My New Stamp Room! A.K.A Why I Haven't Stamped Much Lately!

  I've been bugging my husband for a while that I wanted to spruce up my stamp room and make it more organized and pretty.  The paint was still the yucky builder's grade off white that it was when we moved in more than 3 years ago.  The "desk" was my parents old kitchen table and all the storage was just a hodge podge of plastic rolling bins, and random containers to hold all of my stuff.  My poor Big Shot and paper trimmer were on the floor just waiting to be abused by my boys.  About the only part of the room that was organized was my ink pad holder that my husband built for me last Christmas.

  So for my Christmas present this year Matt painted the walls and the ceiling...

This is the corner where my desk goes

 And then put up crown molding....

Look at all those punches!!

And then he built me a desk.....

All wood will turn into a desk...I promise!

The corner desk top

Cardstock file cabinet on the left Small drawer storage on the right

 After we moved the pieces upstairs to the stamp room I had to work on a few projects so I couldn't wait for the desk to be completely finished.  I was so paranoid that I was going to dent the top or drop an ink pad face down on it!  Matt kept reminding me to be careful with it and wait until we got the glass top for it...It's definitely his baby!

In the Stamp Room with paint, waiting for drawer hardware

Drawer fronts and Cup Pulls with label holders

Just waiting for the glass top

  We've since gotten the glass and I've proceeded to fill the drawers and cover the top with all my piles which I'm slowly starting to find new homes for.  You can barely see the top now but I LOVE all the extra room I have.  My husband is so talented!!  I showed him a desk that I had seen on built-it-yourself website, Ana White (formerly know as Knock Off Wood) and told him I wanted file cabinets on one side for my cardstock and smaller shallow drawers on the other for tools, accessories etc.  He took a look at the plans and altered them for the changes I wanted and Voila!  Well maybe not that fast, all in all the whole room painting, molding, desk building took a few weeks throughout the Christmas holiday.

  I still had the old kitchen table that I was using as my desk and it was looking pretty beat and tired.  My parents used it for many many years when we were growing up and I'm sure it wasn't new then as my mom is a great yard sale hunter so it was probably already second or third hand at this point.  I thought it would be great as a Big Shot, paper trimmer & sewing machine table.  The random cut out piece is so I can set my sewing machine down in it so it is flush with the table making it easier to use. When I'm not using the sewing machine the cut out piece of wood fits back in so there isn't a gaping hole.  My dad did that part when they gave me the table.

Ready for a new look

Side View...the carved details on the legs were hard to sand!

  We took it outside and sanded it down...

Now it looks even more sad!

A good healthy coat of Kilz...

I can't decide if it's looking better or worse!

 And 3 coats of semi-gloss, and 2 coats of poly...

Look at that good looking table.  The Big Shot is excited to have a real home!

 And here is the table with all the gear on it as well as this hutch thing I got when my father-in-law closed down his office which I had been using the same way before the room redo but it made the table kind of shallow and I couldn't spread out much.  I want to paint it to match the rest of the furniture but it's that weird laminate particle board stuff....sturdy enough but I just don't know how to paint it.  Any suggestions welcome!  My husband says he can just build me a set of shelves to mount on the wall so we'll probably do that someday.  For now this works for some extra storage and display space.

The work table

  See those long tall things leaning against the wall...well those are the supplies for my curtains; fabric, liner and rod.  I'm not much of a sewer and don't enjoy it nearly as much as stamping.  I think it's such a long process to sew curtains as opposed to knocking out a few cards which is much more immediate gratification at the end.  So my mom is going to help me out when I go visit them next month, she's the sewer in the family.  The plastic bins are the same ones that I've been using for years to store my stamp sets.  I really need to sort them all out between, current, retired, hostess etc. but that's a project for another day.  The small little wire cart over on the right has odds and ends and is where I store my 12X12 paper.  Ultimately I'd like to clean out the closet enough to fit that in and then have a book shelf in that corner.

  I'm now on the hunt for an old picture frame to paint and hang up above my desk so I can have an idea board with all my scraps of paper and pictures ripped from magazines.  Right now they are all stacked up on the desk or shoved in a binder which isn't very inspirational.  I'm also trying to figure out the lighting for the desk.  There is a spot already set for a ceiling fixture but I'm afraid that since it is behind me it would just cause a shadow from my head right on my work surface.  Right now I have a short table lamp that's OK but I think a taller one would be better.  The OTT lights on the hutch above the work table are sufficient for that space for now.

 If you've made it this far....WOW!  Thanks for taking a look at my new and improved stamp room.  I'll be back to posting cards soon now that I have the organization almost finished and I have to finish designing the projects for my January stamp club!  I'll try to remember to post any other changes so you can see how it's going.

  Here are some of the room details in case you're wondering.

Wall Paint: Valspar Coffee n' Cream (satin)
Primer: Kilz
Molding, Desk & Table: Valspar White (semi-gloss)
Corner Desktop Plans
Base Unit Plans altered as needed
Punch Organization: Over the door shoe organizers from Target
Ink Pad Storage

Thanks for looking!  Happy Stamping (or building or organizing!)