When you do what I do running a craft education business - creating content, testing products, review products, and providing education on equipment - you tend to have a lot of "stuff." In my case, stuff is printers, machines, heat presses...just stuff.
I get questions almost every time I do a Facebook Live about pretty much anything visible in the camera shot. So today I figured I'd take you an office and craft room tour and provide a little behind the scene look at how my dream space came to be.
Home Office and Craft Room
Before we get to the goods let me just give you a quick lay of the land...and some background on how it slowly turned into this space.
Keep in mind, when we built this house in late 2016, we did so with the business in mind. We knew I would need an area to record videos and we knew Bob and I would would both also need home office space. At the time, I had the latest and greatest Silhouette machine, the Silhouette CAMEO 3 (and several older models) along with a heat press, home printer and a Sawgrass sublimation printer.
The second floor of our home has a loft with a small pocket office off of it. Originally the pocket office was my working office and the loft was the area you see on Facebook Lives - where I do videos.
That part hasn't changed.
What you didn't normally see was that Bob's desk was right behind the camera. We shared that space..and for a year or two it was plenty of space. BUT...fortunate as we are, the business grew and so did the equipment I needed to run it and the required space to store it all.
Silhouette America released three separate models of the Silhouette CAMEO 4 (along with a new Alta and Portrait), sublimation was becoming increasingly popular so I got a hat press and mug press to demo with, and Silhouette users started asking..."What's next after vinyl and HTV and sublimation?".
With no basement and little storage, "stuff" was creeping into the work space. Shooting videos was challenging if I had any hope of making them look somewhat tidy and hoped to avoid an hour on each end just to move equipment all over the second floor of our home so it was in or out of the shot respectively.
I added storage in my master closet for overflow. I consolidated heat presses and got an 8 in 1 to save space.
I added this large pink rolling cart that I could easily move around and store stuff literally on, in, and under.
We got the kids loft beds so their desks could fit under them in their rooms and I kicked Bob out of my craft space convinced Bob how great it would be if he had his own home office space now that the kids didn't need this room for their desks.
When he happily moved into his own space, I took over the full loft and office space upstairs. And I couldn't be happier...you can tell, right? :)
Admittedly it's a dream space to work, craft, and run three businesses.
It's pretty. It's bright. It's finally organized. Most importantly it makes me more efficient as I no longer need to move equipment all over to do videos and tutorials. Everything has its place and it's all in a place where it makes sense for my day to day work and crafting.
It's also a far cry from the oversized living room chair and folding table where Silhouette School was born in 2014. I too was what I called a Dining Room Table Crafter...but the needs of my business have shaped what it's grown into today.
- Why didn't you buy a house that would have accommodated your business. We did...at the time.
- Why do you need all that stuff. To run a business.
- Where do you store all that stuff. See above...and my craft neighbors and friend who've been on the receiving end of donations when four or five heat presses just became excessive.
- Wow...you're lucky. Work hard and invest in your business.
Shop My Craft Room and Home Office
Because I am asked so often where I got __fill in the blank__ I have compiled a list of pretty much everything you see in my craft and work space above. Whenever possible I have added the link to the item so it's clickable and you can check it out for more details or to purchase.
Silhouette Machines
*Silhouette CAMEO 4 Pro Stand - I DIY'ed the stand from another 24" machine I had. There is no stand for the Silhouette CAMEO Pro and it's not easily compatible with other stands since the 24" cutter doesn't have screw holes in the bottom so it can be secured to the stand
Silhouette CAMEO 3
Silhouette Portrait (1)
Heat Presses
Other heat presses I own
Printers
Sewing Machines
Basic Sewing Machine
Other Craft Supplies
Ikonart Stencil Making Kit for Reusable Custom Stencils (Use SILSCHOOL for 15% Off)
Home Office Furniture & Equipment
Floating Shelves - custom built
Tall Cabinet with Cork Front - discontinued
Random Stuff
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Oh looks so nice!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful!!! You have worked hard to achieve all this. People that have not had a business of any kind do not understand it just doesn't come to fruition without many times of pushing through. You are really smart in figuring out issues, it marvels me.
ReplyDeleteMay God bless the years to come!!
I love this post. I know you do a ton of sharing of who what when where why and such. I especially like that you have the links for the items you have in your craft room. I wonder if someday we can see the specific of a tool and the storage around that item. For example: Your sublimation section, the machines, how you store, ink, blanks, blow out, spray paper and such. Specifically the height of the space you work in that area and how you function around that space. I see this as a series of posts for each machine. I have many of these machines and feel cramped and not sure how I want to lay my things out when I do a redo craft room. I think highlighting each machine and the items that go with that machine with its blanks and tools and storage would allow a diversified audience pick the machine(s) they have to relate to what you have. You always seem to read my mind on what to show me about this business and the machines. Thanks for always being efficient, helpful, detailed and full of valuable information.
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ReplyDeleteAwesome our rooms look so much alike but I love your middle table so much more more where is yours from.
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