Where do you scrap? I am having space issues.

[bubbasmom99]

DH wants me OFF the dining room table so I need to find a new space to create... I am looking at a scrapbook armoire and also at making my own table. Anyone have any suggestions/plans? I have built stuff before from plans and it turns out okay. The reason I am looking at custom-built is because I would love a hole cutout in my table top to throw scraps into -- I would love to just sweep all the bits of trash off at once!

Anyway, any ideas anyone?

 

[missmulan]

OMG! MY DH just made some hissy comment about how I use our dining table as a scrapbooking table earlier too! Wow, it must be the weather outside.

 

[dizney-cruiser]

hey joy! i dont have any actual "design plans" but my aunt recently made my cousin a craft area - she called it "design on a nickel" and she took two filing cabinets and got a plain white piece of board (forget what it is called) and put it across the two of them - it actually looks quite nice - she also hung material around the outside edge and it looks very nice - so you could easily drill a hole in that and make your "waste area" -

have fun finding a new spot!
keep us updated!

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

Well I'm pretty lucky. We have a room off the end of our kitchen area (I think it was one of those "mother in law" set ups that were popular back in the 60s when our house was built) that is my workroom. DH does use the closet to store work gear and the piano is in there also which means when there are voice lessons to be practiced, etc I lose use for a while. But most of the time it is mine. Which means if I'm in the middle of something I can leave it out and just close the door!

Is there any spare space you can commandeer?

Deb

 

[pjlla]

I use a large portion of our bedroom. It is really a large bedroom (not sure what the builder was thinking, as our 3rd bedroom is tiny....poor DS). I have a large book case, a tall, narrow chest of drawers, a smaller bookcase, and two sets of plastic drawers (large ones, 4 drawers each) on casters, plus a good size work table. Most everything except the table fits in this funny little cubby corner in my bedroom, fairly well out of the way and out of site if I so desired (could put up a curtain to cover the area). And my table is a folding gate leg table, so when I am not working I could fold it fairly small and put it out of the way (not that I ever do.... I always have a project going!). How about finishing a room in the basement?? It would add value to your house and give you your own space. Or part of a spare bedroom or maybe part of a home office area? Good luck..............................P

 

[goofymom/pop]

For years I used the end of the kitchen table, or the table on our enclosed back porch. Then I would pack up and move it away each evening that I worked.

But now....we have 5 bedrooms and one of the kids is off to college, and our son (11) doesn't need a playroom anymore so I made a guest room and a computer/scrapbook room. I am very lucky and it is way too convenient for words. My hubby built me a bookcase from black formica covered mdf, it is 14 inches deep and 4 shelves high (5 if you count the top), about 36 inches wide. Then next to that he built me cubbies 14 inches deep about 6 foot wide 2 foot high, divided in to spaces for tools, paper etc. Under that I have a 6 foot white plastic table that folds if I need to use it for another event or to take to a crop. Then next to my table I have a rolling cart with drawers.
I am thinking of buying one of the new 2x4' tables at Sams that matches my big one to make it an L shaped work space. Plus I think that would be small enough to drag to an all day crop for added space (I usually use two extra chairs to keep everything reachable).

Good luck with your search for space. Are you lucky enough to have a basement? If so, buy a nice light, a couple of the folding tables, a cheap piece of carpet and make a cozy corner until you can afford walls, and such.

 

[Beanie]

I am lucky as well, I have the entire downstairs basement to use, which is finished. My table takes up part of one wall and I love my space! I don't have any actual design, just a couple of shelves that my DH put up for me and also a redesigned dart board cabinet that DH also helped me put up. He put shelves inside it for more space.

 

[ajksmom]

I took over about 7 feet of wall space in our bedroom. DH built a "shelf with legs" that lets a 6' table slide under it. The shelf stands about a 1 1/2' higher than the table, allowing me to have full access to the tabletop at all times. This also lets me take out the table when I need it for big family dinners.
On the shelf I have 2 accordion style files which hold stickers and embellishments by theme, 4 cropper hopper paper holders, a light, 4 photo boxes stacked for other embellishments, 2 magazine holders, and any "work in progress" albums with bookends holding them upright. I have a corkboard on the wall above this area.
Underneath the table I have 6 target cubes that hold extra pages and protectors, extra adhesives, and other things that aren't used too often. I also have a plastic 3 drawer unit that tucks underneath when not used but I pull it out when working for extra space. I keep my most often used things (cutting tools, punches, etc) in 2 bags so that they're always ready to go to a crop tucked under too. When I'm working on pages I slide them out alongside of me.

