My Stamp Room Makeover

Ahhhh… finally sharing my stamp room makeover.  Last fall, when I joined FSJ as a coach, I completely overhauled my stamp room.  It was time, after 11 years as a SU Demo, to do a full clean out and streamline my craft room.  Now with the Spellbinders-FSJ merger completed, over Thanksgiving I did it again!  

Here is a shot of my final space.  Read on for the full transformation.

BEFORE THE MAKEOVER

Below was my HOT MESS of a stamp room (in my basement) just about 18 months ago.  The picture may be a bit older but this is what it looked like….all. of. the. time.   Piles of stuff everywhere and multiple projects all over the place.   How the heck did I create anything in this mess?  

The desk and cabinets below were a hand me down from my parents flooded kitchen 10 years ago. They were the few that survived.  The countertop was from Lowes and the table was plastic!  So much stuff!

Makeover last fall

I already had these Ikea Expedit bookcases against the right side wall that you could not see in the first pictures.  I cleaned them out and moved them to the left wall.  Then I trashed the counter top, old kitchen cabinets and desk from that area that just were not functional.  Already a huge improvement!

I kept the plastic table as my “desk” and added a 2nd one where I shoot videos and FB lives.  Got new chairs and as you can see the back wall is pretty much empty.  The stool at the end of the table holds the trash can up high so the dogs don’t get into it.  My white standard poodle Lexy was naughty in my stamp room and she loved to eat card stock!!  

I popped up a 3rd plastic table (on the left of the picture) about a week before Thanksgiving. I was struggling with table top and storage.  This was the sign that I needed better organization!!!  

I got rid of 2 stamp cabinets (see the hot mess picture) and put my power paper cutters away.  Slid this table (from Ikea) down to be my die cutting and and paper cutting table.  I also got a new ink pad organizer for the wall since I no longer had SU ink pads.  I kept just a few organization items like the buckets (from Ikea) and the plastic roll carts (from Lowes).

Even with the extra table up, it was so much cleaner and more organized!  

Wondering where all the stuff went?  I sold almost all of my SU stuff.  Selling for a new company I did not need it anymore!  Bye to the stamps, dies, punches paper.  Pretty much all of it.   I also trashed lots and lots of things that I had not touched in 8-9 years. (scary I know).  Can you believe I still have more to get rid of? 

AND HERE IS MY ROOM NOW!

Here is my finished, almost completed stamp room makeover.  Just waiting on a few organizational items to come for the drawers and 2 bins for stamps for the bookcase.  I am having glass cut for the top of my main work desk as I will never, ever keep a white table clean.

These desks/tables above are from Ikea called Skarsta.  They move up and down with a hand crank under the desk so I can sit in a chair, sit on a stool or stand!  OMG love love love this feature.  Sometimes I get so stiff from sitting all the time.  Having a stand option, without leaning over, is PERFECT! Plus no more tripping over my chair to get up and get things!

I cleaned out a little more of the bookcase below and added 4 drawers to the right hand side.  They hold ink refills and random items that I don’t use all the time. 

The most functional items I added were these 2 drawer carts pictured below.  They are the wide Alex drawers from Ikea.  These hold all the stuff (and more!!) that was in the 3 plastic red carts with drawers to spare!!! yes I have empty drawers!   A big bonus is that they are sturdy, fit right under the existing table and are white to match everything else. 

My stamp room will always be evolving, but I just love the way it turned out.  No more plastic!!! I can easily add more storage to the bookcase and in the room if I need to.    Plenty of room for my puppies too!

Now back to creating pretty cards and projects!