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I am planning a trip to Ikea (the Disneyland of stampers/scrappers!) after Christmas with the intention to start acquiring some elements for better hobby room storage. Where to start though?!? I want to look at the Benno, Expedit, and Alex lines. What else?
If you put together an Ikea hobby room which elements did you buy and which has proven the most functional for you?
Which would you suggest to get first?
Is your primary work area a table or desk? Glass or other finish?
Are there any units that ended up being a waste of money and space?
Are these items I could put together myself? (I'm better at instruction reading than DH, but he has the brawn.)
Other than towel bars for punches, what does Ikea have in smaller items that work well for organizing stamping stuff?
I am looking at the white finish and already have a number of storage cubes from Michaels that I would hope would blend in well with anything from Ikea.
I went with the white for my craft room too- be aware that it scratches easily! I dragged something across the top that must have had a sharp edge underneath, and it marked it. That said, I love my Ikea furniture. On my blog, here, are pictures of what I put into my room, about half way down the page, past the 'WIP' pics. You will see I had an Expedit 5x5, also an Expedit 2x4 with desk addition. This is perfect for my 'bug, sewing machine and BSPro. I can house all the dies/plates etc in the cubes to hand.
I had a white LINMON/ADILS table to work at,I went for the 150x75 for this, then two more of them for other walls, this time the longer and narrower, 200x60. Instead of legs on one end of my desk, I had the ALEX drawer unit with 5 drawers. One beauty with the tables is that you can get either standard height legs, which I did for my desk and one table, but you can also get extending legs, which allows you to raise the table height up. I had to do this for my one table as I had drawer units I wanted to put under it, and they were too tall for the standard legs. They are dearer though, but it was cheaper than buying new drawer units!
They are really easy to put together, you could do it yourself easily, you may need help with the lifting of them though.
Other stuff: Look around places like the kitchen & bathroom areas- Plastic pots which hang off a rail are great for pens/pencils/brushes etc. Also they have little metal hanging baskets- good for bottles/sprays etc.They also have drawer dividers and make up organiser trays- good for pens/bits and pices in the drawers. Or use cutlery trays.
Going back to the Expedit units, you can also get drawer packs ( 2 drawers in a pack) to add in, as well as doors. They have any number of storage boxes that fit the cubes too. Have fun!
Thanks! And that was some remodel you did---so glad I don't need to think about replacing windows, wall surfaces, etc. I realized from reading it how important it is that I measure, sit down, and make a detailed floor plan of what will work where before I hit the store. Being in the store will be idea overload!
I did a very simple layout, as my craft space is half of our family room. I find Ikea overwhelming so I first made measurements and drew a layout of my space. Then I went to Ikea's web site and looked for items that met my criteria. When I went to the store, it was only to visually confirm that I liked what I had chosen. I got an Expedit desk in a dark walnut color along with an Expedit cube unit (it has 16 cubes in it) also in a dark color. Nothing else I bought was from Ikea. I found that storage cubes from Thirty-One fit perfectly in the Expedit cube unit and they looked pretty. I bought paper, ribbon, ink, and marker storage from stamp-N-Storage. I am VERY happy with what I bought at Ikea. The desk is roomy and the cube unit holds all my supplies. I put it together myself although I needed DH's muscles for lifting the unit into place.
Absolutely with the floor plan! I forgot that bit. I had a huge list of what I wanted, ( more Expedit Cubes on the walls) mainly, but when I worked out the room size, and put them all into the plan, it looked like it would only work for me if I lost 50lbs, rofl! Given that I'm 150ish to start with, I though a new floor plan was more likely to work, lol. It is very easy to get carried away in Ikea, no doubt,and too easy to be convined that things will work, then when you get home you realise it will only work if your room has the same expanding properties as a TARDIS!
I can't say I've ever purchased anything from IKEA that ended up being a waste of money, but I plan out everything in advance.
Definitely do a floor plan, go online, get measurements of the items you are interested in and then see how they work. Think about what items you need to store, and how you want to store them. Look at other people's IKEA rooms online to get ideas.
I've done my craft room in IKEA items and am really happy with it. I chose a white Linnmon table top with an Ekby shelf on the left, and an Alex drawer unit on the right. I haven't had a problem with the durability of the white table top.
I chose Billy bookshelves over the Expedit, first because I had someone give me free Billy units, and second because I like the shallower, more flexible storage (with a back so stuff can't fall out). You can get extra shelves for Billy and really customize the space. If you need to hide your stuff, you can get doors for Billy. Unfortunately, the free Billy shelves I got were the wrong color for everything else, but hey, they were free.
I need to do my office next.
__________________ aka Sue. Or Sue-odd.
No blog for me. My gallery chronicles my card-making successes and mishaps.
I have a lot of Ikea things in my craftroom. My biggest tip is to consider putting two 2x4 Expedit cube units on their sides, back-to-back, and using them as a base for a workstation. It's a little low for me (I'm over 6'), so I added height (more storage options!) because I do a lot of my work standing up. I have two of these workstations now and absolutely love them. When we redid our kitchen, I snagged the old island tops (the old kitchen had two islands, which is one reason it's the old kitchen) and they're the tops for my workstations.
I have lots of Lack shelves (both units and floating) because I need the spacing options that fixed cubes don't offer.
Furniture is black; walls are a rich bluey-purple/purpley-blue. Workstation tops are forest green fake granite pattern Formica.