 

[TiggerFamily]

I'm still using the dining room for my stuff and crops (I'm a cmc). Saturday for my Croptoberfest I took over the living room too, so DH and my 2 DS's had the kitchen and family room for 6 hours on a rainy rainy day. I'm hoping if I put my DH out enough he will say let's finish the cellar for your scrap book room, it's just not in the budget right now. Nancy

 

[bubbasmom99]

I am in California... no basements here. We have a spare bedroom but use it for an office and game room... two computers and a tv and there is no scrap space here!

I can take up a corner of the family room. About 5 ft wide. I can either get an armoire and put it there or do the two filing cabinet with board across the top. Except filing cabinets won't hold 12x12 paper so maybe I'll fabricate something... or get those specialized ones that do. hmmmmm. So much to think about!

 

[nicki dahling]

I'm not going to be of any help. My didninroom is my scrap space for now (lol). And I still need more space.

Cyndi

 

[Disney Ontario]

It started on my dining room table, then I found a huge office desk which is now in our dining room/living room. But if I keep it up on cleaning it out, we have a spare bedroom that I am decorating Tinkerbell/Disney. I keep seeing neat storrage ideas on"Two Peas" I have to get.Right now for christmas I have asked for-scrapbooking storage/supplies and TINK things.

 

[goofymom/pop]

Maybe he could build you two sets of cubes 14x14 so they hold albums, papers, etc. You could sit them 5 ft apart and place a nice finished board on top. This way it will look nice in your family room. My CMC has an armoire,and loves it for storage but has to crop on her table anyway. But that wouldnt be bad if you had a fold a way table to pull out (although I would never put it away ) and then put away when company was coming or something.

keep us posted as to what you do. Hey I would move a computer to the family room and make the space in that room .

 

[PIRATEGIRL007]

I have a huge scrap room with tons of scrapping space, yet I drag everything to the living room floor every few days or so, so I won't be any help at all.

 

[TN Traveler]

I'm not going to be much use to you either. I don't even have a dinning room table to use as my scrapping area!! We don't have a formal dinning room so our kitchen table is our only eating area. We have truly outgrown our house but can't even THINK about selling it or moving it b/c we're sitting on 50 acres of land that technically still belong to my MIL. We have a 3 bdrm house, our oldest daughter has a room to herself while the younger 2 share a room. DH and I have no spare room whatsoever in our bedroom so I can't find a spare corner in our room to use! We do have a full size basement downstairs but it's the girls playroom. I don't want to be down there anyway b/c I like being in the den so I can see if anyone pulls up in th driveway and what's going on outside. So for now I'll have to do what scrapping I can in our den sitting in my recliner! It's worked so far altho I would much rather have a spare room!

 

[hdecker]

DS is getting married and moving out - guess who gets his whole room just for scrapping and cross-stitch. I've already purchased some goodies to go in there and in two weeks it'll be mine - all mine I'm even going to put a lock on it, and a big do not disturb sign - oh, I can hardly wait. Oops - I will miss him, but he's 21 and I love his fiance - so it's my turn now!!!

 

[aurora19]

DH & I share an office work space - which is fine except when I don't have time to clean up - he thinks it's too sloppy. It only doesn't work when we both want to use the computer...

 

[renessa]

I have a spare bedroom for storage, scrapping, etc, but always end up on my King sized bed with everything all spread out. Then when DH is ready for bed i have a huge mess to clean up. I have the space, just don't like to use it.

 

[ljane1]

Hi everyone,
I use the closet in my guest room....lol......We have a closet with double doors on it so I bought a piece of pine at Home Depot that would fit the width of my closet and had DH set it up with a couple pieces of wood drilled into it to make it a desk, I left a couple of inches so that I can have a chair pushed in under the 'desk' when the doors are closed. I left room on one end to fit those plastic storage drawers on wheels (easy to reach) I have a cork board set up and at the other end of the desk I have magazine holders set up. The shelf along the top of the closet holds supplies, and STUFF (lol).
It's great because I can leave what I'm doing the way it is and just close the door without worrying about a mess.
Lesley

 

[LindaBabe]

I use the 'eat-in' end of our kitchen, which is a bumpout 9 feet wide and 2 feet deep. I put a cabinet in each end with a piece of birch faced plywood (stained) on top. The plywood is faced with a strip of 1 by for stability and looks. Under the plywood shelf is suspended another shelf, just as long as the distance between the two cabinets. This shelf is divided into three sections - two hold two silver trays each, and the third one is the right size for my cutters. On one end of the plywood table top is my computer monitor and printer. Standing on the other end is a bookcase, exactly the width of the bump out's depth. My 12" paper is in a rolling file card that fits underneath in the 5 or so foot wide knee space.

I like this spot for several reasons - GREAT view of the backyard garden. Close to the kitchen so i can keep an eye on dinner and still get some scrapping done in odd minutes waiting for the pot to boil, so to speak. has a place for everything. Was inexpensive - I bought one sheet of the ply and about 12' of the 1 by moulding.