Sunday, March 8, 2009

The Good, The Bad, And The...No Way She Worked Like That!

I'm finally organized! Woohoo! Ok...that's a little bit of an exaggeration. My space is cleaned. Everything has a home. But I'm sure over the next few weeks I will figure out new ways to keep things straight.

I will say that I truly enjoy seeing other peoples stamping spaces. I love seeing how you guys work and how you store things. I've seen some really amazing ideas, some of which I have utilized with my new space. So thank you so much for sharing! :)

First up I want to share the before. My before is not for the faint at heart. I had a mish-mash of furniture and not a lot of storage room so things were everywhere! Seriously...EVERYWHERE! I would often wonder how I could get anything done! Well, for sure how I could find anything but all of my 'piles' had order. Wow. That's going to shock you in a second! ;)

Take a peek at the before.....

The big 'L' desk is my main workspace that I kept. I really love this desk. I picked it up a couple of years ago at a used office furniture store. It was such a good deal and is super sturdy and really roomy! Of course before it was always covered with stuff! I would have to move things to have a work space.

The brown desk in the background was a free find. By that I mean that my hubby's office got new furniture and he was given this one to take home. Can't beat free! I used to keep my punches in the top middle drawer...the one that is made to hold a keyboard. That was great except that they would always fall out of the back of the drawer. A couple of them broke because of that. I also kept a big rubbermaid container with my 12X12 designer paper in it...that's sitting in the opening of the desk.

There are also some of those modular cubes that I had been collecting from Michaels with my coupons. On top of those I have this giant marker holder that I picked up from a LSS that was going out of business for $1! How cool is that! This I kept and is now hiding behind a cabinet...but it houses my copics.

One more....I had a paper holder from Office Max that housed my card stock. Well, and you can't miss the floor! It was always covered with stuff! I would pull out all of the boxes of stuff when I was working. Ribbon, embelli's....all of that stuff....

And I had this giant metal cabinet that housed some stuff....and I would pull out a card table to work with as well.......


The trouble is, I stamp every day! EVERY day! So I really never put anything away. The kids would get into stuff. It was always a mess! Seriously, my stamping stuff had taken over the basement!

Now the after........

....and keep in mind....I am working in this space. I did clean the desk after I stamped last so it's not a shot of 'in progress'....but cleaning the desk was just a matter of throwing the paper pieces in the trash and putting my stamps back!

I kept both of the file cabinets that I picked up from the used office furniture store. One is sitting under my printer and houses things like my heat gun and crop-a-dile. The other sits under my Sizzix and Cuttlebug and houses the plates and dies for those.
The cabinets. Holy heck, I am so excited to finally have a place for everything!
Everything now has a home. That is such a great feeling. ...and finally Hayden isn't pulling everything out! ...and I am no longer having to have the furniture cleaned because he's gotten his hands on a marker! Yikes! I have painted over marker and cleaned the furniture a couple of times!
This is the ribbon storage. I have seen so many of you use the jars for your ribbon scraps. I LOVE this! The containers are Making Memories. I have been collecting them for a while now for storing other things. I used the smaller containers for my buttons....
This is truly my favorite part of the whole thing! I LOVE ribbon and buttons and just love the clean look of it now!
I also have slat board in between the cabinets. I bought some little hooks from a local hardware store to hold my punches.....
One last thing...a filing drawer now holds my stickers and other embelli's that come on the long sheets. I have them in hanging files now so it makes it soooo much easier to find everything....
That's it for now. I'm still marveling over the stark contrast. It's like night and day. ;) See why it took so long! First we had to disenfect....then there was the whole clean up..... lol. I will say that is nice not to have to fish buttons out of my sons mouth...or to step on a brad with my bare feet....or to find a gem stuck to my backside....(yeah...that has happened to me!)
Hope you all have a great day! I will be back soon! Hugs! :)

28 comments:

Lindsay Spencer said...

WOW! WOW! WOW! That looks great!

Anonymous said...

As you would say "HOLY HECK"! That is awesome. Great job. I'm sure you'll be rewarded every day for all your hard work. It's absolutely beautiful!

StampinCathy said...

