Showing posts with label Craft Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Craft Room. Show all posts

Saturday, April 11, 2009

Craft Room Reveal!

Okay, FINALLY I am blogging! There are so many things to show you and so much that we did that I have been avoiding working on this! It has taken me hours just to upload the pictures! If someone out there can tell me how to blog without spending so much time on editing pictures and uploading on blogger, that would be SO helpful as I do NOT know how some of you blog daily!
There are 2 things pending that I have been hoping would get finalized for pictures but I'll just tell you about them so I can share this fun transformation! There are so many things to show you that I think I will break it down into walls--here is a collage of the left wall, center and right wall, before and after! This desk epitomizes her challenge. Outdated furniture. Lots of stuff. Her scrapbooking supplies as well as products to sell to clients. Many projects that she wants to do at some point. Bins and baskets where she started a system but it wasn't quite streamline enough to keep her straight. Stacks of pending albums for herself and some that people pay her to create. Yes, she's cool like that--people pay her to make scrapbooks! Throughout this transformation, you will see areas that have been created to fix all these challenges that she has! Here is the left wall. This is where two items are missing. The glass jars on top of the bookcase will be moved to the right side and on the wall facing the desk at an angle will be a flat screen TV. To the right of the drawer cabinet above the basket on the floor will be a really cool magazine rack mounted on the wall which will balance out the space below the "inspire"! There is a picture of the rack below.I had way too much fun making this and felt a little guilty this day that this was my job! This is her project area. She had boxes and bins of pending books to make, projects for clients, albums to start and she needed an organized way to handle all that. This cabinet now holds them in separate drawers! On the display board is a list of the 6 drawers and which project is in each drawer so at a glance she knows what she needs to work on. She can easily reprint and put on the display area as things change. This Simply Renee embellishment holder is SO handy for a scrapper (I LOVE mine!) and her business cards and current catalogs are right there for her Creative Memories clients! Here is the Longaberger Magazine Rack that she has ordered and will go to the right of the above items. The cabinet in the corner houses her scrapbook paper, resources and her personal albums. She had a couple notebooks with references/resources and simply putting them all in matching white notebooks and printing coordinating labels makes them look great! The desk has an open are to hold her papers, current work in progress and cutting systems! Her chair came with a boring gray cushion so I sewed a cover out of the matching fabric that I made a window treatment with. Goal #1 was that it was comfy and swiveled so she could easily get into her cabinets behind her and this one is pretty perfect! This window needed to be lightened up from the heavy treatment it once had and now the room looks so much larger! Here are the resource notebooks that she used to pull together pages from magazines and random idea books that she was holding on to! Resource Books are needed by all creative types who like to hold onto inspiration! Fun crafter items displayed for easy access. This is the bottom of her desk where there is open storage. She made the cute sign! Here's the right wall! We needed Storage, Storage and some more Storage!

The left cabinet has often used supplies since it is right behind her desk. Fun labels transform this from utilitarian to gorgeous!
The center has all the 'stuff' that was in boxes and bags before in these cute jars from Crate & Barrel! She had an amazing collection of handmade cards given to her by friends that we displayed on the display frames with more in the fun metal container below them. The right side of the cabinets is 100% Creative Memories products available for her customers. Come shop! Here are a few details:



These magazine bins are 5 for $3 at Ikea and are the only bins I would spend money on! Transform them to match your room and look at how amazing they are! Perfect for loose resources that you are holding on to.

