As a crafter I have ferreted out spaces to do my projects wherever I could over the years. After getting into our first home twenty-five years ago I started amassing more craft supplies when I went from sewing and other crafts to discovering scrapbooking! Some of you may relate to this!
Once you got into it you had to keep adding papers, stickers, die-cuts, decorative scissors, paper trimmers, tape runners, you name it! So much stuff! This led me from a box of stuff in a closet to moving up to purchasing a storage cabinet. By this point I had gotten into things deep. I had signed up as a demonstrator for Stampin’ Up! Of course that meant I HAD to have all the goodies for not only me, but things to demo at my workshops.
From this phase, I ended up setting up shop at one end of my large laundry room. One long table, a filing cabinet and use of the upper cabinets in the room. This was my little happy place until we moved into a bigger home and I had a half the guest room!
By this point I was no longer with SU! but was working for a friend of mine at her scrapbook store. This was a dangerous place! So many amazing goodies, you bet I shopped as I put away new merchandise! I picked up a slat wall from a local scrapbook store that closed during the recession. This went into my craft space as you can see in the picture.
In 2018 we decided to move into our shop and tear down our old mobile home to build a new house. I had to box all my craft supplies and just kept out a few things to keep my sanity. I was able to add extra lighting in my new room and chose a fantastic frost blue color for my happy place. My room overlooked our view of the Oregon coast mountain range. Sunsets were fantastic out my window! I could also look out and see my chicken coop with my hens pecking around.
While we were building I spent my free time online perusing craft room organization groups like Jennifer Maker’s. I inherited a black IKEA Hemnes dresser from my dad’s estate when he passed, that I now use to put my craft items in. I figured out IKEA had some of the best furniture for organizing a craft room and I could match it with my dresser. I also bought the glass to go on top of my dresser to stick my favorite photos and cards under for inspiration.
One of my first purchases was the Kallax unit with 8 squares, followed by 6 of the paper storage cubes from Stampin-N-Storage and their ink pad, reinker & marker holder. I love seeing my paper and other goodies! I stalked the FB marketplace forever and ran across a lady selling a 16-cube Kallax with drawer and door inserts and scored it for $50! Well over $400 value! I was also able to thrift another Kallax unit I turned on end to put my canvases in. To complete my room I also purchased shelves from IKEA for the closet and a desk. My sister gave me her old pub table and I love that I can stand or sit to craft at it!
Once I finally got all settled in and semi-organized we decided to relocate from Oregon to Alaska this past August. I was so sad to say goodbye to my room that I loved so much! I learned some things in this room that I will know for my future space wherever that ends up being. I did some heavy purging as I packed things up for the the journey north. I’ll admit still kept way more than I needed, as evidenced by the dozens of boxes labeled craft room!
Update: August-December 2021- Since arriving in Alaska I’ve managed to etch out a few little spaces to craft in while in our temporary homes. In our first apartment it was the dining table and our next temp house I took over the bonus room to set up my stamping and painting area. I am so glad to have had this outlet. You don’t have to have an extravagant room to craft in, yeah, it’s nice to have a designated area and access to all your goodies, but just simplifying hasn’t been bad either. It’s the process of crafting that brings me joy as I’m sure it does for you too!
Here’s to the evolution of our craft rooms/spaces, ever changing but loved and needed in whatever form they are in!
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