Hi Everyone! I'm back from a week break after whipping my scraproom into shape.

The Work Done

To get this room in order, it's been almost a year long journey. This time last year the room was a complete mess with odds and ends that me and my partner had collected over the 4 years since we lived here.

It was home to some spiders (ick!), a pile of stuffed animals where our cat slept (she also does not like other animals, go figure), a bed that someone had rescued from the tip, and a graveyard of old furniture and computers. It smelled musty and was a bit abandoned.

It is now the home of my scrapbooking/art supplies and my office. It's the place where I spend most of my time and now feels warm and inviting. Currently it smells of Vanilla. :)

Why did it take so long? It's rather hard to live your life in the 3 hours a day after you get home. So many other things just get in the way. Laundry, cleaning, kids (furbabies or human) - sometimes things just have to take a back seat. I'd imagine that most of everyone doesn't have all their stamps labeled and ready at a moment's notice - and neither did I until now.

The room itself was in good condition - eventually I will need to get new curtains.

The Furniture

I had drooled over pictures of other craft rooms for quite a while before I decided to actually go out and purchase furniture - and even longer before I took the plunge of purchasing. 

I liked other people's rooms that had Ikea furniture - it seemed clean - tidy, and easy to assemble. However, in New Zealand we don't have Ikea. I was rather out of luck.

However, we do have companies who like to copy Ikea and try to make a huge profit at the same time. I purchased ALL of these items for %50 by waiting for sales and saving my money in between sales times.

Pre-existing furniture I had were plastic storage drawers, two desks, one a drafting desk and chair, and the other a vintage desk from the previous home owners.

I would reccomend if you are wanting new furniture that you choose the method I used. Set aside X$ of dollars for furniture every paycheck, and jump on a sale when you see it. Careful planning of what items you truly want will save you from spending too much at the wrong time.

H&O White Cubby x2 - 1 assembled - Expedit dupe

Except for the wheels this seems like an excellent dupe for the Expedit bookshelves that so many other people are enjoying in their craft rooms.

Ladder Bookshelf x 2

Yet another Ikea dupe! This one is handy for printers or cutting systems where you need computer/power wires to dangle out of each side.

The Room

And here's the room.

The Maintenance

So I recognise the need for ongoing maintenance, here's what I've got set up so far.

Curtains: Curtains are certainly ugly, and will need to be replaced.  They've probably been there since the late 80's.  However, in NZ curtains are a commodity which are expensive, a modest pair of curtains for 1 window will run around $120.

Stamps: Will come into the new stamp bucket.  When time, it will be transferred to a CD case, labeled, and acetate sample sheet put into the Clear Stamps binder.

Paper: Paper will need to be reorganised, by manufacturer.  Paper will need to be stood up on its side as to ease getting the right stack out.

Tools: I don't need more.  I also don't need any more...

Ink: Because my drawer is full.


Thanks for reading!

Let me know if you have any questions!