A Girl Can Dream...

...and this, this would definitely be a dream...

This is a photo of my friend Jen's scrapbook room. You may recall this post about my fondness for her professional organizer. Can I just say that I can admit when I'm wrong? And I was wrong, big time...

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was this room. Truth be told, Jen was the one who convinced me to put my scrapbook room on our main floor four years ago when I was pregnant and getting booted out of my old scrap space. I thought she was crazy, and I told her so frequently. Sometimes, a friend can see what you can't, however. Since our "formal" living room had a garden door, I slowly grew to like the idea. It ended up being one of the best decisions I've ever made for our family. Since I work from home, my space also had to work as an office. I would highly recommend it to anyone now...

When Jen was reorganizing her basement (the old scrap area), I told her I thought she should make her scrapbook room on her main floor, in a smaller room off the formal living space. Of course, she thought I was nuts. Slowly but surely, the idea grew on her, too...

And so it began.

The following are pictures of Jen's scrap space now. I have to say, it is just perfect. She is an art teacher by profession, and once she laid her eyes on that wallpaper, she knew she had to have it. So her...

The organizing hardware and drawers are from The Container Store. The storage system she used is elfa (30% off right now!) and it is sturdy and holds everything. She has 40+ drawers in this space, along with a computer, printer, Cricut and vertical paper storage.

Hanging file folders house her alphabet stickers...
She has an entire drawer of just masking tape. Gotta love those dividers...

I love the open shelving, too. Jen has a lot of cool containers that she loved, and she's still able to use them with this system.
Every drawer is labled, and withing reach. I had to try on the new place for size and scrapped at her table, just to be sure, of course. I didn't want to leave.
She paints a lot. I love this vintage rack...
And lest you think that the rest of the house is a disaster, I give you this. (She's going to kill me for posting this--I love you Jen!)

I'm so proud of her, I can't even begin to tell you. Here are some snapshots I took of her home on a recent scrap day there...

For the record, I was wrong about painting the kitchen cabinets, too. They are so beautiful--the picture doesn't do them justice!!

I sure hope this inspires someone out there. It has done so for me. Believe me when I say that this journey of moving on after her husband's sudden death has not been easy on Jen or her children. Life does go on. She is living proof that determination, hard work and desire can motivate one to get it together.

Here's to hoping some of that motivation can rub off on me...

Thanks for sharing these with us, Jen. I love you to pieces.

(But I still can't bring myself to doing an "I love Andrea" layout quite yet. :))

For those of you who have made it to the end of this incredibly long blog post, please be sure to check out the DT Gallery here.

How's that for an inspirational Monday?