Once I got the keys there came the physically demanding task of moving the boxes and boxes of unassembled furniture to the building, first across the back lawn, then across the muddy, slippery un-landscaped yard in our second yard. It required many trips hauling a garden wagon loaded with the boxes, one piece of furniture at a time. When I got the pieces moved I assembled them, and moved the furniture into place. First there was the counter piece with the set of drawers, then the desk unit. Next came the hardest job, the assembly of my Craftbox, which came in a huge wooden crate with 6 large boxes of components. It took me three days to just assemble the five cabinets that comprise the unit, and another to connect them! and yet one more to add all the shelving and storage boxes that came with it. I then assembled the 2x2 Kallax unit from Ikea that I would use for 8.5"x11" cardstock, and lastly the 4x4 Kallax that I would use for storing stamps, adhesives, and manual die-cutting machines. Notice I said "I"; I did all that by myself!
Once the furnishings were all in place, I had to begin the Herculean task of hauling my supplies from the house to the studio, sorting it all, and putting it away. It was a several week-long job! I was determined to ensure that everything was organized and labeled so I could find anything I needed quickly. The final step in my organization efforts was the creation of a database and a full inventory of my stamps, dies, embossing folders, and stencils. Every one of those items has been added to the searchable database, with photos, keywords, and location information to make it easy to find the right item every time. All that extra work was so worth it! I can lay my hands on whatever I want pretty quickly, and the organization makes it easy to put things away, too.
Here are some photos of the space, though they are a little outdated; I have better organized my pegboard and craftbox, but you should get a fair idea of the functionality of the space.
This photo shows the valance I macraméd for the window over my desk. I still need to make another for the other window. I hope to get started on it soon. Now that my Christmas cards are done I have a window to be able to work on it.
This photo is of my work desk itself. I love the view I get when seated at the desk, though right now it is not yet green outside. With all the rain we have been getting of late, though, it shouldn't be brown much longer!
This is a section of my 7' of pegboard. I have reorganzed the pegs, which now hold macramé cord and baker's twine. i have added three more wire baskets that each hold small mason jars. The other wire baskets now hold my stash of cards for whenever I need one but dont have the time to make one. My daughter, though, tends to use the stash more often than I do!
This is my Craftbox right door wide open, also showing more of the pegboard and my rolling carts. I generally leave the Craftbox open unless I am using the space for something other than card making. I like having the quick access to the dies in and on the door (the outsides of both of the smallest doors are magnetic; they hold dies from MFT and Lawn Fawn that make kinetic cards) and all of my patterned paper, but mostly I enjoy having the doors open and the table set up because that is where I do my die-cutting.
This is the center part of my Craftbox. You can see my eBosser and plates in the background. The box contained scraps of paper that I went through and organized. I cut anything that was big enough down to A2 size and organized it by color family. Smaller scraps were cut to no wider than 5.5" and no taller than 4.25", and also organized them by color. I find I actually use my scraps now because they are actually handier than cutting down a sheet of paper!
My Cricut Maker is below the table, as is my Minc for foiling.
This is my large Kallax unit. I have stamps, adhesives, magnet sheets, foil and vinyl in the fabric bins. Below those I have mounted stamps, clear stamps with matching dies, my Xyrons, my coloring media, and my manual die cutting machines.
Here is a little video I made to help show how everything is oriented. I hope you will enjoy it!
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