Ok so I DO deserve to have rotten tomatoes thrown at me for not keeping you up to date on my scrap room re-do. For my new blog readers - for those who have a memory like me and wonder what exactly I'm talking about - I will wait here for you while you visit:
THIS POST (If you build it will they come)
....now go and get yourself caught up on the happenings of why I now have this new space to create in.
OK now that you are all familiar with my reasoning behind my new space then I can introduce you all to my beautiful new room...its small but it is jammed packed with everything I love and it is my GO TO spot. (But before we begin I must warn you...this is a LOOOOOOONG post - so go and grab a tea...or wine..and get comfy!)
It started like this:
From there my wonderful hubby spent the weekend installing my cabinets....and the room started to come together:
It was safe to say I thought the rest would be easy - but it still took a few months for the glass door inserts and the granite counter tops to be installed - and to pick the perfect hardware LOL - I wasn't in a rush and I wanted to wait until I found something I fell in love with. I love that I have granite for the simple reason is that it is indestructible - I can cut all I want and spill any glue I like and it just wipes off - perfect for a scrapbooker!
The hardware was my hardest decision - I mean I have access to thousands of handles and knobs with our company and how could I decide on just one...it took forever but in keeping with my love of sparkly things I went with these crystal knobs and handles:
So here we are today...almost 4 months later and I have finally photographed it and it is organized enough now to show you!!
Here is my space - I absolutely adore every last inch of my room!!
This is the wall I look at every time I walk into the room. My most favourite part of my space is definately the custom glass etched upper cabinets with the work CREATE in it. I love love love the way it looks - very subtle - yet just enough of a unique touch to make it look not so much like a "kitchen" and much more true to "ME" and what I love. I also love how you can see what is behind the glass yet it is opaque enough to hide some of the mess!
Here is a detail shot where you can see the glass much better:
If you are interested in getting any custom glass work done please visit SGO Designer Glass located in Burlington Ontario. They do some amazing work and were wonderful to work with - I am so happy with the end result. To be honest it was a tad bit hard to justify the added expense of the custom glass but I am over the moon excited that I waited and created a room that I will love in years to come....an added bonus is our customers love to see the final project as well so we can use it as a"showroom" also for upcoming projects.
At the left most end of this wall is one of my favourite places in the room. As most of you know I am a changed scrapbooker after taking Library of Memories over at BPS with Stacey Julian. I so loved her system and this wall unit holds my Library of Memory System. It was custom made to hold my photo albums, Scrapbook Albums and most importantly my Library of Memories drawers! This is the part that I am most excited about - just sliding in those metal drawers was a dream I had for a long time LOL!!
On the opposite wall to this is where I sit and chat to all of you out there and it is my "office" area. I have the lower filing cabinet for personal stuff and I keep all of my computer books and photo paper on the desktop tower. Up above in those small shelves is just misc office stuff and some overflow scrapooking items. You will see I have a unique clip board that I use for my upcoming projects, sketches, etc. You can see it in detail HERE.
Okay I know you are going to think this is crazy - but see that chair - It is the best chair ever ! Not only is it super comfy - and for a scrapper who sits thats a necessity - a regular office chair is too short to use. We decided while we were installing my cabinets that we were going to keep the cabinets up off of the floor a few inches in case we ever get another freak flood. (so now it isn't' a mismeasurement - it is a safety precaution)... Anyways it drove me crazy being that few inches too short - so the chair can extend very high (like a drafting chair) and I had that little ring put on it to rest my feet on - well turns out that it is a life saver cause with the tile floor my feet are always FREEZING so I love that they have a spot to rest...I know again - little things amuse me and make me happy!!
Right beside that lower filing cabinet is the door to enter my room.
You can see the countertop here is where I sit and crop. This counter runs all of the way around the room and there is enough room for 2 to 3 girls to come and crop at! I purposely didn't put any lower cabinets here as I wanted to be able to move around and have a large crop space. There are no uppers either as I have a large window and the rest of the wall is artwork - I needed some space to decorate!! Here is the other angle of the counter so you can get a better feeling of the flow of the room...basically it is only three walls of usable space (the wall beside my shelving unit holds another door which is secondary access to our furnace room.
