This is my first time sharing my craft/scrap space! I've been wanting to share my space because I love it, but it is still just an amateur, unfinished basement workspace - definitely not going to be in Martha Stewart Living haha! I wanted to share how my husband made this a functional space with plenty of light and really, I love it and couldn't have asked for more!! So let's dive right in!
First is a picture of the space from the basement stairs, so I come down the stairs and my space is to the left. You can see I get a small amount of daylight from that window in left, and in the spring/summer, it opens up and lets a small breeze in - it's small but I'll take what I can get!
Another picture below to show the space - the main thing is you can see I have this tiered L-shaped shelving laying on its side (with a black cube sitting on one of the tiers so the shape looks a little strange) but basically I keep stuff on the lower 2 levels that I don't need to reach for often, since I would have to get up and walk around it. I keep things like spray mists, some older albums, and other nick-knacks.
The picture below shows the view from in front of the laundry area. You can see it is pretty well lit with the overhead lights my husband installed (hint: they plug in so he didn't need to mess with the electrical), but more about that later.
Below is the "entrance" into my space hehe. You can see I have a television set up, however I usually don't have it on anymore because I find it too distracting while I am scrapping (unless it's the 10 millionth replay of A Few Good Men, a movie I could watch a million times over and not get sick of, nor do I have to look at the screen to know what's going on haha). I also have an electronic typewriter my husband picked up at Staples for sale for $34 once. I just need it sometimes, so it's nice that we didn't pay an arm and a leg for it!
Pictured below is what you see when you glance to the right towards my table/workspace. I bought that Fiskars Procision trimmer for 60% off on Black Friday at JoAnn's! It was a score and now I get clean cuts every time and don't have to worry about the blade getting dull!
OK, so step into my space and here's a look at my desk. This used to be my office desk when my office and scrap space were shared upstairs in the now nursery. I like it for the extra tabletop space for my Silhouette, stamping space, and printer, but I don't ever sit there (though sometimes Chris comes down and sets up a chair there to play on his iPad while I scrap so we can "hang out" together)!
A view "down" my desktop... I always keep the Silhouette mat right there so I can quickly load it up and make a quick cut using my laptop!
Here's where I might do some quick painting (my brush script practice is pictured below), stamp/embossing, or anything else that might get a little messier.
This plastic container has my mess of ink pads and embossing powder and general stamp stuff for easy access.
I try to keep my stamps organized in these stamp cases and grab them as I need them.
Below is my newest printer, the Epson XP-810 and some recent print outs - I love this printer!! I can do all sorts of sizes and fun things and the quality is awesome!
This part is a little embarassing... these are my paper carts! And not even all my paper is in them... the one on the left I got from Sam's Club a couple years ago, and the one on the right is the same brand that my husband found on Amazon after we couldn't find it at Sam's Club anymore. I haven't filled the one on the right... yet. I also have some files of letter stickers and other random paper above the one on the left, and so far keep the photo paper for my printer on top of the other.
You can see how far back these papers go - Lawn Party from Studio Calico's May 2011 kit is where we begin... anything older than this is on the other side of the basement... yes I have WAY more scrapbooking supplies than shown...
Below you can see a picture of the other side of my table and scrap space - mainly those beautiful shelves we bought (um, we got the BEST deal ever - those 2 shelves PLUS the one in front of my table, which are heavy duty and not cheap-feeling at all, all for under $300 from Markson's furniture here in Rochester, INCLUDING assembly and delivery!!)... I cannot stress how much we lucked out with those shelves, especially since the ones for my albums were the only ones we found to be 15" deep and so could fit my albums quite nicely. Oh and you can also see the basement stairs and part of the basement from this view - lovely, right?
I keep my December Daily goodies from the past 2 years up top, some embellishments and sewing stuff in the middle and other embellishments and collections below. Also not pictured on the bottom shelf I have some older stamps and old Creative Memories cutting system.
The right bookcase holds most of my albums! I wish we had room for this upstairs, but for now it is here. I have been good about taking out Natalie's first few months album to show people when they visit her though. I am determined not to let these albums just sit on a shelf and rot for no reason!
OK here's a look at my workspace and what it typically looks like IN BETWEEN projects. I always have my laptop next to me with inspiration, my cutting mat and ruler, my paper trimmer, the latest Studio Calico kit or collection I've purchased right in front, a bottle of water because I'm a nursing mama and always thirsty, my baby monitor to listen for my baby waking up since that's the only time I scrap, and my phone, which I usually have turned onto the Paperclipping Roundtable podcast - the scrapbooking audio show! It's so fun to listen to that while I work - I often just put it on repeat till I am done :)
Oh and you can also see how I am easily able to do laundry as I'm working too haha!
OK, so my idea for having this big shelving unit on its side in front of my work table is that first, I really wanted to be facing "out" and not have to sit at my desk and face the wall to work. If I was going to be in the basement, I wanted to face out and not feel so enclosed! The second thing is that I didn't want to feel too exposed though, and I wanted the full table for just a workspace but still needed quick access to supplies. I knew I wanted something like this and ended up finding the perfect solution with this bookcase! So here's a look at how I filled in the "top" shelf with things I reach for often.
This (below) dark cube thing was not part of the shelving, it just happened to fit perfectly there. I bought it at Target awhile back (but haven't seen it there since). It has trays that are just perfect for more easy-to-grab embellishments! I also keep my Martha Stewart Scoreboard on top along with some adhesive dots.
Here's my not-so-sophisticated washi storage, but works for me! I don't have as many as some people, so this really is perfect for me.
Lots of wood veneer here, so in order to be able to pull out some at a time, I folded black paper into little origami boxes to further separate them!
Here are lots of buttons, brads, and badges! I did more origami boxes to separate these.
Below is another look at my workspace - you can see I need a small space heater sometimes for my feet, but luckily we found this thick area carpet for fairly cheap as well - it's super thick, fluffy, and keeps the floor nice and warm!
Below is a view of my table from the other side. Also, we bought some "cheap" curtains and curtain rods to hide the ugly basement walls on the 2 sides behind my desk. I think we got like 4 panels of the green and 2 or 3 panels of the cream. When I am in this space I really don't feel like I am in the basement except when I look out beyond my space around me, but it is very functional and feels very warm.
LIGHTING: This was the most important part for me when planning and creating this space! I told Chris, I cannot work in a dark basement. I need LOTS of light! He bought those overhead lights from Lowe's. They plug in, so he ran those cords along the ceiling over to the outlets. The best part is that he then stapled a bunch of that lightweight, black material to hide the ugly basement ceiling in my area too. Along with the torch lamp and these very bright overhead lights, I am able to work around the clock and see what I am doing very clearly! In fact, my projects photograph fairly well down there when in a crunch too!
Thank you for visiting my amateur scrapspace! I always find it interesting to see where others work, so please link up your space in the comments too if you have yours posted!