ETA The workstations are like islands. If pushed up against a wall, I wouldn't bother making a station two Expedit units deep, as you'd never get to the stuff in the back. My islands can be approached from all sides, so the fact that they're 36" wide/deep isn't a problem.
__________________ Hi! I'm ISO the Fun Stampers Journey stamp "Say Cheese" AT-0167. Thank you!
Last edited by TheOtherMeg; 12-15-2013 at 01:07 PM..
By the way, re the scratching of the desktop-that was entirely my fault, under normal use all my worktops have been fine. It was as I was moving everything from one room to another, I'd been putting stamps I wanted to unmount into an old paper tray( the stacking kind). Unbeknown to me, one of the little legs that separate them had snapped, and part of it was still sticking out of the bottom of the tray. Needless to say, when I pushed it across the worktop.......
Hmm, the idea of using Expedit units to create a counter work space sounds very interesting. It has got me thinking about the need to plan not just floor space but what and where certain height counter surfaces are needed.
I was curious about an Alex large drawer unit that I have seen in hobby room pictures. The only model I saw on the Ikea web site comes with casters, but I have seen these units stacked three high, I think. Are people paying for a bunch of caster units and just not using the casters?
Hmm, the idea of using Expedit units to create a counter work space sounds very interesting. It has got me thinking about the need to plan not just floor space but what and where certain height counter surfaces are needed.
I was curious about an Alex large drawer unit that I have seen in hobby room pictures. The only model I saw on the Ikea web site comes with casters, but I have seen these units stacked three high, I think. Are people paying for a bunch of caster units and just not using the casters?
While you could certainly leave the casters off the 9 drawer unit, it is the narrower 6 drawer unit that is more geared towards being used under a desk as a support. The nine drawer unit is a bit shorter, even with the casters (since it's meant to be rolled under a desk) - 26 in vs 27.5. Without the casters it may be a little awkward height-wise. Also, keep in mind that the 9 drawers are quite wide, and you may find you've limited your leg room below the desk.
I have both units, the 6 drawer holds up one end of my desk and the 9 drawer creates an L with the desk for me to store things on. But it's good that it is on casters as I have had to occasionally move it out of the way.
__________________ Traci
Who needs tattoos? I already have ink in strange places...
I realize now that I've posted my reply that you never said you wanted to use the wide unit as a desk support. I read the first sentence and then the second and put them together in a completely mish-mashed way.
Sadly, I do this all the time...
__________________ Traci
Who needs tattoos? I already have ink in strange places...
My room is 90% IKEA: 2 4x4 Expedits, 1 2x4 Expedit (stacked on top of one of the 4x4 Expedits), 3 9-drawer Alex, 4 6-drawer Alex (two stacked, two on casters under table tops), 4 5-drawer Alex, two corner tabletops and two 4 ft. table tops, and 9 Benno dvd shelving units. I LOVE it all!
I do have a warning though. Be careful about storing punches in the Alex drawers (the wide ones.) If you put too many punches in them, the bottoms of the drawers bow and pop out of their slot, then you have to take the drawer out and fix it.
I think, generally, you buy any legs/feet separately with Ikea stuff, so you can get them to stack without buying the wheels. I put the 5 drawer unit under my desk, as the one end support, and it leaves plenty of leg-room. It also holds a lot of stuff, the drawers are long, open all the way out, and best bit, the sides are as high as the front, so you don't get stuff falling over the sides. I've had drawer units in my kitchen, where the fronts are assorted heights, but all the sides are narrow ones! Very frustrating. Still, I know what to look out for next time!
Regina, got any pictures of the room in the Gallery? Are the drawers with casters supporting the table or free-standing under it? I thought the Ikea table height wouldn't allow them to be free-standing? Did you have to get the extender legs?
Do the Alex drawers all come pre-drilled to take optional casters?
Can't recall my other visits to Ikea - are there employees posted throughout to guide you through the process and give your particular plan the technical OK?
I can't get my pics to load to the gallery. DH replaced my old computer about a month ago and I'm having problems with the photo editing software that's on this computer so I'm having problems re-sizing them. GRRRR! Don't know if you can see them on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/regina.moye...7293836&type=3
The white set is my craft room where the Alex drawers are. The black furniture is my class room.
The casters come with the six drawer Alex and the bottom is pre-drilled. You don't have to put the casters on but then they'd be awful short. My six drawer Alex that are under tables do not support the tables. I have regular size legs on one end and a five drawer Alex (which is slightly taller than the six drawer Alex) on the other end supporting the table.
I highly recommend the four-drawer Malm chest ($119.00 in Canada). It holds an incredible amount of stuff and the drawers are way easier to access than cupboards. In addition you don't need to buy additional baskets/boxes to store the stuff. I have two of them side by side and they are a great height for standing and creating. IKEA sells glass tops for them as well. I wish I could fit a third unit in my room.
Thanks for all your input. It helped a lot, and I knew exactly what I wanted when I went to Ikea. I also had measured for the carton dimensions and was pretty confident it would all fit in my SUV. Good thing I wasn't too confident, as there was room for a lot more back there. (Another trip...)
I ended up with the 8-cube Expedit; as I wanted a unit short enough to take a large television and not so cumbersome that it would be near impossible to move out of the room. My desk is the almost 79" long Linnmon with two Alex 5 drawer chests. Fantastic for spreading out your work!
My old desk is now the Cricut and Cuttlebug table but that may change if I want to add more drawer storage.
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