My Creative Playroom
 Scrap room, studio, office, or craft room. Whatever name you give it, its function is clear—it’s my creative playroom and I LOVE it. After months of planning and weeks of hard labor, my dream workspace is finally finished and I’m just bursting to tell you all about it and invite you to take a look around!
I’ll skip the boring and tedious details of tearing down wallpaper, removing shag carpet and repairing drywall and get right to the fun part—COLOR. White walls simply wouldn’t do for this creative space, so I chose a color called “Half Moon Bay” by Dutch Boy paints. The rich shade of aquamarine is energizing and creates a bold canvas to fill with creativity. Black and white accessories and trim fit perfectly since I already had a white desk and black computer equipment. Finally, with some quick consultation from a fashion-savvy friend, I chose pink as an accent color. I couldn’t get more girly than that! Well, maybe I could…  To bring some excitement and pattern to the room, I purchased an 8’ x 10’ area rug in a zebra print on e-bay. I wanted something exciting and it certainly does the trick. The only problem…now I seem to lose my black and white cat, Penelope, in the rug! She practically disappears!
With the walls and floor complete, it was time to move in the furniture. Here’s the functionality part of the room! My 8’ desk fits at the back of the room with just inches to spare. I needed a little bit more work space, so Ben (my husband) built me an addition to create the L-shape on the left side of the desk.  The desk and addition are both made from 5/8” white melamine pressboard material from our local hardware store. It’s very affordable, and has held up well under the wear and tear of everyday use. We custom designed and built it to fit all of my computer equipment and storage drawers. Putting it together was fairly easy and the only special tools you need are a drill and a circular saw. If you decide to create one for yourself, be sure to include sufficient support in the design of the desk. We used a T-bar across the bottom underneath the workspace shelf for support and to add strength to the entire unit. Also, be sure to have strong arms nearby…this desk is HEAVY.
 After adding my desk, the only other furniture I added to the room was a chair and small end table. The end table is actually a black metal shelf. I cut a piece of the white melamine pressboard to fit the top shelf so that Ben will have a flat place to put his Dr. Pepper cans (instead of on top of my desk) while sits in the chair. On the bottom two shelves I added two photography instruction books and my “In Print” album (my published layouts and articles).
The next hurdle was lighting. We all know how important that is in scrapbooking. With no existing overhead light in the room, I needed to get creative. I found small matching silver table lamps at a yard sale which made perfect lighting for above my desk. Those combined with a tall floor lamp in the corner produce most of the light for the room. I still needed task lighting, so to solve that problem we installed halogen under-cabinet lighting directly to the desk. I have four lights on the bottom shelf facing down as task lighting and two on the top shelf pointing up behind photographs for accent lighting. It’s amazing the difference that lighting made. To hide the light fixtures on the bottom shelf, we attached a piece of decorative white molding to the front of the shelf.  Okay, so you know enough about my desk and lighting...now you probably want to know where all the scrapbook supplies are hiding! That’s where the storage drawers come in. The white plastic storage drawers on the middle shelf of the desk contain stamps, scissors, pens, pencils, ink, adhesive, punches, paint and more. The storage drawers come with clear fronts (from Target), but in order to hide all of the clutter I cut white cardboard to fit at the front of each drawer. I chose not to label the drawers, because after about a day I knew where everything was and I like the clean, uncluttered look without them.
 On my main workspace I have three sets of embellishment drawers. I got these at the hardware store for only about $12.00 each. They store all of my buttons, eyelets, charms, fibers, mesh, wire, beads and any other tiny embellishment I happen to collect. Having these drawers at my fingertips is extremely helpful when I’m looking for the finishing touches on a layout.
I store all of my stickers, die cuts, alphabet stickers, and templates in white 3-ring binders on the top shelf of the desk. The sticker sheets, die cuts etc. are all stored in clear page protectors so I can quickly browse through them to see what I have. I purchased a box of inexpensive page protectors at Sam’s Club where I also purchased the 3” locking white 3-ring binders. Locking rings are important! Otherwise, the thin page protectors slide between the rings and putting it all back together every time you open the binder gets old very quickly. Underneath the desk, I have a 4-drawer rolling cart where I store miscellaneous larger supplies such as ribbon spools, larger stamp sets, and extra 12" x 12" page protectors. It also came with clear front drawers for which I cut white cardboard inserts to hide the clutter.
 Ahh, but the real mystery is 12” x 12” paper storage. I believe I’ve finally found a solution that is sturdy, convenient, and looks great! I bought three black metal bins on wheels at IKEA (the bins are from the "MUCK" line). They are about 13” x 13” in the bottom, so I knew they’d be large enough to hold my paper. I’ve always preferred hanging files for my paper, because it saves space and it’s easier for me to see what I have when they’re stored that way. I bought hanging file frames at Wal-Mart to put inside each bin.  The length of the frame is adjustable, so they fit snugly inside the bins making them very strong. Then I use standard sized hanging file folders to hold and divide the paper by color. One bin holds patterned paper, one holds cardstock, and the third holds all of my scrap paper. Since they’re all on wheels, I can pull out what I need and slide it back underneath my desk when I’m done. Convenient, easy…and don’t they look cool?
 On top of my desk, I have a turning organizer that I got from Pampered Chef. We used to use it for our kitchen utensils, but I figured it would be a great organizer for the tools I access for nearly every layout. It holds my “staples”: a pencil, scissors, a craft knife, my favorite pens, glue, eyelet setters, a hammer, a black ink pad, and a ruler. To dress it up a little, I added a pink flower and green leaves to the top compartment. Now I’m not hopping up and down getting into the drawers on my middle shelf each time I need a tool for a layout.
 Finally, the closet is where I store all of the items I don’t access as often (or that don’t look as nice). I bought three sets of wire storage cubes from Target and created shelving to store office supplies, idea books, photo boxes, my sewing machine, and other miscellaneous items.
I’m a stickler for tidiness and organization, and these solutions have been great--but there’s more to a creative playroom than just functionality. I had a gorgeous color on the walls, a funky new rug, and tons of great storage, but it still needed some personality and decorations. I put my scrapbook supplies to good use and began adding accessories.
 A magnet board full of homemade magnets to the left of my desk is where I keep my daily and weekly to-do lists. The silver table lamps on top of the desk were dressed up with ribbon and trim. Scrapbook layout frames hang around my window to display my most recent creations. I filled photo cubes with patterned papers to match the room. Pink curtains with black ribbon and fringe accents and a matching pillow for my chair (the cat silhouette is an iron on that I added with Avery T-Shirt Transfer Paper) added just the right amount of pink to the room.
The final touch is the crowning glory; the frame at the top of the desk. Originally it was a yellow photo mat cut to say Scrapjazz (from Memories and Mats), but I took the photos out and covered the front with pink paper and black ribbon. Then I painted the wood frame black to match the rest of the room. My scrapbook office just wasn’t complete without the company name on display.
Eventually, I called my creative playroom complete.
Sitting here enjoying the finished product, I feel like I can let my creativity flow freely. It’s bold and playful and encourages me to stretch my imagination and think outside the box. After all, environment plays a big part in how the mind works. To me, this room represents dreams, ideas and possibilities. It’s my workplace, my playroom, and my escape.
  
  
Comments or Questions about this space? Please post them here.
Related Products from Scrapbook.com:
|
Shop at the Scrapbook.com Superstore for all your Scrapbooking Supplies!
