Hobby Room Ikea Cabinet - Butcher Block Top

 Back in December I bought an Ikea storage cabinet and put it together in my 2nd floor office - where my current in progress Chateau is. 

While in a big box store last month, as I was purchasing my soldering iron, I came across a butcher block top that was exactly the right size for this cabinet. I brought it home and fitted it - its perfect! 

It is packaged as a counter top that you can hinge, to save space. It comes with brackets to support this type of installation, but obviously I wasn't interested in that. Sometimes you happen upon things when you aren't looking. And, I shopped around online and found it at another big box store for less...bonus!

Workspace organization - Ikea cabinet

 My Cricut needed a better home than the old desk I had it on. Let me set the stage a bit. My main dollhouse miniatures workroom space is in the basement where I have the main storage cabinets including some Ikea cabinets.

When I got the Chateau dollhouse, I had to find a home for it in a different space than in the basement, since I wasn't going to work on it right away. So I located it in a 2nd-floor bedroom, which is where I do my real work - what I do for a living (I work from home). 

As I started to work on the Chateau, my need for tools, etc., came with that. It's not very convenient to have to constantly run down 2 flights of stairs to grab sandpaper or glue. So I have had a dual-use room for the last 2-3 years. I've improvised with some old desks that we no longer use (I do use some of these desks as my dollhouse miniature village in the basement). So my old desk housed my network equipment and printer and became the temporary home for my Cricut. 

I've been admiring Sherrill's craft room and her use of Ikea Havsta cabinets and bit the bullet and bought one a few weeks ago. Today I got down to business and put the one I bought together. It of course took me longer because I did a few things backward but it's finally done. I'm very happy with it! I love the nice wide size and the narrower depth of the cabinet. 

It also helps to hide the things I now have inside - printer paper, Cricut supplies, a color printer...and some mini tools. I still have to clean and organize the closet in this room. It's become a catch-all for more mini supplies (wallpaper, tools, furniture I will use in this dollhouse). But that's for another day. And please ignore the mess around my actual desk, I have to organize the old desk on the left or get rid of it. I will probably get rid of it too, but right now my rolling drawers slide right under it and it does provide an additional surface to be able to set up my cutting mat for wallpaper.

Workroom space and cabinets

 It occurred to me I haven't shown anyone my workspace. 

Years ago I took over one half of our finished basement and set up a hobby table and purchased a nice Effictiv Ikea cabinet. It has served me well over the years. The top is double doors and I have paints and stains on a shelf, tall spray paints, and glue bottles, sandpaper boxes in the top shelf. 

The bottom space in this top cabinet is set up with 2 plastic drawer units. Those drawers include 2 with lighting and electrical supplies, one or two that have architectural embellishments in them, one drawer with stain pens. 

The next section down is 3 drawers, with the top drawer being open divided boxes with clamps, one with tools, one with painting supplies- brushes, and spatulas. There is some open space for larger things. The middle drawer is wood strips and the bottom drawer is wallpaper. Yes, I have a stash of each and that has grown more than I will ever use, truth be told. 

The very bottom section of this cabinet is 2 short doors, and its mostly junk odds and ends  - wood parts, supplies that I didn't use from kits (stairs etc), and rags, as well as some plastic grocery bags that I use to line my garbage can. 

Last year I had more things and needed another cabinet. I wanted the same series, but Ikea no longer makes it. I went with Havsta - a light grey unit that is really 2 units. The lower half is deeper and has 2 doors, and the upper is taller but less deep, also 2 doors. I wanted to find drawer units that fit it as well, but I've had some trouble finding ones that are not too deep for the top cabinet. See how I put it together and how I've filled it...notice it just fits, about touches the ceiling!

I was so tickled when Sherrill posted recently about her Havsta build!