Saturday, July 10, 2010

Why I created this blog...

Hey, Scrappers out there! I have created this blog to have a place to share ideas and storage solutions with others who have the same passion as I have for designing and redesigning (and redesigning) my scrapbooking room (Ok I admit, I may be a little OCD). When I first started scrapbooking a few years ago, I set up a small table and put up some shelves in my small laundry room, and thought this ought to do it. As my passion for scrapbooking grew over the next few weeks, so did my amount supplies and tools. I quickly ran out of room in my little laundry room. Besides, now the dogs live in there and it can get a bit little hairy!

After helping my husband to see the benefits of my moving into the "spare" bedroom, and how I could use "one wall" of the room and have the closet for extra storage, it was settled and I made the move. Having an eye for design, (too much HGTV) I realized instantly that my plastic table wasn't coordinating well with the bedroom furniture. Hmm... another dilemma.. well, the only solution was furniture to match of course! I am one of those matchy matchy types. So, being on a "budget" (because this wasn't going to get out of hand), I started the search for an inexpensive solution. Thinking I would find a workstation to match the bedroom furniture would be easy, I quickly realized "scrapbooking" and "inexpensive" don't go together, and there was no IKEA within a day's drive, I started Googling "scrapbook storage solutions" and "creative craft storage", etc. What I found was some great stuff that was way too expensive for me! Remember: I am keeping this within reason. Anyway, that was my intention.

After finding nothing within my budget, I decided to try to design something that would work, except I didn't have any design programs on my computer (not that I knew how to use one). So, I figured my best solution was Excel. I can do anything in Excel! It is the best program ever! Using each cell as a one inch square, I started designing my new scrapbook workstation. I spent days working on the perfect design and finally it was time to build it. I love power tools; everyone including women should have some! My husband and I went to the hardware store and decided that 3/4 inch MDF was the best option, plus "they" always use it on HGTV on all those shows that are budget-friendly. It all seemed so perfect until we realized that 4 foot by 8 foot sheets of MDF were too big to fit in our SUV. Hmmm... another delimma, so off we went to start shopping in discount furniture stores.

After an intense day of shopping for furniture that would work (at this point in my life I had never heard of Craigslist), or that was not too expensive, I was a bit discouraged as I sat down in the last furniture store to collect my thoughts. It hit me as I was looking at the too-expensive perfect piece of furniture: the hardware store had that "big saw" and they could cut it! Am I smart or what?? Don't answer that! So, off to home we went so I could figure how to have the hardware store cut the 6 pieces of MDF into 3 or 4 pieces per sheet that would fit in my car, while using as much as possible of each sheet. Don't ask me how I do this stuff it is just how my brain is wired!

So, off to hardware store we went again and this time with an Excel diagram of each sheet of MDF, showing how to cut each sheet. They were really happy seeing me coming, NOT! And after a long, long two weeks for my husband who agreed to help me, I had the workstation to match the rest of the furniture in the bedroom finally built. My husband will tell you that once I get an idea in my head there is no stopping me! I won't stop until it is done, working from morning to night for as long as it takes. He loves that quality about me, I am sure! LOL

That is how my obsession with my scrapbooking room began.

1 comment:

  1. Hey Sharon, great to hear about you and also why you have created this blog. Really nice post and some good thoughts sharing. i hope you will continue to post good stuff in the future.

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