5.11.05
I know scrapbookers think about organization a lot, because we have so much to keep organized! Our guest room (hereafter referred to as "the room I'm sitting in right now typing this") does triple-duty as our home office and also my scrapbook storage space. I tend to do my actual scrapbooking on the dining room table, which is adjacent. I just haul everything out and back every time I scrap.
We've been talking about putting the double guest bed (a lovely antique that my mom was born in, and was my bed until I was married) in Claire's room, as she's about ready for a big-girl bed. This would free up space to put a big worktable in here and make the room I'm sitting in right now typing this a true arts/crafts/hobby space as well as a computer area. (Any overnight guests tend to be grandmas who could just go sleep with Claire and enjoy the night being kicked to death by Miss Wiggly).
Over Memorial Day weekend coming up, Bob the Incredible is going to rip out the old, dirty, yucky carpet in here (the owners before us used this as their boys room . . . two of them, plus a hamster, who all three apparently ate lots of snacks) and replacing it with the same Pergo we have in the kitchen. (I'm a Pergo fan. So great with kids and pets.)
We also need to get the ceiling patched. This room is a late addition (added some time in the 80s, we think), and the flat roof did not have the protective barrier it was supposed to have to keep out rain. This past winter we had TORRENTS of rain here in southern California, and the roof leaked. (Still amazed that it missed all furniture and electronics and just leaked over the unoccupied bits of floor. So thankful for that.) We got a new roof, but the plaster ceiling is still damaged. So this month is "Finally Fix the Room I'm Sitting in Right Now Typing This" month. This includes adding closet doors. The two boys and a hamster had apparently crashed into the old ones and cracked the glass. We unwisely removed them as soon as we moved in, and the closet has been open to public viewing every since. What a mess.
I hope this is not all too boring, this organizational chit-chat. Perhaps I'll post photos once we get it all straightened out. I think new flooring/ceiling/closet doors will just wrap it all up nicely into one fun, bright, comfortable work space. In the meantime, I'm quite pleased with how the desk/storage/bulletin board areas have turned out, and am having fun organizing my scrap supplies.
Early last year, when I really started getting into scrapbooking, I decided to use page protectors I could buy at my local Staples. I can't remember exactly what they're called, but I know the box when I see it. I think they're for presentations, and they're crystal clear (not frosted). The corner edges are cut on the diagonal. They're a good weight, and have worked for me. For a few months, I just kept layouts piled up in the bookcase next to my desk. And then the piles started falling over.
So I started a largely futile search for attractive, durable 3-ring binders. Everyone who scraps 8.5 x 11 knows that for some reason, the industry largely ignores this size when creating albums. This is bizarre to me, because so many people scrap this size now. Maybe they figure that since most regular, plastic 3-ring binders are for 8.5 x 11, we have enough choices already, and don't need any more. Who knows.
Anyway, while I was looking last summer, I saw an ad in my beloved
Country Home magazine for
Russell+Hazel, and got online to check them out. Score! :)
They make these cool binders that have fabric on the spine, and Davey board (no idea what this is . . . it's like chipboard or thick cardboard) covers. You can decoupage them, paint them, whatever. So I bought a hot pink one and a fuschia-purple one, and yay, I was in business.
And now I've outgrown those, and am thinking about binders today because I ordered new colors last week (lime green and light blue), and they should arrive some time today or tomorrow, and yay, I'm so happy about that.
I try not to journal too much about shopping because it's kind of a fluffy and also a short-term-interest subject . . . next year I'll read this entry and think "good grief, who cares?" But every now and again, it's fun to share something I love. Please tell me stuff you guys love! I know the tag-board is annoying because you can only type 200 characters at a time, but if you get interrupted mid-sentence, just keep going in a new entry. :)