On the same wall as the door is a large closet. This closet was FULL of stuff she needed often, things she was holding on to and products. We worked hard at getting out the often needed items and getting this to function well for her.
Everyone has what I like to call their 'crazy'. We all just have something that we buy too much of or can't get rid of and some are even useful which is quite nice but still is just over the top! I have an awesome client who had an uncountable amount of free Christmas cards that were sent to her by charities that she donated to. They weren't even all cute but they were free and she had hundreds and hundreds and it was just 'wasteful' to get rid of them to her so she had saved them all in office space that she could really have used for something esle. So that was her 'crazy'--but are you ready, she is Jewish. Yup, never even used them. So, back to this client's 'crazy', hers is gift giving supplies! And she uses them so it's okay! She has LOTS!! We really had to figure out how to better sort her supplies and she loves her curling ribbon. This was an easy and affordable solution and she can get to it so much easier! She has lots of projects to complete, just like the rest of us! We created a section of her closet just for projects and added a list of all that she needs to finish. She can check these items off as they are done and then easily print this again and switch the sheet out as the list changes. If you do this, just use a removable glue or adhesive so you can switch out the basic white paper!
You can just see it at the top center but that box is for her son's school work. At the end of the year, she put it in a storage container with the date and this box is where she can now easily place new items as they come in.
This bin was here with gift giving already but we pulled out the gift bags (in their own bin standing up) and the ribbon so it really freed this up to be sorted better and is much more accessible for her.
This room was transformed from top to bottom and was so much fun to work on! All the furniture is from Ikea! I know, Ikea is NOT for everyone and I personally wouldn't use it in the main living spaces of my home but for kid's rooms, craft rooms, work spaces, playrooms- Ikea is AWESOME! This store is viewed as very contemporary but you can see there are some pieces that have a more traditional look and your accessories/paint/fabric choices can drastically improve upon the furniture's streamline look! There were many questions from my past post about this room, like where is the furniture from, and I may be forgetting some. I think some asked about cost and I think she spent around $2,500 on all the furniture down to the chair, new lighting, new accessories, storage containers, etc. I worked around 45 hours on this job and was there 1 or 2 days a week to start and then a bit more often at the end with the detail work. She worked with me 100% of the time which is great as I can move through organizing decisions quickly. At the start, I helped her get through the decision making process while sorting and determined storage needs and then would leave her with 'homework' of things she needed to accomplish so the first few weeks left her with lots to do in between my visits. Once we were getting into decorating, I'd start a group of tags and then show her what I was thinking and she'd bring out a cool corner punch or have an idea and we'd finish deciding and then she'd make that group while I moved onto another decision. She not only wanted to transform the space but really transform what issues were there that prevented her from getting projects done and wanted systems in place so that she could move forward without piles and stacks of things that overwhelmed her. This is the perfect example of the type of project I love--making things Pretty AND Neat! And I am a firm believer that clutter in your life is clutter in your head. An overwhelmed space is an overwhelmed person, in my opinion. Both decor and systems were addressed at once and she is now ready to use this room to be more productive with her personal projects as well as her scrapbooking business and it was a pleasure to work with her! I wouldn't put someone's name on my page but if you want to buy Creative Memories supplies from her, email me and I'll get you her contact info! You can order online too so even if you aren't in the Central Florida area, if you want to order and have products delivered to your home and don't know a consultant, she will follow up on any questions or needs you have and is now who I shop with too! If you have more questions about this space, let me know and I'll do my best to answer!

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Thursday, March 26, 2009

Craft Room, first B&A picture!

I have been a bad blogger! Work has been keeping me quite busy and I've been playing catch up after being gone for so long! I'm so sorry! I still don't have time to show you ALL that I want to show you but had to share one thing . ..

Remember the craft room that I showed you the before pictures of a couple weeks ago? Well we are done! She is really on top of her products and projects and simply needed a great system for tracking it all and getting to it all, on top of deserving to give the decor a complete overhaul! THIS type of job is what I love to do! I love to decorate and I love to organize but this job is the perfect example of how I do both together and I couldn't have enjoyed it more!!!!

I have lots of pictures to show you and will get to that next week, after I drive 7 hours each way this weekend to camp with 400 people on an aircraft carrier, the USS Yorktown, docked in Charleston, S.C.! Here is a better view of the entire wall of new storage!


Thanks for being patient with my slow blogging!!!

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Friday, March 13, 2009

I love my job!

I showed you the before for a craft room for a Creative Memories consultant a few days ago that I am working on. The other day, I headed off to work to start putting on the fun details of her room! So what did I do for 6 hours? Craft! Oh yes, my job is fabulous! Now I will say that some days my clients need me to clean out their garage too. Being a crafty girl who also decorates and also designs kitchens and also organizes truly brings me a new type of job every week. So it is always great to not be bored and have something new to focus on and I love a new challenge with every client but doing something this FUN was quite enjoyable!!! So here's what I walked into at 9 am. A pile of BLAH letters. We have a word to make, a cute sign to create using her new Cricut, the word "create" to alter and a big "E"! After hours of contemplating and cutting and measuring and inking and gluing, here is where we ended up with our word by the end of the day! How fun is this?
Here's a close up of two letters:

We still have some shopping and final things we need in order to complete this room so you can't see it yet but here's a solution for her tiny craft item storage issues.

And here's a spot where she now has a shopping center for her customers--an entire 'store' if you will of Creative Memories products. The little frame says "Be nice to me or I'll crop you out of my photos"! So fun!


I can't wait to show you the rest once we are done!!!

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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Wanted: Creative Space for a Creative Girl!

Does this look like a room that belongs to a cool creative person? No? That is the problem!!! This room belongs to a Creative Memories consultant who also gets paid to make scrapbooks for others. Yup, you heard it right--people pay her to scrapbook. L.U.C.K.Y. Years ago, she moved into this spare room with first the desk. Then she grew out of that and added the bookcases. Then that wasn't enough space so in came the table. The closet continued to house all her crafting supplies, wrapping items and her large stock of Creative Memories products that are available to her customers until it started to burst!!! She has clearly grown out this space and this space does not represent her crafty, pulled together self!