My one CREATE wall is the main hub of my room and it holds most of my scrapbooking supplies. I've even utilized the space under the countertop for my sewing machine and that large red cube above holds all of my mini albums.
I will go through them quickly - you can skip over this part - cause its kinda boring but Im sure there are a few of you out there - like me who likes to see how other organize!
All of my upper cabinets on this wall are filled with baskets.
Now beginning from the left side of the wall unit - here is a quick peak at the insides of the glass cabinets.
The bottom two baskets are for my alpha's one for small letters and one for larger alphas like Thickers. I also store my alpha sheets like Jilli-Bean alphas and Basic Grey ones under the baskets.
The 3 small baskets hold my Copic card stamps, blank cards, and made cards ready to be given out. The top shelf is for my remaining card stamps in one and card making supplies in the other.
The middle shelf (letters E and A) are for my punches, and Dies:
The lower baskets house my punches - one for border punches and one for shapes. As you can see I also keep my cuttlebug here. The middle three red baskets are for all of my cuttlebug dies (quickutz) and templates - divided by embossing folders, fonts and shapes each in their own baskets. The top two baskets are for ribbon I don't hardly use and for all of my Epherma and 7 gypsies kind of stuff. I know I don't use that stuff all that often so at least I know where it all is if I every am in the mood to scrap shabby :)
And the last cabinet is for my fun messy stuff.
The bottom two baskets I use the most and they hold all of my mists in one and my embossing powders and chalks in the other. My hubby was not too happy with me when I requested that the door hinges be changed so that the "T" door opens up more than 90 degrees considering directly below this unit is my countertop and it was awkward at first to get into - now I love it becuase it is directly above where I do most of my layouts.
The small middle baskets are home to my inks, my paints and my Acrylic stamps. And finally the top shelf holds all of my seasonal embellishments divided by Christmas/Halloween and Sports/School.
The lowers are were all of my goodies are. Sometimes I like to just open the drawers and stare at my supplies LOL!! It is unbelievable how much these drawers hold - especially when you consider how thin paper is so you can stack quite a bit in each one of these.
On my Wall Unit - under my LOM I store my spare albums, and extra supplies like Christmas paper and my stamps I use for VersaTile.
Beside this I have a 4 drawer unit. I don't use these drawers nearly as much as the other set so I may eventually re-arrange them into a more user friendly way - I never seem to open them too often - oh wait the top one I open all of the time - did I mention I just like to open them up and stare at my stuff - or in this instance - smell that beautiful new PP smell!!
The top drawer holds all of my new releases stuff - once it lives here for awhile it is filed away - but it stays here for a bit - until I use it - or until the next CHA rolls around! (as you can tell - its outdated and there is already lots of new Summer CHA goodies living in here currently!)
Next is my paper embellishments - chipboard, etc and then a drawer for my rub ons and titles:
The bottom drawer is used to house my DT kits - so that I know what we have used in the past - this is really handy when it comes to doing my monthly assignments for my current teams.
To the right of the above bank of drawers is a set of double doors that hold all of my PP and card stock. I have two pull out shelves in which my Cropper Hoppers sit on - the top one holding all of my PP divided my manufacturer (with kits made up - full lines - in the last two cropper hoppers) and the bottom slide out is for my Cardstock.
The last set of drawers holds my items that I use the most. These 4 drawers are located directly beside me when I am scrapping and it is filled with all of my little add ons and favourite items! The top drawer is my tools and adhesives - followed by my completely favourite drawer - which I call my Prima Bling drawer!!
I mean really - tell me a scrapper who does not love the look of all those green gorgeous packages lined up! I have to admit I am making myself use these now - they are so pretty I didn't even want to open them LOL!! I have a new thought pattern now on my prima products... if I use them I can make room for more!! Hee hee!
And the bottom two drawers are full of embellishments. All of the little odds and ends I add to my layouts for the finishing touches. Background stamps, journalling spots, pins, buttons, chipboard, and lots of other goodies. These are definitely my most used drawers!!
