For three years my sister and I have been moving furniture around in our own homes to make our working space more efficient. This can be difficult considering we produce custom invitations, personalized notepads, personalized note cards and cups just to name a few. A lot of equipment and supplies are needed for this type of business. This is officially my fourth move into a different space within my same house. And it’s for good! I hope you love it as much as I do.
I “relocated” my kiddos out of their playroom to make my own playroom. It was great to be able to work with a clean slate, literally. I carefully planned my workflow when creating the floor plan for this room. There are definitive areas for each task. 
The floors are my favorite thing about the room. They are wide planked knotty pine unfinished floors that Jodi from JBP Woodworks whitewashed and finished for me. They are gorgeous and everybody comments on them. Jodi also built this swoon worthy craft table for me. Message me if you want his info, he builds custom furniture and he’s very talented at what he does. I very carefully planned out this centerpiece. I looked at a lot of different examples of craft tables on-line and then had it built to my specifications. I pondered for a small while and tried to negotiate with hubby to build it, but realized this was not a good use of our time (or arguments!). My Silhouette and laminator have ample room on these long open shelves and can plug right into the floor. I even had small shelves built for our packaging bags with lips. It is simply awesome, and my kids sit here and do homework and/or crafts.
The best thing about this space is the immense amount of storage. There’s a huge closet in this room that all my paper and shipping supplies hide in, and the built-in shelves were there before. The printers live here away from little hands and paws. Don’t you just love the back of the shelves? I bought that at Target. Super cute, but not quite as easy as it looks.
This room is my own little island oasis. Even the paint color is called Sea Salt (Sherwin Williams). After printing, I have a table committed to cutting. Personalized notepads are assembled and glued here. You wouldn’t believe how easy it is to make your own notepads, perhaps a DIY post on this in the future?
The craft table is where I package the orders (envelopes are here, too). All the packaging supplies live here, included the postal scale, twine, Moo cards (link here: http://us.moo.com/) that we package all of our orders with. Packaging products are super important; it is the single most thing people comment on in our feedback. That first impression is oh so important. Make sure they know how to find you again and again and that they feel super special when they receive their item!
Planning your studio/craft space can be really fun and challenging at the same time. Make sure it reflects somewhere you would love to work. Isn’t that one of the many reasons for being an entrepreneur, besides picking your own work schedule? I’ve worked in utility closets turned into offices, and I’d like to think this is a far cry from that.
I just love a before and after shot, so here goes:
Feel free to stop by anytime at hedoe paper!
About Tiffany & Heather
We’re two sisters that are the best of friends. We love classy, high quality paper and can talk way too long about which pen glides over which paper best. Tiffany & I get excited about opening our mailboxes to see what is inside. Unfortunately, these days it’s mostly filled with bills and junk mail. We truly believe a written note or letter evokes emotions – joy, sympathy, gratitude – that an email cannot. A paper invitation or written note is a keepsake for life. Let’s try to fill our mailboxes with more of that. hedoe precious paper; A Vend Raleigh Directory Member
A Vend Raleigh Directory Member
- hedoe precious paper Shows us Behind the Scenes - July 10, 2014