On July 9th I started the revamping of my stampin’ studio. Let me preface the following by saying that I am lucky enough to have a room over our garage that is m-i-n-e. Once upon a time it was my son’s bedroom but that was when this home was our cabin and before he went to college and got married.
It started with my daughter Andrea and daughter-in-law Krishna who, unbeknownst to me were talking behind my back about how they could ‘help mom reorganize her stamp room’. Time and events went by, the project was put on a back burner until I moaned again to Andrea about the encroachment of my stamp room walls. She said simply: “Mom, empty your stamp room totally and go from there.” “Are you serious?” says I. “Absolutely” says she. “Including everything on the walls!” says she. “Why!*^@^%?” ask I? “Because you’re going to paint it” says she! “OH. OK” say I. And the rest is history.
It took two days to empty the room and totally destroy/cover our deck with my stuff between the house and the garage. Except for Stampin’ Up!’s convention and camping the following long weekend, I have worked 12-14 hours a day non-stop since July 9th. But the results are sooooo worth it!
The original room, renovated from a cabin boys’ retreat room to a stamper’s haven, was done in 2002-2003. The original color was soft yellow. And now: It’s Dunne-Edwards Sparkling Frost walls (grayish), with some shade of white and Blue Spruce trim.
My stampin’ studio from the entry doorway
You might notice something missing! The actual table. There are 3 Ikea cubes that will serve as the base for the yet unconstructed table. More about that later. The storage in each of those cubes is great!
This side of the room faces east, gets the morning sun and has a lovely view of the Stanislaus National Forest. My stamps are stored behind those white doors. Russ (hubby) and I built the cabinets into the dead-wall-space before we moved full time into the ‘cabin’ in July 2003.All storage units were put in new places (if they survived the purge)
The punch (aka shoe) holder was rehung on the back of the door, the shelf unit to the right was repainted Spruce Blue as was the unit in the middle on the left. You can see that there are restrictions in the room due to the slanted ceiling.
All of my Big Shot tools/accessories are stored here.South wall closer up. The ELFA units on the left have been in 4 homes that I’ve lived in over the years. Middle cabinet came from Agnews State Mental Hospital in Silicon Valley Area of the San Francisco Bay Area, CA.The special treasures corner: My girlfriend, Linda, painted the daisies and gave the painting to me for my birthday in 1984. A girlfriend, Jan, from a women’s group I was in, gave me the I AM THE BEST ME THERE IS piece sometime in the late 70s. She later died of breast cancer–the first person I knew to lose her life to that disease. The candle on the tri-colored chest was from Andrea (daughter) a few years ago and it has a lovely message inscribed on it: “The best things in life are the people we love….the places we’ve been, and the memories we’ve made along the way.” Finally, the wine glass is from Stampin’ Up!’s 10th Anniversary (San Diego Convention, 1998).This great framed work, created with SU! Designer Series Paper, was my prize in a Sudsol gift exchange at a convention.Looking out the west dormer of my stampin’ studio….the driveway is out this window. I love my African figures, from Rwanda, made from banana leaves. Designer series papers, 12″ x 12″ card stock and my paper trimmers are stored here. This unit is from Targét! 🙂Southwest wall of my Stampin’ Studio–also overlooking the driveway. There’s a door on top of these recycled ELFA units. I salvaged the word “Create” from the décor element sentiment that used to stream along that wall. And that’s the ‘yellow’ that the room was previously painted. Now I’ll put swap or class cards on the wall hanging units.South dormer in my Stampin’ Studio, also overlooking the driveway. I store my SU! card stock there, alphabetically, left to right, 2 colors to a cubicle.Southeast corner of my Stampin’ Studio. You can’t say I don’t recycle! The cabinet was, once upon a time, my children’s cloth diaper storage cabinet. My girlfriend Linda (she of the daisies at the other end of the room) painted it when my now 40-something daughter was 3 and we were having a German exchange student stay in her room. I just couldn’t paint over it with that lovely Spruce Blue to coordinate with the rest of the room. 🙂My OMA corner! Andrea and her kidlets made the crown (I am the Queen, she is the Princess) and kids each created their own O-M-A letters. Priceless! The desk was purchased off of Craig’s list and is more than perfect for the room. Finished, ready-to-go-cards are in the cubicle to the left of my chair.The entry way into my stampin’ studio. You can’t see the 1970s orange shag carpeting that’s intentionally been left for posterity! These two pieces used to reside inside the room. The left mail sorting unit was from Folsom Prison! I love the cubby holes! All sorts of odds and ends live there. The cupboard on the right was salvaged from our San Jose neighbor’s garage sale in the early 2000s. Bulk glitter, embossing powders, stamp-a-ma-jig and extra card stock live inside these doors.My only non-Stampin’ Up! stamps. Actually, the girl with the butterfly net is Stampin’ Up!. I love the saying. Do you see the Upsy Daisy trimmed candle on the far right? I loved that set and the candle.Reality! The white table holds the remaining Cyber Yard Sale goodies. Empty boxes and bubble wrap are below the table. At one time it was piled quite high. Thank you to everyone who gave my goodies new homes! There’s still more!!! 🙂
The deck will be reclaimed by the end of the month.
Now you probably know more more about me than you ever wanted to know. Yes, I’m nostalgic. I have a hard time letting things go but……it feels so so so good now that my Stampin’ Studio has been restored to reason and will be a wonderful place to work and create.
But first! We need to find that elusive 8′ x 4′ piece of 3/4″ plywood that we can cover with white formica or laminate and place over those cubes from Ikea. That was supposed to be easy. Not. We should be finding it this next week. We have a few leads. Wish us luck.
Tomorrow…. Stamping in my newly revamped stampin’ studio!
Nice reveal!!!! Too bad about the table top, but I’m sure you’ll find it soon!