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New Craft Room Design

09.27.2021 by Emily // 13 Comments

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Updated 9 December 2021

Scroll to the bottom of the page to see the craft room progress update!


A little bit about me

Did you know I spent the past 14 years living overseas?

I always wanted to travel. When I was in high school, we had two foreign exchange students at our school. One day after a volleyball game, I watched a friend explain to the Japanese exchange student how to order at Subway. She confidently went to the counter, placed her order, and specified which toppings she wanted.

That she could do it so easily amazed me. I imagined myself in a different country, being at a new restaurant, and I could not see myself being so confident in that situation. Traveling soon became a new, important life goal for me.

My first international trip was spending a college semester in Manchester, England, then backpacked by myself throughout much of Western Europe. (My parents were terrified. I wasn’t often alone though; I met fellow travelers everywhere.)

My future husband and I connected over our love of travel when I came back to the US. A couple of years later, we decided to do a semester in JΓΆnkΓΆping, Sweden; then we traveled to Denmark, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Poland, Belgium, and the Netherlands, before moving back home.

We got married, we bought a house…. and then we had the chance to move to Shanghai, China. We sold the house and put a few things in a storage unit.

We moved to Shanghai as a young married couple, and left as a family of five!

Nine years after arriving in Shanghai with just a few suitcases, we moved to Antwerp, Belgium. We left as a family of five and moved everything with an ocean freight container.

We had another baby, and my dad brought me a Cricut Maker during one of his trips to visit. I promptly started using it to make “Team Minor” gear for our family.

In Europe, many people use biking as their main form of transportation. I used a cargo bike to haul all four kids to school in the morning. (Public school in Belgium starts at 2.5 years old, so just the baby was at home with me.)

Five years and a global pandemic later, it was time to move back to the US. Back to the place where I’d been born, but hadn’t spent much time in for the past 14 years.

Honestly… I was terrified.

How are we supposed to fit in? My 10-year-old asked, “How do I explain to people that I was born in China, went to school in Belgium, but now have to go to school in America?”

The older kids went to an international school, with grades of 10 kids… and almost every kid in their grade was from a different country! Their new school has 170 kids in each grade.

The younger two kids went to a local school. My kindergartener had three years of full-time school in Dutch under his belt, and my 3-year-old had a full year of local school already.

School in the US was going to be a huge change for all of us.

After a summer of living in my in-law’s basement while we searched for a home, we moved into a big, log-cabin-style house with lots of natural wood. This is the first place that my kids have lived that has a yard with grass!

It’s pretty odd to know that all of your worldly possessions are floating on a gigantic container ship in the middle of the ocean. They arrived safely!

Setting up a new home in South Dakota

Above the great room is a loft… which I have claimed as my craft room!

I’ve never had such a big space for crafting. In Antwerp, I had most of my Cricut and computer stuff in a wardrobe.

The Cricut Hanging Blade Caddy was designed to fit my small space!

Many electronics have different voltages (the US uses 110 v and the rest of the world is 220 v) so I’ve bought a new sewing machine and the new Cricut Maker 3. I put my Cricut Joy (which is dual voltage) in my suitcase so I’d have a Cricut with me while we were getting settled.

Now the big question is… how do I set this space up?

I found a second-hand dining room table to use as a main crafting surface. Hubby installed three shop lights so it’s nice and bright.

But how do I organize boxes and boxes of supplies, ranging from markers and paper to vinyl and fabric?

How do I deal with the sloped roof, which makes it difficult to access things if they are stored next to the walls?

Any ideas or suggestions are welcome! Just leave a comment below.


Update: 9 December 2021

You gave great advice to put shelves on wheels!

You can’t tell from the photo, but the shelf is about two feet away from the wall. This way, I don’t bump my head every time I load or unload my Cricut. I store the large rolls of commercial vinyl in the narrow space next to the wall.

Paper scraps go into the top shelf where you see the scissors. I want to save the scraps, but they covered every flat surface until they had a designated spot.

Cricut machine on top of cabinet with six black storage cubes.

I love this cart.

I designed the vinyl roll holders and am so excited to share the SVG with you!

Unfortunately, my Cricut errors out when it’s about 40% done cutting the chipboard with the knife blade. Cricut customer service will be sending out a new machine.

But tell me… would you want to make something like this?

How do you store your vinyl?

Colorful HTV vinyl rolls on top of a paper storage cabinet.

The paper shelves (in the above photo) are something I’ve wanted for ages!