Wow...if your still with me here than thank you for spending the entire day viewing this post.....
I will quickly wrap up with some of my items that I have out for decorating. I actually love the look of spaces and studios that are full of projects and unique finds. You know the ones that you can stare at a space for like 10 minutes and still not see all of the goodies....but I just don't have the personality for that. I like clean, uncluttered spaces, it makes me feel more relaxed so the decorating has been kept to a minimum.
Behind my door I have a bar height rod iron round table (about 12 in round) that I have some of my projects displayed on and I use the legs as hangers for my camera equipment currently. I think in the future I will get another shelf unit built for behind my door to display projects etc - since I am desperately lacking that space currently. My other thought is to somehow seek out a dress form which I have been hunting for now for many years. Not the rod iron type from decorating stores - the real deal..Im sure I will come across one someday...if you know someone looking to get rid of one - please let me know!!
Out on my countertop I have my copic collection...I found the most adorable bowl and vase at my local garden store and as soon as I saw all of that bling - I knew I had to have them!! I mean c'mon I once carried the "Queen of Bling" crown - so I saw it only fitting that they be used in my room. My stickles, smooches, Shimmrz and blingz are all in this display case that I purchased from my LSS a few years back... and then at the other end is my ribbons, buttons and more flowers...oh and my go to scrapbooking snack - sour jelly beans. I like how your hands don't get dirty so you can still eat and scrap! I have always loved and drooled over the Apocarathy look and although I don't think I totally pulled it off - I still smile when I sit beside this colourful creation.
A shot of my window... remember that cute little plant the kids bought me for mothers day - well its barely surviving...I so do not have a green thumb! Here are a few of My "M" collection as well as a few Nic Nacks my kids have bought me over the years...
...and the only artwork hung on the walls for now are my favourite two prints that I reecieved for my 40th from my very bestest friend. I had them reframed and I still love them as much today as I did the first time I saw them. You can read more about the artist here.
My other two prints are setting under the cabinets and you can see them way up at the top of this thread. They are prints of THIS by Suzy Toronto and THIS wonderful print by Sa Boothroyd (All part of my One of A Kind Show purchases in Toronto and a gift from my MIL).
SO there you have it....
My space as it is is today.... still have some decorating to do...I would love to get a nice area rug in here - but Im looking for something really funky without breaking the bank cause Im too messy of a scrapbooker - and it will get ruined for sure. I've also added a red throw blanket and a two tier stand that houses my adhesive and my most used tools (pens, glue, scissors, etc) I picked it up at Costco a few years ago and found it in my storage room so dug it out the other day. This now sits on the countertop where I scrap.
Now for the FUN PART.... my gift to you for being so terrible at posting my photo's of my space. I know I promised you all I would post this and something always seemed to get in the way of actually doing it!!
I have a RAK to give away that includes lots and lots of scrap goodies. I have some Collage Press, some goodies from last CHA, a mini album in that red bin of mine I can let go of - and as you can tell my embellishments are overflowing here so some I have a nice little package of them made up as well. Did I tell you I purged about 4 bins of supplies when I moved in and I still have them in storage - so I have lots to give away. I have them sitting here right beside me and I know I should post a photo but I like getting surprise packages in the mail so Im going to keep it under wraps until it shows up at your door step....plus I don't think you could stand to look at one more photo ;)
To be entered in my RAK - Please leave a comment for me and tell me what your scrap space is like - even if it is only on your bedroom floor... thats ok. I would love to see where you create as well - so leave me a link - I could spend hours looking at other scrap spaces and gathering ideas and inspiration.
I will leave the RAK open until Sept 15th, 2010.
Please note that I am willing to ship international but I have done this before and on BOTH occasions it did not make it over seas. They have been lost in the Internaltional mail abyss...LOL! But I am willing to try my luck again - maybe three times is the charm!
In closing - thanks so much for letting me share my space with you...truely it makes me so happy to be able to have such a wonderful spot to call my own - I realize how blessed I am! Now I hope that some one will finally say they are coming over to scrap with me!! I really do have the wine ready!!....Anyone??
