Drawers 4

These drawers are the closest to my "cockpit". I use this stuff all of the time so I keep it near so I don't have to keep jumping up to grab something, but it is contained so it doesn't make my room look cluttered.
The space we have our office/craft room was supposed to be the dining room it doesn't have any doors. It's one of the first things you can see coming in the front door and you can see it from the kitchen as well. It was very important to me that it look presentable and match the kitchen as close as I could. I think it turned out pretty good for a couple of green horns! So that is it, I hope you enjoyed the tour! It almost makes me want to go mess it up now!

Drawers 3

I love doo dads, can you tell? I'm so happy I saved all the baby food containers from when the girls were little, they work perfectly for my doo dads! My drawers

Drawers 2

Oh I love my Art Bin containers! I love the bags of buttons but I have to keep the colors together...I know, I'm a little crazy. The bottom deep drawer is filled with vintage ephemera.

Drawers 1

It was very important to me to have as many drawers as we could get in the space. I have a lot of stuff! I love the drawer dividers in the bottom deep drawers to hold all my product so I can file through. The purple fabric boxes work great to store glitters, mists etc...
Imagine an empty drawer, I'm sure it won't be empty long!

Craft Closet 2

This wardrobe was only going to have crafty things in it, but scrapbooking overlapped...surprise! I'm still tweaking this one to work better for me. We designed this space using the deep wardrobes to maximize storage. Everything in the wardrobes are stacked two deep.

Craft Closet 1

This IKEA wardrobe holds a ton! The pull out drawers hold my collection of Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon and anything else new that I should be making samples with. The other shelves are filled with ribbon, buttons, punches, stamps etc...

Craft Closet

Since I am terribly afraid of basements we built our house without one, which gave me this wonderful space under the stairs for a closet! I can thank my older brothers for that fear! I try to keep it organized, but I have to admit if I need to stash things quick they do end up in here. I store all of my cardstock and my paper "collection" that I just hoard in here along with other crafty items.

Ron's Space

This is Ron's space. I'm ready to boot him out, he is messy! I cleaned it up for the photo! Just imagine what I could do with that spot...

Inside Scoop 12

This crazy space between the windows has been a challenge as well. I would like to get rid of my sewing machine cabinet and have Ron build an island on casters with the cabinets. It would give my Eclipse a permanent home, and more storage for my sewing machine and accessories!

Inside Scoop 11

This space is under "the cockpit". This will change as I find just the right pieces to use under there. Currently the wooden boxes from IKEA hold supplies for Tim Holtz's 12 tags. The blue cart holds sorted paper scraps. My computer tower, mouse and keyboard are under there as well. I use that computer just for my photos, so it's not used a lot.

Inside Scoop 10

This is what I call "the cockpit"! Don't bother me while I'm there! Lol! The hanging baskets and buckets are from IKEA. My Copic marker collection has now out grown my buckets so I'm going to have to rethink that idea. I love having all my different adhesives I use all the time right in front of me. The other basket has tools that I use all the time, such as the Tiny Attacher, tissue tape, baby powder and corner rounder. The big scissor hanger is from Hobby Lobby. I NEVER work without my craft mat, it is a lifesaver. My under cabinet lighting, also from Ikea, is just fabulous. I have three different sets and I can turn them on individually.

Inside Scoop 9

More of my crazy little corner. We mounted the tv/computer monitor on the wall so I would have more desk space. I love my pen carousel housing my Distress markers, tools and other necessities. I love having my stickles hanging right where I can grab them.

Inside Scoop 8? oops I lost count!

This was our crazy little corner that kept me frozen for many months on the planning, I think we worked it out better than I expected.

Inside Scoop 7

My storage totes by Tim Holtz, love them! I keep all my Tim trinkets in the small one on the top shelf with a portion of his stamps. The next shelf down has a bunch of inks and potions of his. the bottom shelf has my Scorit, and vintage ephemera in the drawers.

Inside Scoop 6

Oh man, another embarrassing photo! This is just part of my ribbon stash, the other is hidden in the cupboard. The metal baskets are a splurge from Bachmans, I just had to have them. The middle shelf are my ribbon purses, which I love so I can grab them and go off to a crop.

Inside Scoop 5

WHAT?! More Prima flowers?! This is embarrassing! My skinny cabinet has envelopes, bags, pre made cards, my vintage ric rac, seam binding, and hem tape.

Inside Scoop 4

More Prima flowers, big surprise! The jar on the right side of the picture houses my tape measure collection...it's almost full. What is wrong with me?! The other jars house vintage and new things too pretty to put away. Now I've been collecting old jars...just in case I need them!

Inside Scoop 3

Some of my vintage lace and Prima flowers. The upper two shelves in this cupboard are pretty much free for fabric as well!