I started coveting them when I saw Jennifer Maker’s Tower of Power. I had my husband cut 48 boards for the shelves and 96 pieces of molding for the sides. Unfortunately, her directions to hot glue the molding in didn’t work for me. My cabinet was too smooth.

After cutting 96 pieces that weren’t going to work, my husband wasn’t exactly leaping from excitement about more cutting.

Guess what I used?

“Tumbling Tower” blocks! I’ll explain and write a tutorial later. It was easy and cheap. (What do I do with 96 pieces of 1/2 inch molding now?)

The taller shelves are even further away from the wall. That works well for my Hanging Blade Caddy. My kids use the space behind it for their own little art room hideaway.

Cricut machine on top of cabinets on wheels.

A new explosion box is being created! Can you tell what the theme is?

What theme for an explosion box would you like me to design?

Let me know in the comments below.

Birthday explosion box with balloons made from colorful card stock.



* Links to products are for your convenience in finding tools and materials, however, they are affiliate links.
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. *


Categories // Uncategorized

Comments

  1. Dieter en Esther says

    September 28, 2021 at 5:24 am

    Nice room, greatings from Belgium

    Reply
  2. Beth says

    September 28, 2021 at 5:37 am

    What an amazing space! I saw this picture of someone else’s sloped space: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/28/7a/6e/287a6e94884618884e7709f53014831e.jpg. Maybe that could provide some inspiration? πŸ™‚

    Reply
    • Emily says

      September 29, 2021 at 5:48 pm

      A lot of sloped spaces have shelves on the wall with the windows, and it looks amazing! For some reason, I just can’t imagine shelves on that wall in my space. Maybe because the desks (and my sewing machine) are there right now. I’m going to have to move a few things to try and visualize it better. Thanks for the inspiration!

      Reply
  3. Michelle says

    September 28, 2021 at 5:53 am

    What if you used short shelves on wheels under there? Then just pull them out as you need them instead of crawling in on your knees. Maybe use the wire shelving so you can have a hook on a pole to pull them forward?

    Reply
    • Emily says

      September 28, 2021 at 5:03 pm

      oooh…. that’s a great idea!! Thank you! I am imagining hitting my head a lot in this room. πŸ€•

      Reply
  4. Jackie L Perrin says

    September 28, 2021 at 7:30 am

    What a wonderful craft place you have. I have a small space in one bedroom that my husband share with me for his office. I have a table with my cutting machine , then my sewing machine then my serger. I keep my supplies in the closet which I hate because I have to more all my boxes out of it when I want to use my supplies. What i need It is always in the last box in the back of the closet.

    Reply
    • Emily says

      September 28, 2021 at 5:01 pm

      My husband kept saying that he wanted to be in the loft too… but I managed to get him to change his mind.πŸ˜‚ Obviously that might change soon, but for now it’s my very-messy space.

      That’s always the problem with storage; it seems you spend more time looking for the darn supply than actually using it.

      Reply
  5. Amanda says

    September 28, 2021 at 7:48 am

    Maybe a custom workbench with drawers in the middle of the room
    Something like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/711647510/ultimate-workbench-woodworking-plans?ref=lx_share

    Reply
    • Emily says

      September 28, 2021 at 4:59 pm

      Those are awesome! I just sent the link to my husband. That store has so many cool things; I think we might have to buy a 3D printer too. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  6. Anonymous says

    September 28, 2021 at 3:32 pm

    Love your story, couldn’t have come at a better time. I am currently moving my family of 4, and the overwhelming feeling is a lot. We had been praying for this bigger home and space specially for my Tucker hubby and now the moment is here and I am filled with anxiety and stress. I can’t images what moving for you was like, I’m moving 2 his away but you did an International move and it makes me feel a little ashamed bc you handled it like PRO! I have 2 teen dauthets and hubby and you have a wagon full of little ones. Girl let me tell you…You just inspired me! Oh about the space, its beautiful you will figure it out I’m sure where it all goes. My stuff is going into the garage for now but God willing I get me a sheshed in the near future. Have a blessed and wonderful day. Dilcia

    Reply
    • Emily says

      September 28, 2021 at 4:32 pm

      Dilcia, there were many, MANY tears involved during all this. We just have to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The stress and anxiety looks much smaller in hindsight, but in the middle it’s gigantic.

      🀞🏻for your she-shed! I wanna see pictures whenever it happens. No hurry now; the biggest concern is just moving and making the new space a home.

      Reply
  7. Christina Maffia says

    February 28, 2022 at 11:31 am

    Beautiful craft room! Enjoy!

    Reply
  8. Elaine Hoover says

    March 6, 2023 at 1:16 pm

    Awesome work space!

    Reply

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