I have dreamed of having my own craft space for as long as I can remember. For years, I'd store my limited supplies in various parts of my home and even tried to create a little corner of my bedroom as a dedicated "Jessica" space. After awhile the corner was overflowing so I upgraded my little 4 x 2 cube organizer to a larger armoire we inherited from my husband's uncle. As months and years went on, my special space has varied and transitioned numerous times as I could never give up on the idea of my ideal space.
My craft space/spaces/room/office/closet/garage has transitioned numerous times, and I'd even just rearrange everything to have a better "flow" and so it could "make more sense". I'd switch furniture pieces out we had around the house, or found at our local discount store and try to decorate my humble space in intentional ways so it could feel like ME.
When we purchased our current home, it had enough space for me to claim an entire ROOM as my office/craft space/safe haven. I've cried about it more times than I can count, and am grateful beyond belief for the opportunity to have something like this. Over the last 11 months we have lived here, I've continued with my tradition of rearranging the space countless times so it could "make more sense" - whatever that means.
I haven't shown too much of my office on social media simply because it hasn't felt as special as I knew it could be. But then things changed...
It has been one of my DREAMS of owning a DreamBox from Create Room (formerly The Original Scrapbox) and curating the perfect, most cozy creative space that made sense for me. I've seen primarily paper crafters own and share about this magical piece of furniture, but only envisioned what it could be if *I* were able to play with one.
Thanks to the incredible generosity of my new friends at Create Room, I was gifted my ultimate and custom Dream Box and I'll spare you how many tears I shed when they told me they wanted to send me one and see how I would fill it up.. but it was a lot. The day my crate came was during the beginning of the COVID-19 quarantine here in Oregon. I chose to let the box sit untouched for a few days before I sat right on top of the beast and started my journey of curating my dream happy space.
**Pssssst!!! You can get $100 off your own DreamBox with code THNDREAMBOX on their website**
After my husband and I got the (prebuilt) DreamBox assembled, I spent literally alllllllllllllllllllll day rearranging my craft supplies, yarn, and other goodies into this unicorn. I'm talking we started assembling it at 9am and I went into my house with it all set up at 9:30pm (and I might have enjoyed a delicious bottle of cabernet sauvignon during part of this). I had so much fun moving things around and figuring out what would make most sense for me. I chose not to order the extra set of bins because I knew I wouldn't use most of them anyway since yarn takes more room and I like the look of big, full shelves - it just inspires creativity for me!
Other than getting the shelves set up, the longest part of the process was making actual decisions on where I wanted what. I tried to place everything as intentionally as possible, but still wanted texture to be the main focus because that's what I'm most inspired by. I knew I wanted yarn to mainly fill the shelves, and wanted the other knick-knacks in anything leftover - ha! Basically I filled the outside door sections first because those had perfect spaces for scissors, glue, hooks, pouches, skein savers, pens/pencils, and other random little things. It was AMAZING because even though I didn't order the extra bin set, my DreamBox came with 16 lidded jars that I stored my safety pins, clips, push pins, buttons, hot glue sticks and other little things at the bottom of the doors (because they just weren't as cute as the yarn, but that just means I need to find ways to make them feel just as special).
The included hooks that screw in on each door made for the perfect place to store/showcase my scissors and The Hook Nook skein savers! Not only are they super cute, but these heavily used items are just a reach away and have a dedicated spot I can always find them in. And did you see the little black circles in the top corners? Uhhhh, those are BLUETOOTH SPEAKERS that I was able to add into my order. I'm not exceptionally tech-savvy so I have my usual speaker in the center area for now - pretty much because it's already connected to my phone - young folk, don't laugh at me.
Anyway, I went through my several areas of yarn stash and grabbed all of the yarn that I WANT to play with (yeah, if you can believe it, this isn't my full stash) and tried to keep it relatively symmetrical on "heaviness" just because I'm someone that finds joy in things like that. I have every kind of yarn from The Hook Nook Collection up there, as well as several goodies from WeCrochet because I'm excited to work on some projects using it soon.
I also managed to set up my printer using the Power Up accessory for my DreamBox. I use my printer exceptionally often because of shipping labels, things for the kids, and other work stuff so having it right at my fingertips is super useful! I've mainly seen people connect their Cricut machines in that space, but I print much more often than I use my Cricut. Everyone has different things that feed them, right?
In the bottom shelves below the table/desk, I placed my cutting boards, random bits & pieces, camera bag, shipping essentials and my special box I store all of the mail/cards I receive from others over the years. I think the oldest piece of mail in there dates back to 2014! If you've ever sent me a card and/or small gift, it's probably in that box so I can keep it safe forever. I also have some more unpackaged supplies in little bins as part of my "reserves", or if I feel like someone else could use it before I will, it also acts as a gift box for potential happy mail. I just really love sharing.
Take a peek below for more up close shots of how I organized my DreamBox from Create Room:
Here are the exact pieces I ordered from Create Room to complete this DreamBox setup:
- White Shaker DreamBox (includes 40 totes & 53 shelves) - click here
- Crown with LED light
- 3-piece drawers
- Left & right side tables
- Power Up - power strip
- Crafter's caddy
- Cutting mat
- Boom baby - bluetooth speakers
- Upper Hand - tablet and smart phone holder
Not only is this DreamBox functional and actually useful, it really allows me to curate the exact mood I want to encompass in my space by what I place on my shelves. I can choose the color palette, the different fibers exposed, patterns and textures... Even if this was all of the space I had to be able to express myself within my home, I couldn't ask for a better way to do so.
As a creative/maker/crafter/human, this DreamBox will forever inspire me and I highly encourage you to explore getting one for yourself! You can get $100 off your own DreamBox with code CREATEROOMJESSICA on their website and that's a whole LOT of money that can be spent instead on materials and supplies! Woot woot! Click here to learn about all of the sale details!
Thank you from the bottom of my heart to my friends at Create Room who have helped me completely transform my creative life as I know it. I'm so grateful for products made with intention and quality that truly AID in your life.
So, you gonna twin with me and get one, too??? Ooooh, please let me know if you do!!
xo,
Jessica
