Alternate Pandemic Crafting Area? *Updated*

Might I suggest shopping your stash for a project and finding a small home for any must haves (with room to grow just in case you find you're constantly looking for something that you didn't think of when you set everything up)?

I actually do more diamond painting than anything these days. In the way back before covid times, my daughter began pre-k at the elementary school and I just didn't like the folding table I was using for diamond painting taking up so much of the open space (my room is crammed full) in my scrapbook room. I also didn't like that I didn't have a screen in easy view, plus there were times when there wasn't much to watch on YouTube and my biggest wish for my craft space is a TV...but I don't have the ability to install one. I ended up getting a small Linnmon/Adils table setup from Ikea and butted up the desk in front of my dresser up in my bedroom so I could watch TV and diamond paint in peace while the kids were at school. The plan HAD been to simply move the desk out of the way when I wasn't using it, but that didn't end up happening because I use it so much.

We braved the task of wall mounting my daughter's TV (Christmas gift) in December, so we went ahead and mounted the TV to the wall in our room, too. We just slid the dresser down and moved the table up against the wall under where the TV was installed and it's been working great (about 2 weeks now). In the time I've been diamond painting upstairs (a little over a year and a half), I have added a second Linnmon/Adils table put on bed risers so I can keep odds and ends nearby, lifted a bit so I was able to slide a trash can and a Raskog underneath. It isn't quite an L shaped desk as I have an old Ikea Expedit 1x5 in the corner with the desks perpendicular to it on either side, but I really like the layout and it works great for me. We also had a spare Alex drawer unit from a desk we were no longer using, so I keep that as a makeshift nightstand and keep even more extra diamond painting stuff in there just a few feet away from my main work area. Only mentioning that part just in case you have other nooks and crannies in your bedroom to keep stuff nearby but out of the way.

I am absolutely sure this set up or something similar would work great for scrapbooking. You could fit 2 Raskogs under the table that I have (it's the small $9USD one that is being discontinued and the replacement line doesn't have this size but the next size up is only about 9 or 11 inches wider) and if you weren't aiming for cheap, you could also splurge on some of the adjustable legs that Ikea sells...at $15 each for the adjustable legs versus $4 each for the Adils legs + $6 for the bed risers at Walmart, I opted for the less expensive route even though the risers make the base of the legs quite chunky.

I'm not great at being descriptive but hopefully that helps. I hide in there all the time as my scrappy space is directly under my oldest 2 kids' room and my oldest loves to jump off of his bed and is heavy footed, which causes my anxiety to spike (no amount of politely asking or screaming my head off when I'm at my whit's end has helped curb the behavior). The master bedroom is the quietest space in the house and having that area of peace and quiet is something I have been thankful for MANY times over the past year...even if I do have to lock the door to keep the little ones out when even chit chat is just too much stimulation for me.

I totally relate to your feelings - perhaps you're an introvert too?

I've definitely felt the need to look at our house and work out how I can re-arrange a few things to make things feel like there's more 'headspace'. We even moved my husband's office upstairs (he's a church minister) to make downstairs feel more like just our home. Things like that are really important to our mental health, as you say.

I like your hubby's thinking: he's lovely to think it through for you and recognise that you need this alone time.

I wonder if you could fill your trolley with the supplies you need to do specific projects? Perhaps you might need to do a little Ebay shop to duplicate some basic tools so you're not running between the two areas, but if you could pull papers, embellishments and pretty bits for a handful of layouts or one mini album, might that work?

I definitely feel that this is worth pursuing and trying to work out - our scrapbooking time is so much more than a productive thing... for me, it's about switching off the inner dialogue and worry and really investing in myself.

Let us know how you get on!

Heba with My Little Journal did a tour of her set-up and it's in her bedroom. It's a pretty big area, but there might be some ideas in the video that you'd like. I thought it was a neat way to set-up her space. www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJBd_ZaC0pE&t=796s

I am struggling with my space as well. I am WFH 2 days per week still and that will be permanent so now my office is in my scrap room. I find I'm not wanting to go in there lately. I need to rework the space but it's been hard to find the energy.

I hope you feel better soon. COVID is the pits.

I have half my stash in the basement workout area. I scrapbook from one end of our LR. My paper is in the LR, but my IRIS cases with embellishments are downstairs. I just grab what I need and bring it up. When I have too much mess, I bring some of it back downstairs. I long for the day I have a proper scrapbook room with all my stuff in one place. But, it works.

If IKEA is far check if what you want is in stock. Stuff, desk/table stuff, has been flying off the shelves at ours all year.

I’m sure you can gather ‘kits’ together to craft from your stash and do well that way. I used to have my craft stuff stored all around the house so if I couldn’t go get something I kept a note on the front of that ‘kit’

I had to have everything away back then at the drop of a hat so I made full page kits with papers embellishments photos and kept them in 12x12 envelopes in a crop instyle binder in various stages of completion.

I can relate to this. Making a few kits helps, and if there are things I need from my big stash (it's always embellishments as I'vechosen the palers already), I try to make a sticky note, set the layout aside, and move on to the next one. I will finish up the page when I take it back to my main scrapping area, sometimes in batches (a few pages at a time). That way I'm not feeling like I can't make use of that "perfect thing" I have in my stash, and can move on to the next layout!

Remember too that this new setup for you is a journey, not a destination. You can tweak things as your system with this setup evolves!

My space is in a shared office with my husband, who is now working from home most days of the week along with my daughter doing distance learning so I get little done in the shared office. I do like others have suggested, I have a project basket that has stuff that I want to work on and I "shop" my stash in the office. I have a small folding table in the living room that can easily be set up and taken down when needed and that seems to work well. I usually only work on stuff after my kid goes to bed because she will 100% be in my business and I don't get anything done. Our house is very small so there's really no escaping anyone.

Really hope this works out for you - good job for spotting the problem and working to resolve it.

I've definitely found this time really hard in terms of not having my own space. I've been going on long daily walks just to get some alone time, but what I really crave is having my house back now and then

I completely feel you on the introverted, overloaded with everyone home situation. Lots of good advice here. Just a couple thoughts:

1. Limiting your supplies can often jump start creativity. Try not to get caught up in the "I have the perfect thing downstairs" to speed up work, but to also prevent the interruptions you already have. Some of my most productive scrapping came when I worked out of two Rubbermaid bins and a mini tote at the coffee table.

2. If working in another room doesn't end up working out (or having scrap stuff in your sleep space is too distracting), can you put on headphones and tune out? I get a lot of reading and other "me" time sitting right next to my son with autism, but with headphones on.

Congratulations on your lovely new setup, lostwithout2peas . I can't blame the kitties for trying to appropriate the new "platform to the sun" since they are the true masters of the universe, after all. 

I'm really glad to read your creative energy is bursting again and that you're getting scrappy things done. It's all that matters! Kudos to you for reaching out here for advice and then taking the leap.