In My Studio with Kira

Hello again friends!  It’s Kira and I am so excited to be sharing a glimpse of my crafty space!  

For those of you that don’t know, my family and I moved from Seattle to San Antonio in May 2017.  We lived in an apartment temporarily while we house hunted so the majority of my craft supplies and storage were chilling in our storage unit for the first few months we were here.  I had a very tiny craft space in the corner of our master bedroom.  And while it wasn’t ideal, it helped me figure out how to keep my stash minimal and gave me an idea of how I wanted my craft space to look when the day came where I had a room of my own.  

And that day is finally here!  We moved into our new home late November 2017, but I just finished adding some final pieces and finishing touches to my room.  My room is in what I suppose should be a formal dining room, but since we already have our eating area off the kitchen, and don’t plan on hosting any formal dinner parties any time soon, I got to claim it all for myself.  It is right off the kitchen and formal living space, which is where my kids spend most of the day so I am able to play with my scrappy supplies while they busy themselves with their toys.  

I have lots of storage that I accumulated while living in the apartment.  This 4 cube unit is from Target.  I keep my paper separated in all of the iris containers.  And my albums live in the bottom two shelves.  I only started scrapping in late 2016…so those albums are all from 2017.  I am probably going to need more album storage at some point.  Lol.  

On top of the shelves I keep my ink pads and embossing powders in this tiered stand from Harbor Freight.  I spray painted it copper (along with several other pieces in my room).  I keep my sewing machine on these shelves as well.  I added this piece of sheet metal to serve as a magnet memo board.  I keep all of my design team assignments listed here so I know what I need to work on next. 

On the other side of the door is my main work desk.  I am a standing crafter so the cubes holding the desk have elevated legs so I can work at standing height.  I keep baskets in the shelves under the desk that hold embellishments, punches, etc.  And I have a Fjalla container from Ikea that holds whatever additional kit (besides Citrus Twist) that I am working with at the moment. 

My typewriter lives on top of this desk, mostly because my kids won’t leave it alone if it is anywhere lower.  And it’s just too dang pretty to keep locked away in a cabinet. 

This aqua organizer holds my Citrus Twist kit for the month.  I love all the little sections that keep all the pieces together and displayed for easy viewing and use!

I keep all my washi in a bowl on my desk.  I thought having it out would help me use it more, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  Do you have a product that you have a tough time using?

The glass container holds all of my bakers twine, which has to be one of my favorite elements to include on a page or in a project.  I keep a lot of little bowls and pretty dishes out to hold any additional small embellishments I want to use. 

I wanted a place to display some of my layouts before putting them in an album.  So I added some hooks and wire and have my most recent layouts hung with clips I purchased at Ikea. 

This 2 cube shelf is also from Target.  It holds various essential items, such as pens, rulers, scissors, adhesive, black ink, roller stamps, etc.  On top, I have a rose gold basket to hold mini albums/finished TNs.  And my initials. 

 I just recently purchased a second desk from Ikea.  My other desk was also holding our computer, and it was making it very cramped.  So I decided to create an “office station”, mostly for my husband so he could pay bills and whatnot.  I wanted to keep it at desk height so he could sit comfortably at the computer and also so my window wasn’t blocked by a desk. 

I added some Alex drawers under the desk, and a magazine rack for my husband to organize the bills in.  It’s a pretty boring part of the room, but necessary since I do all my photo printing at home and use my Cricut a lot. 

Speaking of my Cricut, one of my requirements for my new space was to have my Cricut out all the time.  Before, it lived in my armoire and I had to pull it out every time I wanted to use it, which is like multiple times a day, not joking.  Now it has its own space right next to the computer. 

On the other end of the desk is a letter sorter from Ikea.  I purchased this to hold printer paper (which my husband can never seem to find) and photo paper (that always seems to get lost).  I ended up adding my fun foam to it for easy access, along with my sequins and embroidery thread. 

Above my desk I have a hanging planter that stores my ribbon and trim. 

I also have a couple of raskog carts in my room.  They are usually holding a few tools and some bits and pieces from current projects I am working on.  I don’t keep too much on them because my youngest son can’t resist puling everything off of them.  Maybe in a couple years I can utilize them more. 

On to my favorite piece in my room, my armoire!  Some backstory about this:  my parents used to have a vacation home in Tucson.  And it was decorated very Southwestern-y.  And this armoire was kind of the star of the show in the living room.  So when they sold their house about ten years ago, they asked me if there was anything there that I wanted them to bring back to Washington, and I immediately said the armoire.  I didn’t know what I would use it for, just that I wanted it. 

Fast forward ten years, this thing has followed me to about 4 different houses (btw, it is a huge pain to move because it’s huge and heavy), and I keep saying I am going to paint it and use it in my craft space.  And while it has been used to house crafts, I never got around to painting it, until about 2 weeks ago! 

I created a poll on Instagram to see what color I should paint it, and mint won.  I added copper hardware to coordinate with pieces throughout my room. 

I haven’t organized the inside to my exact liking yet, but it houses my printer, project life cards, and other odds and ends. 

If you want an even more detailed look inside my room, you can check it out here.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

xo, Kira