Once Upon A Time…there was a girl who started playing with a Silhouette Cameo. Some time went by and she decided to buy a heat press. The heat press arrived and was placed in the garage; where it sat, and sat, and sat some more.

More than a year passed, and this girl decided that it was time for the heat press to have a home in the craft room; however, she wasn’t exactly sure where the best location was for it. After a trip to her trusty nearby IKEA, she found the perfect solution, and the rest was history.

Well, that is pretty much how the story went, and I definitely am enjoying the IKEA drawers that I got for my heat press. Fortunately I have an understanding husband because the heat press literally sat in the garage (in the shipping box) for over a year.

Now, we did have some extraordinary events happen during the course of that year with our house flooding, but there was still plenty of time for it to be unpacked and sent upstairs.

Now that I’ve started doing Sublimation in addition to Heat Transfer Vinyl, my heat press has become even more essential. 

There are multiple sizes of the Alex drawers; however, I went with two of the 5-drawer narrower units because they had a better height and depth for what I was wanting. This pretty much puts the heat press at desk level. If it turns out that I want a little bit more height, I’ll have Brad build a shelf that sits on top to make it a little taller (but I think that this height will work well).

(Update: after using this heat press setup for a while, I still like the height and haven’t had Brad build any sort of shelf to make it higher).

Usually when I turn on the heat press, it is to press multiple items. I will stick each item (already weeded) to the side of the cube shelf so that I can quickly grab the next decal as I go.

The drawers are great for storing other items that go with my Silhouette Cameo. The right side is all heat transfer vinyl. I have some various rolls which can be bulky to store; however, they fit nicely in these drawers.

The left side isn’t as full, but I currently have some adhesive vinyl rolls in there so far (as in 3 black 10 yard rolls because I keep buying it thinking that I’m almost out and then discover that I did the same thing 2 months ago and forgot about those new rolls).

The power outlet for this location was located behind the drawers, I wanted to be able to unplug the heat press without reaching behind so I picked up this 12 gauge 2′ extension cord. Basically I wanted the shortest and thickest cord possible since the heat press can draw quite a bit of current.

The majority of my adhesive vinyl rolls are stored on the side of my desk. Brad built this nifty housing device out of some scrap wood and long hooks. The hooks come out about 4″ and create a little shelf for the rolls to rest on. There is about 4″ between each row of hooks. He then hooked it over the top of my desk and it is the perfect spot for my adhesive vinyl to sit (especially the colors that I use a lot).

I have so many fun plans for my heat press and can’t wait to make all of the fun t-shirts and bags that I have in my head. This storage solution will work out well, especially since it is dual purposed. Do you have a heat press? How do you store it?