My Studio - Finished at last!

Last summer we took a crazy leap and bought a fixer-upper house. There are a LOT of things that need work, but the house has one incredible feature - a big main floor dining room with giant windows and incredible light that my husband and I turned into a wonderful office/studio space!

Here's what you see when you walk in the door:

I wanted to create lots of storage that was functional and colorful and eclectic, and this great big pegboard was just the ticket.



I scoured Pinterest looking for pegboard organizing ideas, and there are so many great ones! My favorite thing was this baker's twine organizer from Damask Love  -- it works great for washi tape as well.

The clipboard gives me a great spot to enjoy some happy art. My current pick is this happy typewriter print from Alexa Z Designs -- I have a turquoise typewriter just like this, and it's one of my prize possessions. A long peg on the top row is a perfect place to hang all my pretty Hazel and Ruby papers.

I used 2" hooks to hang lots of organizing containers. These buckets came from the Dollar Store many years ago, and the rectangular wire baskets came from the kitchen section at IKEA - a treasure trove for craft organizing!

These long bars also came from IKEA - it's perfect for storing punches. Because the punches are so heavy, I screwed these right into the wall behind the peg board.

I love color, texture, and typography, so these MAKE letters make me happy every time I see them. The M is a painted wood letter. The A is from one of those cool new Marquee Love letters from Heidi Swapp. The K came from Michaels. The E is also a wood letter, but I glued lots of layers of red crepe paper, then gave it a few spritzes of glitter mist. That red tassel garland came from IKEA at Christmas time.

To the left of the peg board, is a shelf I made from a dresser drawer left at the house when we moved in. I loved the newsprint backing, and I wedged in a scrap of leftover wood to create the shelf. It's the perfect place to store my flower collection and other bits and bobs.

I also *finally* found a use for this old wooden drawer organizer I bought at a yard sale years ago. I filled it with a variety of peg dolls and colorful tiny craft supplies. That corner is also a nice place to tuck my Clip-It-Up organizer, where I store rub-ons and such.

To the right of the pegboard is another drawer shelf - this one is made from a drawer from the ReStore. They always have dozens, and they usually cost a dollar! This one holds larger wood blanks, boxed marker sets, and some other fun little tchotchkes. Below that is a tiny wood shelf flanked by some of my favorite prints from Kensie Kate. The little magnet/chalkboard beneath and the marker organizer to the left both came from Michaels. That organizer also holds lots of stamps and ink pads and other small things - it's a great item!

This storage tower came from IKEA several years ago. It's kind of a mess, but it holds a TON of stuff.

This is the extent of my sewing area - that cover doesn't make it off the machine very often. Sewing is not my strong suite, but I love this very old sewing cabinet that I inherited from my grandma. I'm hoping to restore it to all its midcentury glory at some point.

Here's my main work surface - this glorious, enormous table my hubby built for me. We used the new Kallax shelves from IKEA (they replaced the old Expedit classics) -- 2 2x4 units for the long sides and a 2x2 unit for the end. So much storage space! It keeps all my scrapbooking-mixed-media-peg-doll goodness in check. The top is a great big melamine panel from Home Depot. It gives me a ton of work space, plus there's room for my kiddos to come do homework while I'm working on big projects.

I LOVE all the light that comes in through these enormous windows (there's another one on the opposite side of the room). My office in my old house was in a dimly-lit basement room. I was grateful for the space, but it wasn't much fun to spend lots of time creating down there. But this is glorious!

The narrower desk along the long wall is made from plywood stretched across modular storage units that I've had for several years. The plywood actually used to be my desktop at the old house - it was a much deeper desk, but we cut it in half long-ways to make the narrower desktop for the new space. And in the storage carousel - surprise! - more pens! Lots of other tools, too, but yeah - I may have a problem with pen collection.

  One of my other favorite pieces in here is the Raskog cart from IKEA. It's the perfect place for all my paints. Does anything make the eyes happier than craft supplies in rainbow order? Not much!

On the opposite side of room, we built barn-door style doors to close off my studio (because it's usually a hot mess), and I painted the backsides with chalkboard paint. On the right, which is always visible, I keep a to-do list for my shop and the creative projects I want to tackle. I let the kids go to town on the other side.

That long wall hanging to the right is a gorgeous vintage counted cross stitch from Denmark that some dear friends gave us a couple years ago when my husband and I went back for a visit.

Oh, and here's the newest addition to my studio - my new little crafting companion! Her name is Cookie, and she's the sweetest little miss you could imagine.



Thanks for coming along for the full tour! Please let me know if you have questions about anything!