As My Scrapping World Turns: Final Episode

“What do you think Honey? Can I convert the game room into a scraproom?” I waited for an answer. There was silence. That’s when it happened. The stare. The blank stare. I knew that stare. I had seen it before. I got that stare when I tried to convince him the first time that I needed a room for stamping. I got that stare at the airport coming back from Minnesota when I told him that I had to buy another suitcase to get all the rubber stamps home. I got that stare when I told him that my Mother was moving in with us. The stare made me a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t an angry stare or a cold stare. I don’t really know how to explain it, but I know that when he looks at me that way he is very deep in thought. It is like his mind disconnects from his mouth. He says nothing. He just stares. It’s the stare of a man that is retreating deep into his man-cave. It is almost like the stare of an animal that is in about to meet his prey. He knows that I am determined. He knows that I have given this a lot of thought. He knows that I have looked at this from every angle. He also knows that he has been ambushed and caught off guard. He knows that it is likely a losing battle on his part and he knows, as many men do, that there is a razor’s edge that you must balance on when you get between a woman and her heart’s desire. It’s a “Grab your butt, she’s at it again stare.” A “How do I get out of this one stare.” “Well, what do you think?” I asked again. “Can I have the game room to scrap in?”

I had already thought this through. I thought about my youngest son, who is sharing a room with his hormonal preteen older brother, and how he really should have his own room. I figured that if I could convince him that the kids needed their own rooms and that I would be willing to “sacrifice” my scrap room so that this could happen then I would get my wish and everyone would be happy. If I move into the game room, then I will have to have my stuff organized so that it will look neat and uncluttered. If I am going to be organized then I will need cabinets. If we put cabinets in here then we will have to get rid of the couches and the chairs, and the toys and you see where this is going…. Ahhhhhhh hahahahhaha (evil laugh)

After a little arm-twisting, much hard work, sweat and tears, my wonderful husband and family caved in and helped me reorganize and moved things around. We worked hard setting everything up. It was no easy task.

First we had to clean out the gameroom and find a good home for the furniture we had no place for. We sacrificed an entire living room set, in 90's pastel colors (so sad to see it go...NOT) with matching white washed end tables. The furniture was in perfect condition but we could not get a single person to take it. It wasn't ugly, just out of style.

Then we had to assemble the cabinets. I would have liked to have had custom cabinets built, but I wasn't going to push it. That would have been asking way to much. So instead we bought some cabinets at Lowe's and assembled them ourselves. 2 drawer units, 2 large wardrobe sized units and one utility sized unit.

Then we had to unload the old room. That was quite the task. There was stuff everywhere. Down the hall, in the bathroom, in the game room, in our master bedroom.

E V E R Y W H E R E!!

Believe it or not but I actually ended up with less storage space than before so I had to creatively consolidate and purge much of my goods. As we unloaded the old room I put boxes and boxes of papers, embellishments, stamping and scrapping goodies in boxes to give away. The stuff I wanted to keep got sorted and reorganized and loaded into the new cabinets. I had to conceal as much as possible so that it wouldn’t seem cluttered. I sorted everything by color: paper, brads, eyelets, prima flowers, and ribbon. Then I sorted all my stickers and embellishments by theme. I cut 12 x 12 plastic envelopes in half so that each envelope's contents would be contained but accessible. Those got stored in the drawer units, similar to a vertical file drawer system. My photographs got stored in rolling towers with 4x6 drawers, sorted by subject. I still had tons of stamping stuff too that I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of. My paper stayed in my paper rack that I fashioned out of wire cubes. It works great. I got to buy a White Trestle desk from Target to match the white cabinets and was able to set up an extra table for a scrapping guest.

In between sorting and organizing we cleaned the old room and moved my youngest son's stuff into the old scrap room. My youngest decorated his room with Indianapolis Colts gear and my oldest turned his room into a hip preteen rock and roll crib.

The entire project was quite the challenge; one that took us about two weeks to do. But man was it worth it. I now had the the “Scrap Room” of my dreams. And guess what? It really did work out best for the kids. They are much happier in their own rooms and now with the added space they are each able to have a desk in their room to do homework. Their grades have come up and there is no longer the battle of distraction at the kitchen table every night during homework. They no longer stay up nights talking when they should be sleeping. They are happy. And so am I. My hubby, well, when Momma is happy, everyone is happy. Right?

My room, while it isn’t perfect by any means, it is a wonderful space to create. The furnishings semi-match (most of them are white) and everything is organized and has its place. I can now invite a couple friends over and we can scrap comfortably. It is well lit and spacious. I can spread out and my computer and phone are all right there. It is upstairs and out of the way and if it get’s messy, no one has to see it but us. It is where I create. I can watch a movie with the kids and scrap at the same time. My son can watch the Colts play and I can scrap and watch at the same time. My kids can play the Wii and I can play along or just watch them have fun. It is where I spend my time preserving memories for my family.

My “Scrap Room” is where I hang with my family and friends and do what I love. It doesn’t always stay clean. In fact it rarely is clean, but it is where we live. All of us. The kids, the dogs, my hubby, Grandma and friends. This is where we laugh, relax and enjoy life. It is where we celebrate being a family. I am truly blessed to have such an amazing and supporting family. My husband and kids are the best. My family knows how important scrapping is to me and they support me 100%.

Life is so good….scrappin’ good.