First, I want to you to know that am thankful to have a scrapbook room. I know that many of you would love to have a room and desperately want one. I am very blessed, and I know it! My room is in the basement, and it is a playroom/scrapbook room. The entire room is approximately 25 feet by 15 feet. My area of the room is about 15' by 12'. When we (Brent and I) put this together last summer, we spent a total of $250. We did this very inexpensivelyPlease post any questions you have in the comments. I am happy to answer any questions you have. I want to pay it forward!
This shot shows the room from the door.
This is the opposite side of the room. The door is to the right of the large brown cabinet.
Before we moved a year and a half ago, this cabinet was my scrapbook space. It was in our crowded family room, and there was not any room to spread out. Brent would get frustrated because my stuff was everywhere whenever I tried to scrapbook, and I would get frustrated because there was not any room. Now, this cabinet is mainly empty, with the exception for the flip down desk area. Zach works here with all of his supplies, and I am always grateful that I can close the desk!
This chair has been well loved! It was in my house as a child, and I had it recovered in the patchwork pattern when I graduated from college. I love to sit here and read...but with a 3 year old and 6 year old, it it rarely possible. Once I walk into my scrap room, the boys think it's time for them to scrapbook. They love to cut paper, so I have finally set up containers of supplies for them. I made the quilt several years ago and love that it is filled with happy colors!
These were shelves from when I was a kid. I painted them lime green so the room would have a splash of color. The shelves hold my red teacup planter filled with die cuts. Flowers and soft embellishments are in the grey organizer (from Home Depot). Ribbon on the spool is in the dark pink bins, and loose ribbon is in the white bin. They also have plenty of room for unused albums, books, and binders. The blank spot on the bottom left is where my sewing machine goes. Again, I had everything and just reorganized and re-purposed.
The coat rack used to be in Zach's room. I will eventually paint it lime green, but there's no rush! The lime green plastic crates are stacked because I had two. I am using the top crate to hold any new purchases and any items that need to be sorted and put away. This way I can come home from the store and put all the new items in an assigned place. I am going to make a habit of putting things that need a home in here. This way I can keep up the organization. My rolling tote sits here as well...and it's empty!
This shot of my worktable and the back wall gives you an idea of where things are.
Here is a look at the counter behind my work area. It is 8 feet long and 24 inches deep. I got the countertop 12 years ago (also when I graduated from college...my craft room was a project I'd put on hold until I was done). I bought it at a damaged freight store for $75 and it has been fabulous! You can find something similar at most home improvement stores. They frequently have countertops that are seconds or were ordered incorrectly, and you can get them at a great deal. Brent and I built the shelves beneath the counter. I wanted something deep enough to hold the We R Memory Keepers 12 by 12 albums, and they work perfectly. They have plenty of room for all of my stuff, with quite a bit of space left over. I will do a separate blog post about how we built the shelves and the center island.
I painted the shelf below the window lime green (again, I already had it). The clips that hold the layouts on the wall were from the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby. The blue baskets holding ribbon were in our nursery when the boys were babies. They fit the color scheme so I used them. The lamp is from Hobby Lobby. For info on the embellishment organizer in the center, read this post.
The penguin belonged to our dog Buster, who Drew says "is in the heaben". He put it up on the counter. At one point, Drew (age 3) thought that "the heaben" was our attic. Out of the mouths of babes!
The shelves under the counter are divided into 3 sections. The far left section holds my paper on top. Details on how I organize my paper are in this blog post. The bottom holds albums and photo storage binders. I normally keep my most recent albums upstairs in the living room. I am working on finding shelves to hold them upstairs.
The center shelves hold my cardstock on the top. The "Zach" paper holder is full of supplies he can use. The boy is not happy if he doesn't have his own stash! The paper holders on the bottom are mostly extra. One holds my niece Madelyn's supplies. The two organizers in the center are two of my favorite Creative Memories products for taking to crops. The silver bucket holds my sketch collection. I will tell you more about them soon! The pink crate holds all of my flat embellishments. The post about how I sort them is here.
Ahhh...photos. The requirement for every scrapbook is one of the hardest things for me to organize. I have not sorted my photos yet. That project is coming, and I promise to tell you all about it. For now, these assorted drawers, boxes, & bins hold photos from a few decades that need to be organized.
This is the center worktable. I will be posting details about how we built it next. I will tell you that I already owned the drawer bases, and used them as the bases for my island. I keep my tools on the island in baskets from Hobby Lobby. My tool organization info is here.
Whew! That was a long post. Please post any questions or comments here. I am happy to answer any questions you have! Thanks for taking a tour of my room!
Christie
