MAKE!

Can you believe it? I'm still working on my craft room! I believe a craft/sewing room can be one of the most difficult and time consuming rooms to redo or move. For one thing, it takes so much organization which is very time consuming and then there are so many pieces to work with which may be functional, but not too attractive. I've tried not to buy anything new for this room, but use what I already have.

My dad made this looooong pine shelf for me several years ago. We put it up, but it was just too dark for my red walls so I decided to paint it the color of the trim and bead board. You can see the big difference it made in the first photo. Even though I am always hesitant to paint wood (I love the patina of old woods.), I am very pleased that I painted this shelf.

I did buy these letters at JoAnns. They were on sale for $1.99 a letter. I covered them with fabrics that I already had to coordinate with my room colors. Then I hung baskets on my shelf pegs so they'd be handy for any need I might have.

This old lamp was in my attic just itching to be redone.

I painted the brass on the lamp the same grey-green on one wall of my room and the ceiling. The red shade and stem of the lamp goes well in my room so I left it, but I did add a bias strip around the top and bottom of the shade out of the same fabric I've put on the inside of my Larkin desk. You can see the the Larkin Desk a little closer here in the first post about my craft room move. If you'd like to see the second post, click here.

I needed a place to store all my gift wrap, etc. so I pulled this old coca cola cooler out of the attic to use for that purpose.

Thanks to Susan, Rhoda, Kim for hosting these parties to share our projects. Pay them a visit at Metamorphosis Monday, Thrifty Treasures, and Make Your Monday.

Craft Room - Part 2

I'm seeing a little more and more accomplished on my craft room since I last showed you the start of it all. If you haven't seen where it all began, click here. We moved this old oak wardrobe in from the other room. I remember when I bought this piece. Years ago I was diligently looking for an old piece to store sewing supplies. My mother and I were making a day of shopping at junk stores and I found her! Oh my, you would have thought I struck GOLD! We loaded her up in my little yellow Nissan station wagon and carried her home. She was almost bigger than the car, but we made it. Since then, she's been moved to several different rooms.. and homes.

I spruced her up with new fabric gathered in the door and an old key and a tassel.

I've had this basket for years too. I painted the band and handles to match my decor...

and made a little card so I wouldn't forget what's stored in it. And yes, I would forget!!

I also moved my cutting table from the other room. I made it from a door and it works great to cut fabric, make crafts, etc. I don't have to worry about doing damage to the top since it doesn't really matter. I painted and varnished the top to match my new decor and made a skirt for it to hide sewing storage.

I just pleated the fabric about every inch or so and stapled it to the table with a staple gun. Then I cut a bias strip from red fabric two inches wide and folded. I used a glue gun to attach to my skirt and it hides my staples nicely. Well, it's coming together, slowly but surely. I still have some ideas so I'll share with you when they happen.

I'm contributing to Susan's Metamorphosis Monday and Make it Monday. Just click to check the others transformations!

It started with bead board that really wasn't

As I mentioned in a past post, my daughter and her baby will be moving in with us soon since her husband will be leaving to serve the country in Iraq. This means we have to do some rearranging which is just the nudge I needed to get me to update and organize this room. I moved my craft room out of a bedroom to make a bedroom for my grandson. We moved my craft room into a loft area in our house that we used as an office and "what all".

This is what it looked like before. UGH! I can't even believe I'm showing you this photo!!!

This chair went to Habitat for Humanity.

And so did this sofa minus the sofa cover that was on it. I'm expecting one of you to buy either piece for $10 or so and make something beautiful out of them and tell us all about it at one of our future blogging parties! :=)

Okay. Here comes the good part. Remember the post Rhoda at Southern Hospitality did on bead board wallpaper? Well, as soon as I read it, I knew that's what I wanted to do in this room. If you think this looks good, just wait! We don't have the chair rail and trim up yet!

Here's a close up with the chair rail. I just love it! It is so much more economical and time saving than real bead board. I covered the light switch plate with cardstock.

We even found a fan with bead board blades! Installing this fan was MUCH more trouble than putting up the wallpaper!

I'm still working on parts of the room, but come on in! I can show you a few things. Stay tuned; I'll share more as I complete it. This is our old table we use as a desk. We bought it when we were first married. It was an antique even then. HA! It's first service to us was as a dining table, but it's had lots of functions through the years. I would never part with it.

To the left is an old oak filing cabinet that I picked up years ago in an old warehouse of a company going out of business. Above the cabinet is an old buoy, we picked up on a trip to Maine.

To the right, is an old Larkin desk and above it is a wooden printer's tray that I'm using to store my rubber stamps.

We've had the Larkin desk for many years too, but I just covered the back with fabric to compliment my room. The desk stores various cardmaking supplies. One of my Longaberger baskets serves well to hold more rubber stamps.

An old Planters Peanut jar holds stamp letters on top of the shelves.

And an old wooden crayon box holds more crafting supplies.

On top of the other bookcase is another basket and an old Daisy butter churn. Not sure what this little jewel will hold, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

Canning jars hold buttons that I've sorted by color for easy use.

This old poplar cupboard was a companion to the old table you saw earlier. We've had it since we first married also. Again, I've used it for lots of purposes in the past several years. Can't part with it either. All of the items I've showed you I've had for several years and were bought at a bargain for one reason or another. We've never had a lot of money to waste. I've always loved vintage or antique pieces and have tried to buy wisely and bought pieces that I loved. I've found if you do this, you will not get tired of them and be able to use them over and over again.

The basket on top of the cupboard holds my projects that are waiting on me.

They will have to wait a little longer since I'll be visiting all the other posts on Metamorphosis Monday, Thrifty Treasures and Make your Monday right now! Want to join me? Let's go!