Here's something I love about her. Many people have 'stuff' and aren't sure what they have. She knows what every single thing is. See the picture below? I would point to a box or basket and she could tell me exactly what was in it. Each grouping of photos is a specific event or planned album. Even the baskets are labeled!

She knows how to keep her things organized but there were a few things holding her back!

-the space she needs (work space and storage)

-areas for her current projects, of which there are many (all we crafty people can relate, I know I can!)

-storage items that work together. She bought some baskets but then 6 months later needed more and got another kind and though they would work on their own, together they just don't all tie together.

-a style update is needed. She is OVER the flowers and wants a fun but classic space to not only allow her to work in peace but inspire her!


This is a fun makeover! We have worked together for weeks now and though we aren't quite done, I will give you a sneak peek in a few days!!!
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Monday, December 8, 2008

House Tour-Home Office

This part of my House Tour is my Home Office. Though I have to tell you, it is NOT just a home office. It is a home office, craft room, tv room, mudroom, pantry and main family entry. Oh, and it gets better--it's only 7' wide. One 'issue' with a farmhouse, at least the way we made it, is that is has to be symetrical. Our house has a center and then even sides and 2 stories so 4 'boxes' exactly the same size where all the rooms fit. So if I wanted one room to be bigger, I had to widen all 4 sections. Basically, to finish this long explanation, this 'room' ended up crammed! I was rather distraught with this space as I dreamed of a huge workroom with a work island in the center but knew that it was the only 'make sense' option when I finalized the plans. I spent a lot of time while designing this space to keep it open while maximizing the storage and ensuring that every inch was used wisely. I don't think you will feel like this space has too much in it but you will notice that every inch of these walls has something built into it or something on it!

Because it is a long alley of a room, it is very hard to photograph so I will do my best!

Here is my desk which is what you see from the entry while looking through the dining room. These cabinets hold TONS! The upper cabinets are deep in order to fit drawer systems and the open display helps prevent this area from looking like a big wall of cabinets. I am a big binder girl so I love my binders being out and available at any moment. I had a plug planned for this cabinet and in the basket by my binder is all our chargers--just put in your ipod or phone and it's not out on a counter!


This area is to the right of the desk. I had fun designing this wall because it was a big challenge--the window and small area had me stumped for a while! The window seat is something I drew with my carpenter and then had him cut it and nail it and I did the rest. It has storage underneath and holds things that I don't need often but want available. The craft cabinet has lots of scrapbooking items as well as a drawer that holds this year's school work that the kids bring home that I want to keep.


Here is a view of this area from the other end of the room. You can see that across from the cabinets is a built in area that keeps ALL my craft items!
The skirt hides boring storage and hides glue sticks and other functional craft tools, scrapbook work in progress, page supplies and pending scrapbook work. Above the cabinet is my jar heaven. I blogged about this before but to keep this together for the House Tour, I'll repeat a bit! The jars don't need much explanation--any craft item I have is here. I use my ribbon weekly and love that jar! The magazine bins at the very top hold things that I call 'resources'--things that I want just in case like scrapbook magazines or catalogs for future inspiration, catalogs that I don't plan to shop from right now but want for possible future shopping, kids yearbooks, volunteer reference items that I have to hold onto, every packet of school pictures where you use 5 of them and don't know what to do with the rest, etc.
Sitting to the left of the cabinets in a fun spinning system that holds all my scrapbook embellishments and above that is where I keep my often looked at catalogs along with things I need by the door--coupons, gift cards and items I need to take somewhere such as deposits.

The pantry is pretty simple--great storage. I had an outlet put inside so my roomba is always charging and my pencil sharpener is always plugged in too, but I don't have to see it.

Here is a view from the pantry and mudroom end. The door, which is our side entrance, is in between the craft/office space and the pantry/mudroom space. At the end of this long room is our half bathroom. You can see that the side of the pantry is where I keep my calendar system. I use Outlook and print my calendar every few weeks for my family to view. That way my husband can't say he didn't know because I can then point out that the calendar is right by the door!

This mudroom area is right across from the pantry. Shoes go under the bench, and the left basket has my younger son's sports items and the right basket has things that need to go out of the house like umbrellas, sports glasses and anything that we need to take somewhere or that just belongs in our cars! The bins above have storage for things we need randomly like scouting items, cooler bag for long games, sports items, etc. The boxes above hold photos from my pre-digital days.

This space is maxed out in storage even though it is not a big room. I hope it shows you that you can get function out of any space with the right planning!
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