My Stamp Storage Unit

I have had lots of requests to show my storage unit and other ideas.  Unfortunately that requires a couple of things...well...align, lol.  One - I have to have most of my things not out in my class buckets.  At any given time I have buckets sitting around my office with upcoming projects for classes or past projects that I am still waiting to film.  This week - I finally got most of the buckets up - while at the same time my office itself was in presentable condition.  (is it me or do most of us creative types work best in a mess?!)

This is an old TV unit that was my mom's.  She purchased it when TVs were just getting really BIG and still really deep.  Just a year or two later the backsides literally came off the tv's.  When she moved she no longer needed to hide her tv while not in use and gave us the unit to use for storage.  My husband and brother moved it up to my office where it held an odd assortment of stuff for several years.  When the time came for me to renovate the room - the piece really had to go.  The amount of space it takes up in the room for the junk it was holding was not worth the trade off.  Fortunately my husband remembered how hard it had been to get it UP the stairs and said it was NOT coming back down.  In fact they had cut it in HALF to get it up and he had re-glued it once it was in place.  So, I turned to Pinterest and he started designing something that would be much more efficient in storage.

 He built the two boxes that swing out.  You can see when they are closed they hold my ribbons, washi tapes, powders, glitters, embellishments, ink spots, embossing guns, etc.  There is actually quite a bit of spare room still in the front shelves.  Those swing open and there you see my favorite parts.  The bottom of the swing outs hold all of the ink pads, refills and markers in each of our colors. There is space for 3 years of rotating In Colors and with the Neutrals I have kept a few of my favorite retired In Colors.  I don't keep a lot of retired items.  The only real exception to that is ribbon (which I then use liberally to wrap packages) and the Alphabets from the Big Shot.

Above the Inks are punches, platforms, cutting pads, folders, punches, glues, daubers - again quite a lot of spare space.  I find as a catalog year goes on the cabinet fills up and when the retired list comes out I do a 'purge'.  You can see on the backside of the pull out boxes that they are covered in magnet sheets as well.  When the Holiday catalog and Christmas season are finished - I will move all of the dies that are not being used to the back which will open up room for all of the fun new things that will be in the Occasions catalog.

When I left my job in June I knew I was going to need a good chair.  I stalked all of the Home Goods - stopping in every one every time I passed one.  It had to be comfortable AND match my white farmhouse decor' - the biggest thing was that it was gold....not silver.  Eventually I found the perfect one.  However, if you look closely at the photos - you will see there are two different chairs.  My perfect gold leopard skinish chair wasn't perfect enough for my husband.  So the search continued.  Now when he is in using the computer he swaps over for his grey and gold Hilfiger chair.  Home Goods for the win.  My work table has an adorable rolling chair that matches mine. I don't like my feet to dangle (short people problems), so I got a stool to use to rest them on.  Unfortunately my work partner thinks I got it for her throne, so I rarely get to use it.

 I will get work table pictures soon!

 I used Washi tape to write the name and the number of pieces in each of the die sets.  Then when I put them up I can see if they are all there.  The sheets of magnet are from Amazon - much cheaper than buying them in the store.  They are glued to the inside panel of the unit and to the ends of the swinging boxes.

 The original inside (where the TV was to live) he built a unit that would hold all of the paper.  The top slides in all of the colors, the neutrals and holds plenty of space for the In Colors - watercolor, shimmer, glossy, vellum, etc.  Anything that is  8 1/2 x 11.  Some spaces I use for the assorted packs (usually because I am too lazy to divide them up).  One of the unintended advantages of this storage system was being able to see at a glance if I am low on a color.  I also realize there are some colors that I have not used in the entire time I have had them in here (looking at you Tempting Turquoise...but it's not the only one!)

 In the space under that are all of my 12 x 12 and scrapbook page protectors.  The magazine holders are a work in progress.  They are now reinforced, but they need to be covered - because they look....bad.  I need my work area to be pretty.  And pretty they are not.  I looked for a while hoping to find something better - but, really, these work well so once they are stronger they will be good.

 In next to it are some sliding drawer units from The Container Store.  These hold all of the scraps.  Not little scraps - I am pretty ruthless to how big a piece must be to be kept.  If the drawer is full then even more so.  I can only fit 6 drawers in the space - so I opted to divide them up by like colors, not SU color families (ie, reds/pinks, blues/purples, yellow/oranges).  I have an expandable file folder (also from The Container Store) that holds the scrap pieces of White/Vanilla pieces.

 The boxes above the paper...those have the die cut packaging, watercolor CRAYONS, crop-a-dile, glue guns, jewelry making supplies, etc.  I would love to swap over to all kraft colored boxes.  But you know when you are in the middle of a major renovation everything costs money.  Then you just want to be done.  Once you are 'done' it takes a lot to build back up to to phase two, lol.  Once I get the kraft boxes it will be a great time for a second purge!

 The light inside the unit was a great addition - especially if I need to work at night preparing for an event.

As you can see the unit holds a ton of my stuff.  My stamps are kept in built in shelves.  I have my clear blocks, scissors, and adhesives on my work table.  Under the unit are unfinished paper pumpkin and other kits.  If I could get a handle on all of the scrapbooking memorabilia I have in the room - that would be an accomplishment.

The room may look a little barren - but it is only because I chose to keep this side sparse since the unit is so large.  The wall opposite is a gallery wall with brick - so it has a lot going on over there!  Hope you enjoyed the tour - and hope it gave you some ideas.  Keep your eyes open on Craigslist or at the Goodwill.  I see similar units for sale quite often!