You mean your first picture is messy? OMGosh...I thought it was clean compared to mine. I guess I need to do something. Wow your new space rocks and you so deserve this with all the time and amazing creative projects that you do. I hope one day soon to have my space looking good again..ok for the first time. Thanks so much for sharing your new place with us. You just have to remember once you go in to this space you have to leave it and come back to reality. Enjoy your beautiful space.

Norine said...

all I can say is WOW what a great space lucky you
Hugs
Norine

Michelle L. said...

Your space looks amazing! I am drooling here ... :)

Ashley Newell said...

This is fabulous Jennifer! Seriously, I would have never thought you could work in a place like the before, it looks like mine. :) I love the new room, it's gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Yea for you! It is just beautiful! I love the ribbon--just so, so pretty. That is the kind of thing you can just go look at when life is crazy! :) Thanks for sharing!

Diane Gilbert said...

Jennifer this is amazing! I am sooooo jealous, can you come over and re-do my stamping space? Girl this is.... WOW, what else can I say!

Anonymous said...

Wahoooh Jennifer spick and span!!!I want mine doing now...rofl...
Maybe if I show Scott how luverrly yours is he might feel sorry for me and let me get it done!!!!!
love to you and the boys:)♥

Jenn said...

WOW!!! Love it! I want one!

Karen said...

!OMG! Congratulations.....isn't wonderful to stream line your home!! I'm sure you will enjoy it for years!!!

Mrs. B. said...

Wowzers, where did you come up with those beautiful cabinets? Did you say, and I missed it???

Lorie said...

Your room looks great! Those cabinets are GORGEOUS!!! You are very blessed! :o)

Scrapacat said...

Absolutely drooollly! I love the cabinets - were they custom made? My space won't accomodate cabinets, but I'm hoping to add on to our house once things settle down. Thanks for sharing!
~ky

Lueyes said...

Your new space looks wonderful! I am working on mine now with a limited budget and and hope to have it look nice as well as be functional. Love your cabinets. Thanks for sharing.

Heather said...

Jennifer it looks absolutely wonderful, I want one :-)

Kay said...

Well, you HAVE to feel good about all that! My fav part is the ribbon and punches. So when's the open house (wink wink) -- I'll bring cookies! With cute little tags that say "Jen's New Digs"! Congrats to you on a job well done!

Ravengirl said...

Oh, Oh, Oh! Your space is beautiful! It looks like Christmas, does it feel like Christmas? Good for you for sharing your before. My hubby looked at my stamping space and said, "You know, you could walk in here if I have a couple of hours in here". Yep, that's right I have piles on the floor that I trip over! Good for you!

Lisa H. said...

you lucky duck! your new space looks fabulous! I love the ribbon and punch storage. TFS!

Anthonette said...

Love your new workspace! It looks like a dream studio. Congrats.

Toni K said...

Awesome room! Love the cabinets. my hubby is finally starting to come around to better storage for me. I think he's tired of the mess.

Jenny said...

Love your new space. Where did you get your cabinets? I love them. Thanks for sharing your before and after pics.

Michelle Woerner said...

Oh WOWzers! This is fabulous! The cabinets are to DIE for and I love your desk -that circular shape is the BESTEST! What an amazing job! I know how much work you put into this -LOL! Check out my bloggy Tuesday, I am ready to post pics of my remodel!! Hugs,

Tanya said...

WOW!!! That is so awesome and I am sooooooooo turning green! LOL!

Jen said...

Wowsers! What a beautiful room!! :) THanks for sharing. Some day I will get to do somethign like this. But for now, I use what ever flat, clean surface is available to me (usually the kitchen table and island.) hehhehee!

Anonymous said...

WOW!Your new space looks amazing! I love it, you must feel so good about it, I love to organize, but you take the cake! I am really happy for you!
karen

Sharon (notimetostamp) said...

I am seriously drooling -- TRULY!!!! Your new space is FABULOUS!!! TOTALLY FABULOUS!!! I can just imagine the joy to work in that space -- you are one lucky girl!!! Oh, and WHEN were you having the SS Crew over???? July 17, you say??? LOL!!!

Jan said...

I am so freakin' jealous of your new space!!! I keep telling my son when he moves out that I am converting his room into a big craft room - he thinks I'm teasing but I'm totally serious! LOL.