May 07 2008
My Stamp Room - Always a Work in Progress
It’s not a dream room, perhaps, but it’s my happy space and I’d like to invite you in for a visit. I’ve finally come to the point where the room actually feels spacious and uncluttered. There’s more work to be done — customized cabinets, shelving, etc. – but I’d like to enjoy it as is for the time being. My room is a smallish bedroom with a south-facing window. In our neck of the woods ground floor bedrooms usually have high windows so, no, I don’t have a good view of the garden while I stamp. On a pretty day I’m always outside, anyway, so no matter.
I recently turned the whole house upside down to reorganize everything around my new desk. It’s a computer desk from Staples — it makes an excellent stamping center. The cost of a real wood desk like this would be formidable, but this is a composite with a fake (but very nice) laminated finish which wipes clean easily with a damp rag. I love my new desk. I feel so nestled into my stamping area there. All my coloring tools, papers, embellishments and most frequently used gadgets are within easy reach. You can click on any of the photos if you’d like an enlarged view.
We’ll just turn in a circle around the room. This is the other arm of the desk under the window. The iris carts, also from Staples, are a perfect fit under the desk. Formerly, there was a large dresser under this window. The drawers were too deep to be efficient — too much rummaging through piles of supplies. The shallow iris cart drawers keep things much more accessible. The bottom drawer holds hanging files reserved for my new PaperTrey cardstocks. The Sterilite drawer units alongside the desk hold stamps from various companies. They’re organized by type and indexed in a binder so it’s easy to find what I’m looking for.
Here we are on the opposite wall. It’s a pretty short trip. This desk is my embossing area which doubles as a second work space when I have company. The desk will be replaced with something prettier one of these days. I like having a peninsula of sorts in this area so I’ll maintain the general layout. My embossing powders and glitters are kept in an old spice rack. I’d like to paint it white and maybe do a little stamping on it. Either that, or find something more efficient. The spice rack seemed like a good idea until my collection started to outgrow its home.
Here, you see evidence of a room in need of a paint job. Yes, that’s on the to-do list. I did wash all the walls but this spot just wouldn’t clean up. Honestly, what can I expect from a ten year old paint job? There are Stampin’ Up! sets on the shelves and miscellaneous stamps in the drawers. The Stampin’ Up! sets are shelved in the order of backgrounds first, then sentiment sets. Orange cardstock marks the divisions. After that comes sets A - M on these shelves. The rest are across the room. Someday I hope to have better shelving (or fewer stamps?). I labeled the end of each box with the name of the set and marked the retired sets with a hot pink highlighter.
The black file cabinet is full of my Stampin’ Up cardstocks. I’m happy to finally have all my cardstocks and designer papers protected from the fading effects of light.
The designer papers are stored in the cabinet pictured below. They’re stacked in 12″ x 12″ trays which I purchased from the Paper Wishes catalog. More Sterilite drawer units make better use of the large open area of the cabinet. The top drawer of the other cabinet is full of ribbons (in addition to the ribbons on top of the cabinet). You can see more about my ribbon storage in Ribbon Central.
We’re back around to the desk again. This cupboard is where the computer tower would sit and, once again, I’ve maximized the space for my purposes with the Sterilite units.
One last picture — I hung a curtain rod the full length of the window for my punches. These are the large and medium-sized punches. The small punches are kept in one of the iris cart drawers. I love my punches and use every one of them, some more than others, of course. Can you imagine how much space these occupied on a shelf? This is much better!
There are not a lot of decorative touches in this room but it’s a pleasant space for me. I’m surrounded by the things I love, tidily arranged. It gets a little messy sometimes when I’m working on a project — the more rushed I am, the messier it becomes, but it picks up quickly with a niche for everything. I’m working to make it more pleasant and efficient all the time, but I hope not more crowded. In the process of all this rearranging we hauled three truckloads of the years’ accumulation to Goodwill (not all of it was from my stamp room). I also packed up a large box of stamps and other supplies for my coworkers — spreading the love to budding stamp artists.
Gosh, I think I feel like stamping now… Thanks for stopping by for a spell. I sure enjoyed having you over. Let’s get together again real soon, okay?