Inside Scoop 3

I had to have a little eye candy on my workspace, I need to weed it out though it's feeling junky to me. I keep my Big Shot at the ready at all times. When I'm working I always use it. I really don't know what I ever did without it to be honest! The little old piece of paper hanging up on the left I found in a bag of my Mom's old recipes at Christmas time. It is a charge slip from The Pine City Mercantile from the late 1950's to early 1960's. The dates on them are very close to my youngest two daughter's birth dates. In case you didn't know, my building originally was The Pine City Mercantile Co. How super cool is that?! The button magnets I made using Jenni Bowlin buttons.

The Inside Scoop 2

The lower part of the "tower" as I call it. This is where I keep all my Sizzix dies (I am embarrassed by how many new ones I have that I haven't even opened yet...no time is my excuse.), Spellbinders and my little 4x6 printer. My Spellbinder Nestabilites are in the cream box on the top right. I think I found the storage idea on Pinterest, and it is awesome! I found the DVD box at Office Max, it has mini hanging files in it. I put my nesties on a magnet and hung them in. I'll take a picture of the inside later so you can see what it is.

The Inside Scoop

This upper cabinet is awaiting mini fabric bolts of my fabric stash! I really struggled on the cabinet arrangement but I felt I needed extra storage on the top somewhere along the wall so I thought next to the window would give me more counter space, so Ron stacked two cabinets on top of each other and rested them on top of the counter.

A Long Time Coming

Ok folks here it is, the office redo! I had a request this week to update my blog...I wouldn't want to let her down! :) In real life I probably had this done in February, I'm hanging my head in shame. I still have some work to do, but it is about 95% done. I still want to use some of my upper shelves for my beautiful fabrics that I love so much, and I need to arrange my old stickers but other than that I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I still have to hunt things down since it is so organized. lol! Make sure to check out my other posts to see inside the cabinets and drawers!

Pinch Me!

Ron Kept texting me pictures of the progress while I was at work. I know he was trying to be helpful but all it did was make me want to run home! It's so exciting I sometimes have to pinch myself.

We have lived in our house 4+ years and this is the first it has really started to feel like home. Our old house held so many memories good and sad, but that is the house that felt like home. That was the house Ron built with his Dad...it was the house we lived in when we got married...it was the house Savannah grew into a beautiful woman...it was the house we lost two babies in...it was the house we brought Lauren and Ella home to ...it was the house that our parents came to for MANY birthdays and holidays...it was the house we lived in when my Dad died...it was the house that felt warm and cozy, like a great big hug when you walked in. I can't wait for this house to feel like that.

Seeing Progress!

Thank goodness we did this redo while it was nice out. Who knew January in Minnesota would be in the mid 40's?! What a load of cardboard and instruction sheets we had to bring to the recycle. Next trip to Ikea will be for doors and shelves for the wardrobe.

I have been searching for just the right storage and driving myself crazy in the process! You would think I would have access to awesome scrapbook storage...no not really. I even shopped the big box stores and I'm still not satisfied. I plan on taking a trip to Hobby Lobby yet. I'm trying to do the organizing as cheap as possible to keep the remaining costs to a minimum. I did have to have a few splurges on some baskets from Bachman's! I'll know what more I'll need as I'm moving in...I want to move in now!

We Emptied the Room!

On Monday January 2nd we went to Ikea with truck and trailer! We got home around 3:00 and Ron thought he was going to put his feet up and take a little nap. Oh no such thing as a nap when there is work to do. We tore the Christmas tree down in record time and I was lugging out my scrapbooking toys in no time!

Craft Room/Office Redo!

First of all let me just say I am embarrassed I haven't blogged in so long! Wow!

Currently we are living in a mess while Ron (with my careful supervision, lol!) transforms our craft room/office. When we had the house built we knew the formal dining room would be a craft room/office. Knowing that one would think I would have thought out the outlets a little better but...

The space is 12'x13' with 9' ceilings I have two door ways and two very low windows, both sounded like such a great ideas until I stared designing the space! Get this I didn't want doors either so the space would be open and everyone could come and go while I worked, Ha! Now I wish I had deadbolts for a little peace and quiet!

It has taken me four years to come up with this design after a lot of research. I really tried hard to move Ron's office out of my space but I let him stay in a very small corner, lol! We have talked, driven a lot of miles, drawn, argued, cried, laughed and had a lot of aha moments along the way. It has been a fun and exciting journey...I can't wait to finish!

I will be posting along the way and when I have all the drawers, cabinets and wardrobes organized I will show you the insides too! I will also let you know what and where things came from in case you see something you might need!

So here are the before pics ... ps. this was super clean I had Ron move 4 very large tubs out before this picture was taken!