Welcome To My Happy Place

What did I do on my summer vacation staycation? I decided to frugally improve my crafting room.

The biggest project was to beautify my clear plastic storage carts. My east and west walls in my basement (ahem) studio are lined with ten of these carts that have five or six clear drawers each. One set are Gracious Living brand and the other set are Sterilite, but they are almost identical. 

I am fairly organized, so I knew where all my supplies were, but it bothered me that I could see all the drawer contents. It was a little overwhelming that - everywhere I turned - my supplies were staring me in the face; perhaps even taunting me. I decided to line the fronts of the drawers with white cardstock and then affix labels to the drawers.

 Lined and labeled drawers.

I really wish I had taken "before" photos but most crafters can picture the jumbled interiors of these types of storage units. Trust me when I say this is a radical improvement to the feel of the space.

Labels created on my Silhouette Cameo.

I created over 50 fancy black labels on my Cameo cutting machine using a file from the Silhouette Online Store, then created labels in MS Word and printed them in black on white cardstock. I used repositionable tape to affix the titles on the backgrounds (so if I change contents, it is easy enough to move the titles around), and used Thermoweb Permanent Sticky Dots to affix the black fancy labels to the plastic drawers. This is my "go to" adhesive for intricate die cuts. 

Thermoweb die cut transfer adhesive.

Labels on Thermoweb sheet ready to be rubbed to
transfer glue dots to underside.

East wall.

My long work table is in the middle of this space, with room to walk all around it. I face the east wall (above). This bank of drawers contains less-used items.

West wall. I sewed a quick curtain in B&W to match the new scheme.

I removed the castors from all of the carts. Then I went to Home Depot and had two long bookshelves cut to length to lay across the tops of the carts. This evens out the top surfaces and prevents anything from falling down the thin space between the units. On the west wall I have my Cuttlebug die cutter, Genesis trimmer and my Scor-pal. All of my rubber stamps, ink pads and papers are on this side of the room, which is the side I sit on.

Lots more photos follow, if you want to see more, but the part I am thrilled about is the restful white drawer fronts and the way they visually made the space calmer, larger - and hopefully more creative! In hopes of that inspiration, I am sharing this on the Inspire Me Fridays 117 - Anything Goes blog.

Cuttlebug (left) with plates and shims directly above,
and Genesis trimmer (right).

The bookshelf board provides great stability for my trimmer.

Custom built stamp pad holder above the Scor-Pal.

I had two of these 100-plus year old printer trays against the west wall, but downsized my small stamp collection, leaving just this one in place.

Next to the Scor-Pal is my 8.5X11 paper sorter.

 Xyron, punches, sentiment stamps and ribbon.

Smaller Iris cart received smaller labels.

Small set of drawers got similar treatment.
I slapped labels on these but will re-do when I am not so tired!

One of two bookshelves against south wall.
Rolling mechanic's tool chest in front is where my
Cameo will go. 

Rubber stamps, dies in metal file drawers, and
12X12 papers. IKEA tower holds unmounted
stamps in CD cases.

I emptied three bookshelves (not shown) of 16 of these magazine holders. They held quilting and cross stitch magazines up to 30 years old! Some thrift store shopper / quilter is going to be ecstatic!