[gma2rjc]

Scrapbooking is a hobby I picked-up about 11 years ago. When I started out, a table and chair in a small area of the basement was all the room I needed. As my collection grew, so did the need for more space and more storage.

Here are a few 'before' shots of the room I remodeled to use for my scrapbooking, rubber stamping and computer. It's also used for arts & crafts for my daycare kids.

The original doors were more like closet doors. They were attached to a track at the top of the doorway. They were heavy and not secured to anything at the floor level. So when one of the kids pushed on the bottom, the doors would sway back and forth. One day one of them came off the track and fell. That was the end of those doors.

I replaced them with the french doors. This was my first attempt at installing double doors.

A few years ago, when I was putting laminate wood down to replace the flooring in the living room, kitchen, dining room, hallway and bedrooms, I decided to just continue it into this room too.

I had already taken the carpet out and replaced it with vinyl tiles a few years before, so the floor in this room was still in pretty good shape. But with the doorway being so wide, I thought it would look nicer to have the same flooring in the hallway and this room.

The color on the walls isn't as bright as it looks in the picture.

 

[gma2rjc]

Once I was done with the flooring, I liked the way the room looked, so I decided to move all of my hobby stuff in here. This had been a play room for the kids. Now the other two bedrooms are used for play rooms. One for toddlers and one for older kids.

I had all of my punches and rubber stamps in some 6-drawer Iris carts. That worked out alright, but I found that I wasn't using them because it took too long to search through the drawers when I needed something (even though the drawers were labeled). I needed to get stuff out of those drawers where I could see what I have.

Shelves seemed to be the answer.

I didn't see any the size I needed at the store, so I built my own. Even if I had found what I was looking for at a store, they would have been too expensive. If I remember right, it was around $200 to build these two units and two smaller ones.

The wall next to the double doors was a perfect spot to put them as they really had to be very shallow. Plus, the right-side door wouldn't open fully if there was anything too big in the way.

 

[gma2rjc]

I used a lot of 1x4's, 2 - 4'x8' sheets of MDF, 2 - 4'x8' sheets of wainscoting paneling, crown moulding, 2 - 1"x5", 4 - flat chubby wooden legs and some steel brackets to secure them to the wall.

Luckily, my brother let me use his air compressor and the gun to nail it all together. I wish I could have borrowed his garage too. lol. Since I don't have one, everything had to be built in the living room.

The 4' width of the boards was perfect for the width of the wall without having to crowd the two units together. But each one only needed to be 6' high. So I cut 2' off the ends of the MDF and wainscoting and used those end pieces to make the two smaller shelves in the same style as the bigger ones. The taller shelves ended up being almost 7' tall.

I hadn't planned on making the two smaller shelves. But it made sense to use the scrap pieces. It's good that I did, because they're a perfect size for a place to store ink pads, refills, ribbons, Sizzix dies, etc.

 

[gma2rjc]

To know exactly how far apart to space the shelves, I gathered all the items that were to be stored on them. I measured the height and width of each group of items and marked where the shelves needed to go. The pictures of the ink bottles and stamp pads shows what I'm talking about.

 

[gma2rjc]

The crown moulding took a little trial and error, but I finally got it right (after returning to the store to replace the piece I cut wrong)

This was my first attempt at putting it on a ceiling. It turned out alright though.

I think it was a little more difficult fitting the moulding on the top of the shelves. Figuring out the right way to put the wood on the chop saw and double-checking before cutting made it a slow process. Then holding the pieces tight without moving them while I nailed it together was frustrating.

For some reason one of the shelves is about 1/8" taller than the other one. I'm not sure why. All of the pieces were cut to the same size.

I wish I could say, "maybe the floor is a little higher in one spot". But...that's not the case.

 

[gma2rjc]

Sometimes I'd rather stand up when I work, so I put this 37" high table together. The table top was $10 at the Herman Miller outlet store. I put two 36" square bookcases under it, back-to-back and left a space between them. If I'd had more time, ability and space to build them, I would have. But I bought them instead.

Since the backs of the bookcases are visible, I covered them with the same wainscot paneling that's visible on the other shelves.

In the space between the bookcases, I attached some wood to hold them in place and to form a shelf for storing rolls of wrapping paper. Under that is space to store blank scrapbook pages in a bin. My sister made a table like this to store her bolts of fabric. That's where I got the idea.

I like using the book cases instead of legs to support the table, because they provide a lot of extra storage.

 

[gma2rjc]

I got this book case at Ikea. It was originally used to store toys. But for some of the 2, 3 and 4-year-olds, it was nothing more than a big wide ladder to climb. LOL.

So now it's used to store cardstock, finished scrapbook albums, various tools, a few joke books and packages of rubber stamps that won't fit on the other shelves.

One of the baskets on top holds adhesives. One is full of scissors, and the other two hold odds & ends I don't use very often.

 

[gma2rjc]

The closet is mostly for boxes of pictures, a Xyron machine and refills, books and other odds & ends. It really needs a curtain or something. So does the window. Unfortunately, I hate sewing, and shopping for curtains is one of my least favorite things to do. Until one of those two things changes....no curtains. LOL

The trim around this doorway and the french doors needs to be re-done, but I'll do that when the window is replaced (some day).

 

[gma2rjc]

My brother and his wife gave me this table. I like that it has plenty of room to work and enough space to hold all the little gadgets and tools I use every time I work on an album.

 

[gma2rjc]

Thank you. The things I make the most are greeting cards and photo albums. I design Christmas cards and make quite a few other cards throughout the year.

The albums I've completed are for family. I have some people who have offered to pay me to make their family scrapbooks for them, and one woman who wants me to teach her how to make cards. I'd love to do all of that, but there's just not enough time.

Some day I'd like to make it into a business though.

 

[RippySkippy]

Nice work! I love the french doors, and shelves look fantastic...great job!

With that kind of inventory, you should host scrap booking parties.

 

[ThunderCAT]

Very nice - my wife is a big time scrapbooker as well, and wants/needs a room like this. I'm currently in the process of finishing off our basement, and have a room down there that will eventually become her scrapbook room, but for now will be a toy room for our almost 2-year old son's enormous toy inventory.

How big is that room?

 

[gma2rjc]

Thank you for the compliments Rippy.

I've had a couple parties here. It's always a nice time.

 

[gma2rjc]

Thanks ThunderCat. This room is a little shy of 10' x 16'.

It's nice that your wife is a scrap booker too. With a little guy running around, she probably has some great pictures to put in her albums.

 

[Hammer Fritz]

What a great room. is it always so organized and neat? i would like if you post some photos of some of your cards and/or scrapbooks. it would be nice to see a finished project.

 

[gma2rjc]

Hammer, I wish I could say it's always this organized and neat. It's not. The shelves and closet stay organized (not because of any effort on my part, lol). The table tops are almost always covered with odds & ends and piles of papers. I usually have to clear a space when I start working. Plus, the kids bring toys in here throughout the day.

I'll try to post a couple cards and pages later today. Thanks.

 

[gma2rjc]

This and the next few posts are some cards I designed.

 

[gma2rjc]

This was from a few Christmas's ago:

 

[gma2rjc]

another Christmas card

 

[gma2rjc]

This is a graduation card