My Creative Space

Desk Upgrade - Stage 1

I have been thinking about updating my crafting space for some time. I have searched high and low for a desk and storage system that will meet my needs and I am yet to find one.  Ikea have a great bookshelf system and I will likely use that along the back wall of my craft space, but for now I want to focus on the actual desk.

When you can't find what you need the only solutions are to make do with something that doesn't meet your needs, do without, or build it yourself.  Well, you know me, I chose to build it myself.  I have been doing some planning, measuring, sketching and have finally come up with a shelving system for under the desk and down the right side of my workspace that meet my specific storage needs.

Now the cost of making this is reasonably high, not to mention the amount of work it is going to take!  So I have decided to break it down into stages. I thought I would share the progress by blogging as I go, I will add this as an amendment to the "My Creative Space" tab as well so it will eventually all be in one place.

 This first picture is how my craft desk has looked recently (Ok it is a lot clearer than it usually is lol).  It has been really functional and I still love the hutches I have made for the top but I'm sure you can also see why I have wanted to upgrade it.


First job was to remove the hutches and the old door and put in place a lovely piece of pine that we routed the edges of and stained with a combination stain and varnish.  The colour is great and I have to give a bit shout out to my lovely husband who did the painting over the last couple of days.  The hammer lock shelves from the shed are still doing their duty under the desk, but that's ok you can't see them much.

The next, and for me most time consuming, task was to re-arrange the items on the top of the desk.  The new desk top is bigger 2100cm x 90cm x 3cm, and so things go on it slightly differently.  The great thing about my hutches is that they are able to be arranged in a variety of ways, so I played what I now call "Desk Tetris" to get things where I want them.  I do reserve the right to change this over time but for now I am really happy with the new look.

Next task is to make new hutches out of pine and stained to match the desk, then I think it will be the side section next, with the under desk shelves to be done last.


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I have once again updated my crafting space and I thought I would show you some of the changes.

As I sit facing my desk on the left is this hutch that I had made a while ago. It was initially made to store a couple of 5-drawer units in. While the unit has stayed mostly unchanged, I have taken out one of the sets of draws and some of the lose bits and pieces and today added some extra little mini hutches.


Here are the shelves I added to hold a couple of plastic shoe containers and a note book on the bottom layer.  The plastic container on the left holds my a la carte stamps, and the one beside it my mini catalogues, the note book I use for planning and storing sketches and other bits and pieces.  The next layer up holds an in tray where I store my catalogue, and unmade make n takes, the pigeon hole to the right holds my two paper trimmers.  The top layer holds my Simply Scored tool and my wireless keyboard when I don't need it to help clear space on my desk.  I had to make this one from bits and pieces in the shed so it isn't as neat as it could be.


Right in front of where I sit and beside the hutch pictured above, is this ink storage that I made a while ago, and have now moved the punches to another part of my stamp space.  I now have each colour collection in a column of it's own with the Stampin' Write Markers in the top shelf of each one. 

On top of the ink and marker storage (you can see in this pic how I have my markers stored in the top shelves) I have my ribbon holder.  I made this from a piece of Poly Pipe that I cut a wedge out of and covered in DSP - I may need to be making another one of these when the new catalogue comes out.  So far it seems to be working for me as I am tending to use more of my ribbons now that I can see them right in front of me.


On the other side of my ink storage I have another hutch over plastic draws, this one holds my monitor and a couple of small 3D items. I have now moved the whole set (2 hutches and ink storage) over so that I can get to the second set of draws. They hold my envelopes, pens, and various bits and pieces (they actually need a decent clean out lol).  

This is a close up of my Mini Storage Unit, its a bit smaller overall but each space is wider and deeper to allow for storage of some of the things I like having at hand but have never been really sure where to store them.  Now they are all close at hand and neat and tidy. Again the shelves are all removable, or can just be slid out like a drawer which is useful as I have brads and buttons on the shelves and can pull them out to get to the containers at the back.  The top now has my longer stamp sets that don't fit easily with my other stamps, having them close to hand is great.

To my left is a great storage unit that I picked up at a garage sale for $10! Yep just $10 for this great unit (I have seen them in shops for almost $300!!!  I love that the old style punches fit on the back mesh part of the hutch, and that the new style ones fit on the top mini shelf!  I need to get a second mini shelf though as I have too many punches now!  I now store my Stack n Store carousel on the wooden shelf so that my brads and buttons are close to hand.  The lower shelves contain my stamp sets so they are close to hand as well.  

I know my stamp space isn't as fancy as many out there, but it is functional and while I am working out exactly what I want my space to look like it is really affordable to be completely DIY.  

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October 2020

I have just been doing an update to the look of my blog and decided to click on the tab for my creative space, and WOW have things changed since I uploaded these pictures!  I won't post a new picture now, as I am in the middle of a move to another room to allow our daughter and her fiancĂ© to move in with us while they save for a home.  Once I am settled in I will add some images of me in the new space.  I do wish I had dated some of the above posts!  I am still using some of my DIY pieces as they have been really really useful sizes, but as Ikea and other options became available many of them have now changed.