamp room for Christmas. The biggest thing that I would change is LIGHTING. The lighting in my room is horrible. It was one of the things that I thought could wait but now I wish it had been a bigger priority.
I have the wire cubes for my paper. I LOVE them, but I wish I would have researched more on ways of putting in the 'shelves'. I went the expensvie route and then afterwards I found a way on here to do it ALOT cheaper. But, I still LOVE my shelves.
Another favorite is my ink caddy from SU. It is AWESOME!! I have it right on my workspace in perfect reach.
As someone else said, I have found that my workspace stays much cleaner since I have limited it. The more space I use, the more I spread out and tend to leave things out when I move onto the next project. (Just like I did last night) Last night I worked on my table instead of at my workspace and everything is still out needing to be cleaned up.
I also have these little drawer things in arms reach that holds all my little things. I love it. And I love my wheel and ribbon storage. I am still looking for a better way to store my ribbon but this works great for now. I bought a wheel/ribbon organizer from eBay.
Here's a link to my gallery...
I love my stamp room. I really need to post pictures, but I keep thinking I'll wait till I get it really clean. Just when it's almost there, I start something else and it's all messed up again.
One of my favorite things is my cutting station. I bought a kitchen island on wheels from Costco. It has a stainless steel top and lots of storage. It is the perfect height for my paper cutter - which is important because I am tall. Love it. Have my cardstock in hanging files in an old oak 2 drawer file cabinet that I've had forever. Each color has it's own file and is labeled. Works great. My worktable is a cheap rectangular dining room table. I put a tablecloth on it to match my decor and over that I put the heavy plastic that you can get at the fabric store. So it's pretty and very easy to clean. Under the table I have one of those plastic drawer units. It keeps stuff like embossing powders, adhesives, decorative scissors, etc. right at my fingertips.
At the moment the only thing I can think of that I would have changed is the cabinet we put over my worktable. I got an "over-the-john" cabinet at Home Depot which is really nice, but it's not very deep which limits what can be stored in it. I think if I were to do it over I would get a deeper kitchen type cabinet.
Good luck with your room! It's so exciting. When you get done and get your pictures posted be sure to come back and let us know on this thread so we don't miss them!
WHY OH WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THIS BEFORE???
my life would be so much easier!!! It takes me so long to pull out the sets and then re-stack them ('cause they always collapse when I do...).
I feel like such a dufus (sp?)
I agree... re-stacking stinks! I hated having to get out my AYC sets because they were always on the bottom. I also hated putting everything away... it is easier to put things away now... not that I always do it, but when I do, it's definitely easier!
Ok, I thought of something else (obviously I am a little too into organizing... yes, my name is Jessica and I am a perfectionist).
Anyways, I'm not sure how you're currently storing your ink pads, but if they're still in the SU set boxes or in any way stacked one on top of another, you must get a storage rack for them where they each have an individual little shelf. My dad made me a super-non-fancy set of little shelves to stick inside my before-mentioned cabinet and I think I might be in love with it. Very helpful to be able to pull out one pad at a time and not have the rest topple over.
Ok, I think I'm done now. You might think that my space is actually organized right now, but it's not... must go pick up!
I agree with the previous poster--when I made my room I didn't think about the lighting.......now I wish I had made a bigger deal of it. Trying to find the right lights now is a pain. Maybe this year I can afford to do spotlights or track lighting.
As for storage, I found the deep kitchen drawers (all my drawers are kitchen type drawers) are great for stamp sets. And the more you put in them, the easier they pull out. My counter is kitchen counter height and it's great to either stand at or use the tall chair.
Now I'd like to get some more paper storage instead of having my plastic tubs sitting on the floor. Hopefully over the next few months I can clean out the closet (I took over a spare bedroom) and put some shelves in it to store paper or something. I also have a 6' table in the middle of the room which makes it fun when a couple stamping friends come for the afternoon.
Here are photos of my room......I call it my "happy place" and DH knows I NEED to spend time up there to be a nice person!!
I bought me a labeler today. I had an old one but it needed a new tape thingy and I lost the manual. So I couldn't do any cool things that it did. I went to Staples to buy the refill. The refill cost 28. Right above that was a brand new one that does more stuff and it costs 28. It had a refill with it and a manual. It does more than my old one so I bought it. So tomorrow I will be labeling away.
Question about lighting. My upline says that if she leaves a sheet of cardstock on her worktable for the day under the light that it fades just in that day. Has anyone else had this happen? I'm wondering if the Ott lights or the Daylight lamps will keep the paper from fading?
Any feedback would be great.
__________________ Angie
Mother of three wonderful children (Brayton-17 months, Brianna- 5 & Kyle-eight) and one grown man (my DH).
Oh yeah, I got my tv put in a week or two ago. I love it. I can have the tv on something and stamp at the same time. Or flip through the galleries while I watch tv. It's great!! I have it mounted on the wall in a corner.
__________________ Angie
Mother of three wonderful children (Brayton-17 months, Brianna- 5 & Kyle-eight) and one grown man (my DH).
Stamp Rooms?