That is a DREAM room — everything at your fingertips and all in one room so neatly organized!! My younger son is in college and I already have my eye on his room to take over for my design and creative space! I just had two cabinets made to hold my punches and latest “toys.” I’ll send you a pic of my dream punch cabinet hanging on the wall already in my son’s newly painted room (soon to be my craft room)! LOVE everything about your studio space! It must be Heavenly
Wow Leslie…thanks for the guided tour of your great room. I think it looks fabulous and is very well organised. A top place to create obviously…your beautiful work is testimony to that. Cheers!
Would you like to visit me and help me organize my half of our living room that houses all of my stamping goodies? :0) I reorganized my area last fall but sadly it has quickly become unorganized. I just don’t have room for everything. But I still have fun!!
It looks great! You look very well organized and your new desk is lovely! Enjoy!!
Wow- when are you available to come organize my basement stamp room? heeheehee!
Thanks for sharing your fabulous stamping room! I LOVE IT! I do have a question for you - I spotted a wooden rack that holds stamp pads with round holes to hold the reinkers next to their matching stamp pads. Where could I find one of those? That’s a fabulous organizer! I wonder if they make one with 2 coordinating holes, one to hold not only the reinker, but also to hold each same-color marker? That would surely simplify things when making color coordinated cards!
Everything looks great, and I’m surprised that your curtain rod doesn’t sag with the weight of all those fabulous punches! LOL Happy stamping and have fun in your well-organized room! It’s a real gem
I thoroughly enjoyed the tour of your stamp room. You are soooooo organized! A place for everything…and everything in its place. I also went to Ribbon Central to see your ribbon organization. I MUST get a handle on my ribbon….it’s everywhere! LOL!
Thanks for the pictures…it’s a fabulous room!
Leslie, I can see why this is your “Happy Place”. It’s always interesting to see someone’s studio, how many stamps they have and of course gain some organizational tips! I love the corner desk the best, and I think I definitely need to invest in a good long curtain rod…I can’t believe how many punches it holds!! Thanks for sharing!
Oh I am envious of such a nice, neat, tidy, organized stamp room! No wonder you are so creative!
LeAnne
Leslie….thank you so much for the tour!!!
Your room looks and feels marvelous…..now go mess it up Girl!#!#!#
Leslie! I’m so glad you finally got your room finished - well at least to the point where you are currently satisfied. I’m sure it’s like mine, and always and work in progress. Thank you for the tour and now that I see you have room for one more . . . . hmmmm I’ve always wanted to walk through your gardens. Maybe some day.
Leslie, your stamp room is the bomb! I love it and someday I hope to have my very own stamping room too. Right now, I share a corner in my guest bedroom for my stamping. I have the closets stacked to the ceiling…LOL. I love your stamp area! Thanks for giving us a guided tour of it.
Pinky
Thanks so much for sharing the photos of your lovely stamping area. It is so pretty. I love the organization ideas that you have shared with us. I might be able to swing the curtain rod for my punches too. hmmmm Thinking, thinking.
A great room for all the great projects you complete and share with us.
Thanks again.
Evelyn
Leslie, this is beautiful! My room is usually in a state of regress, rather than progress! lol You have inspired me to try to make order out of my shambles! Thanks for the tour!
WOW! Great use of space! As an organizational fanatic, I just love the way you stored everything within reach and kept it all nice looking at the same time. When there’s a place for all your supplies, it’s sooooooo much easier to keep it up. Looks like you’ll be doing a lot of creating in there…
Just beautiful and very inviting. I know you will enjoy many happy hours doing what you love….and your work reflects that. I do have a question….where did you get the stamp pad holder that faces you at the desk. It looks very nice. I have almost all the inks now and am looking for something other than a spinner. Thanks for showing us your room!
http://www.primitiveseasons.blogspot.com
love, Love, LOVE your happy place,
will you be in san francisco anytime soon?
can you come and help me get organized?
thanks for sharing!
Hi Leslie,
Your room is lovely. I’m working toward creating a “space” for my crafting, and your space is a true inspiration. I do understand that having a place for everything certainly helps to keep it neat, even if it isn’t neat when you’re in the midst of working on stuff!
I’m curious what the wooden box on the arm of your desk is, and what do you keep in it?
Thanks for sharing!
Wow Leslie! Your stamp room is gorgeous! I wish mine looked like that!!
thank you so much for sharing this! These ideas are great!
