Lots of Stamp Room Photos

Welcome to my humble and very clean and tidy stamp room.  Does it always look like this?   Ha!  In my dreams!  Note the Swiffer duster on the desk... oops.  Just a touch of realism.

Truthfully, ever since The Big Purge and The Redo I've kept the room very tidy.  When there's a work in progress it can get out of hand until I remind myself to pick up as I go along.  It's supposed to be a happy place, right?

So... I've been meaning to share photos of the new and improved room.  I love seeing other peoples' stamp rooms, so I hope you'll enjoy a visit.  It's nothing fancy, but it's home.  One of these days I'll put some blinds on the window, but for now I'm simply happy with the clean, well lit, openness of it.

In the first photo I'm standing in the doorway looking into the room.  It's approximately 12' x 12', so it can easily get crowded.  And it did get crowded before the redo.  I gave up a lot of stuff in order to be happy stamping in a small space.

The little white table under the window is where I do all my coloring.  It had to be petite enough for my small space.  Height, width, depth, knee space... I could not find a suitable table anywhere, so Rich made this one per my exact specifications.  And I love it.

I guess we'll go clockwise around the room.  It's a short trip over to some storage cabinets.  The tall cabinet holds paper.  Nothing but paper.  There's a chest of doodads on top of the tall cabinet.  The  shorter cabinet holds mostly ribbon, with some cute and colorful button jars displayed on top.  See the plastic containers on the center shelf?  Those are for Copic various inks (refills).  Two containers give me room to grow.

Below you can see into the paper cabinet.  Tubs of 6x6 designer paper in quart storage bags (ziplock top cut off for easy access) with the scraps also in the bags.  There is some degree of organization -- pretty, cute, masculine, holidays.  Shelves of 12x12 Bazzill and Core'dinations card stock.  Whites in the drawers on the bottom shelf.

Drawers of ribbon in the other cabinet.  Bottom shelf for miscellany.

The top drawer of the cabinet is full of ribbon, too.  I hardly use it, gave away a ton of it, but still have lots.  All that purging didn't cut me short one bit.

Here we are at the next corner already.  I have to close the stamp room door to access the right half of the closet, but I don't mind.

Can't help myself... I love the buttons.  Purged bunches of them, but left these, sorted into color groups.  They double as stamp room decor.  Before the redo I didn't have room for decor.  All the wall space was used up with storage.

Inside the closet -- lots of stamps and organized storage.  Lazy Susans (turntables) on top make it easier to get at things.

Pictured below is the Stamping Command Center where card construction takes place.

More Stamping Command Center.  When I saw this big computer desk at Staples years ago I knew it was just what I needed.  Two of those baskets on top hold not yet used stamps, dies, and embossing folders.  I'm slowly whittling them down to size.

Some stacked storage inside the desk:

Moving around to Wall #4...  More of the Stamping Command Center, my sewing machine, die cutting center, and embossing stuff.  I was saving the Susan Wingert print for when the room was finished.  Cute, isn't it?  Embossing powders and Nuvo drops are kept in an old spice rack which I spray painted.  The two baskets hold my dies with room to spare.  I made envelopes and category dividers for all of them.  I also have a magnetic binder for my original die storage, but it wasn't long before I realized it was totally inadequate, seeing as how I became so enamored of dies.

The bottom drawer of the desk and the whole file cabinet are full of 8 1/2 x 11 card stock and whatever specialty papers.  A ridiculous lot of it.  You can see my Copic carrying case tucked down there beside the black file cabinet.  I keep all my Copics in the case and just slide it over to me when I color.  There's a color chart in there, too.

And now we're back here again.  It's a small room with a whole lot of fun packed into it.  Everything in its place and plenty of open floor space.  On the corner shelf unit are stamps and a basket of embossing folders.  The photo storage boxes hold miscellaneous stamps, loosely categorized and room to spare.  The drawer cart by my coloring table holds a variety of coloring mediums, and gives me extra surface to set something if necessary.

All the lamps are Ott lights and there are three daylight bulbs in the overhead fixture so it's like sunshine in there day or night.  I like a lot of light when I'm "working".

My goal is to never ever let my room get over crowded again.  Everything must fit into the available storage and if it doesn't fit, something has to go.  I've quit buying colored card stock and designer paper for obvious reasons.  I'm trying to use all the not yet used stamps and dies before I buy more.  That's NOT easy, friends!

My stamp room, small and unremarkable though it may be, is a magical place for me.  You know what I'm talking about, don't you?  Hmm... maybe I'll head in there now and see what I can color up.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you had a good trip!