31 Days: Making Room For Crafts

Welcome to the cafe, where I am serving up 31 Days of Home relocation experience!

Today, in honor of World Card making Day, I thought I'd tell you a little about my craft room.

Crafters, as you may or may not know, have a lot of stuff.

A LOT of STUFF!

Can I get an "Amen!" from the choir?

I have found that no matter the craft or hobby, it seems to become equal parts collecting and equal parts actually using. As crafters, we tend to stash our stuff because "we might need it one day!" And yes, I know, those are the words that hoarders use right before the film crew comes to publicly shame them. :)

As a crafter, I was on the hunt for a house with a space for my cafe studio.

In dream world, I would have a separate little guest house on my ten acre farm where I could craft at sunny windows while watching the sheep graze in the hills outside my window.

Okay, maybe I've been flipping through too many "Where Women Create" magazines.

In reality, I found something that was perfectly wonderful for me. The former owners were a doctor/lawyer and his jeweler wife. The doctor had set up an office with built-ins in his first floor den. The wife had set up a spot for her jewelry business in an upstairs bedroom that included lots of shelving in a closet and a ton of overhead task lighting. Oh, and did I mention that she had plans to turn a garage room into her personal foundry? I knew I liked these people!

I chose to set up my crafty studio cafe in the downstairs den, and it has been awesome!

Not one, but two closets! Built in shelves and cupboards!

Shelves to house my stamp collection.

Cupboards to store papers and ribbons and such.

A built-in desk unit for crafting.

Flat surfaces for assembling.

An armoire for fabrics, patterns, flosses and threads.

Enough room to tuck in a spot for guests!

As you may have noticed, I am trying REALLY hard to ignore the paneling. On any given day, I can't decide if I like it in a sort of retro vintage cool way, or if I hate it and want to paint over everything with a creamy white paint.

That'd be a WHOLE LOTTA creamy white paint.

In the meantime, I use bright colored accessories to make the room cheery, and I open the curtains wide to let in as much natural light as possible.

Can I just say that it functions, and it functions very well. I am pleased!

I have plenty of space to craft fun stuff like this!

{Today Brew: Stamps and dies from Lawn Fawn, papers from Simple Stories, card stock from PTI and Stampin' Up}

I'll be crafting in my cafe studio today for World Cardmaking Day!

Blessings, cafe friends!