I just love how you organized all of your stamping supplies. I need someone to help me do the same. Thanks for sharing with us. It is so very inspiring.
Janet
Wow… great room. So far my craft room is on paper and that took a long time!lol. I found it interesting to read your replies and I also asked these same questions. Could you do an answer on another blogpiece? Thank you so much for sharing. God bless. L.
Trust me girls……Leslie’s reorganized stamp room truly is a DREAM room
The little desk….that is for playdates with the very talented leslierich 
Some of my fondest memories in the last several years have been at that desk with Leslie and I playing together. Don’t all of us girlfriends just have the most fun together ?!? TFS Leslie with all your stamping friends and fans….your friend always, Nancy
What a wonderful tour of your room — it is so pretty and organized!!! I like your new desk, too!!! And I thought you had a new paint job in one of your favorite cardstock colors — LOL!!! This so inspires me to get my room clean enough to photo it — oooohhh — that just may NOT happen — LOL!!!
Very nice. I never thought I would like a big desk like that but it totally works to have things so within reach, the storage makes it work. It’s also funny to see how you store your large punches I have my ribbon on a long rod as well. Now I need another for my punches, maybe after I get a few more larger ones… Thanks for sharing.
I LOVE your room. It looks well organized and neat and tidy. Very nice!
Beautiful stamp room. I love it! I dub you the punch queen! I have never seen so may punches!!! Thanks so much for sharing your stamping room pictures, I LOVED looking at them!
Wow! What a wonderful craft room! So neat and organized! I love how you store your punches . . .what a great idea!
it is a dream! Thank you for sharing!
Looks great, Leslie!
I’m going thru what you just went thru! LOL! So I thank you for sharing how you’ve organized things!
what a thrill to have a tour of your stamp space!! I really like how organized it is. You creat the most gorgeous things in that room. Thank you for sharing not only your art but the wonderful space it’s created in.
Wow - so organized and CLEAN!! I get organized then I get messy - back and forth - an continual dance - and then I buy more stuff and don’t know where to put it! I envy you your long punch rack - I have two small ones - but then ran out of wall space so the rest are in a drawer. thanks for sharing a look!
Thank you for the tour. You are clearly one well organized woman! Really, you’re not thinking of painting, are you? That would be so much work to take everything out. I like how you put the drawers under the desk. That is a very useful example that I can do too. TFS.
Are you kidding me? OMG how do you keep it so clean?! You are FAR more tidy than I, that is for sure! (NO ONE will see my room right now, it’s a MESS!) Fabulous space, Leslie! Thanks for the inspiration!
Congratulations on your lovely space—I love all the room you have—right now all of our space is occupied, but someday I’ll have a room just for stamping…..thanks for the great ideas and letting us peek into your happy space!
Thanks so much for sharing your room Leslie! I love to see where my friends create and how they organize! I feel like my room will never quite be finished, but I’m finally at a place where I at least feel like I’m 90% there (not counting labeling - LOL!) I see you have room for a guest stamper…I just might need another Oregon vacation!
Oh wow! Your craft room is awesome. Deb x
Bravo, Leslie! A daunting project well done! Very inspirational, and thank you for sharing all the details. I hope to incorporate some of your ideas in my very messy and inefficent stamp room, which you will NOT be seeing any pictures of for quite some time. :o) Linda
‘Love your stampin space!! Thanks for sharing! Can I come and play??
~Brenda H.
Love your room - it is a dream room and everything is positioned in a great place. Thanks for the inspiration. Love the way you store your punches!
Your space is absolutely fantastic, Leslie!! Thanks for sharing it all!! **I am showing this to my DH too.
Ohhhhhhh - I just loooooove your stamp room. Gorgeous~!! Super functionable too.
So this is where the magic happens!
Your room is wonderful Leslie! I hope to someday be the “company” sitting at your embossing station! I love the spice rack for your glitter - I’ll have to borrow that idea once we move to a new house & I get to set up a new stamp room!!
What a great room, Leslie — it’s wonderful to see where you do all your creating! Great storage ideas, too!
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Fewer stamps??? Perish the thought!! You were probably tired when you wrote that…
Love your room–I see a lot of the same storage units I used in mine. Glad you were able to devote space to visiting stampers as well.
Check out my reorganized stamping tower when you get a chance (January 14-16 posts.)