Not too long ago, I took a cake decorating class at Joanne’s Craft Store. One night while passing thru the store to get to the class room, I noticed the coolest looking sewing machine situated right along the aisle. It pretty much stopped me in my tracks. I asked the sales person about it, and she said it was a limited edition and would be available for only a short time. A few weeks later, as the class was coming to an end, I found myself drawn to it again. At the time, I had two other sewing machines, but one of them had been problematic since I had first acquired it at a tag sale years before. I decided to try once more to see if I could get the machine to work properly and if not, I was going to buy the lovely machine at Joanne’s.
Well, even with hubby’s help, we couldn’t get it to work and I, admittedly, was secretly happy :). We gave the machine to one of our employees who, get this, LOVES IT and says it works great. So….I got my new toy last week and brought it up to our log cabin this past weekend. Now my craft room makeover is complete. Are you ready for the big reveal?
Pretty cool, right? Kinda like old meets new.
Now on to the rest of the space. First let me show you what the room looked like when we first purchased the home back in 2005:
Pretty nasty, huh? So we went to work and put up some walls, used luann for the ceiling, bought some inexpensive cabinets and a ready made laminate slab and made a desk, bought a work bench and kept the table that was there when we bought the house. So I had plenty of work space and I was pretty happy. These next few pictures are not the ‘afters’. They’re what I call ‘interim’ pictures.
This next picture is basically the same view as the last one. I used a flat sheet to hide the fuse box on the left. Now keep in mind, I deliberately took pictures of the room when it looked it’s messiest. You know when you see ‘before and afters’ of people, and they always show the ‘before’ in terrible lighting? (And I swear I think they tell everyone to pretend they just lost their best friend ’cause they always look so miserable). Well, that’s what I did because I wanted my room to look as bad as it could so the ‘afters’ would look more dramatic. 😉
See that sewing machine on the left? That’s the machine we just couldn’t get to work properly, but now that it’s in someone else’s possession, it has decided to behave.
The room has one large and one tiny window, so I didn’t want to cover the large one up, but it felt weird at night so we bought an inexpensive woven shade in white so now I don’t get the heebie jeebies.
I hate wasting space, and these large doors have some pretty valuable real estate just begging to be put to good use.
Now I realize the room was fine the way it was. But, I wanted a little bit of color. The rest of the house is sooooo brown, and I felt if I can’t use a little bit of color in my craft room, then when? I admit I went a little color crazy, but I don’t regret it.
I found some inexpensive fabric ($4.00/yd) at Joanne’s and bought enough to cover the wall to hide the fuse box, but this time I secured the fabric with carpet tape on the top instead of a curtain rod. The result was it doesn’t protrude into the space as much and opens things up a bit. I painted some plain wood shelves that we had cut to size in purple, turquoise and blue.
I bought a vinyl shoe holder where I store small items and hung my self-healing pad as well. The other door works well for my iron and ironing board. Now the doors earn their keep.
Ok, am I a complete dork for putting that on the soffit?
I also used the fabric to create a skirt for the table. Although I got rid of a lot of the junk that was under there, it still makes the space look a lot neater. Plus, how long do you think it’s gonna look neat under there? Huuuuummmm?? Exactly! I bought some more pegboard and painted them in bright colors, and hung some plastic baskets with small hooks above, where I store things like rags, gloves and sandpaper.
The table to the right was originally a dark green (it came with the house). I painted it in different bright colors and protected it with some poly. See those chairs hiding against the wall behine the table on the right? I see a future Anne Sloan Chalk Paint project in the works.
The holders are simply cup insulators I bought at Michael’s for just a few dollars. Love the colors and they’re super practical.
Thanks for checking out my craft space! I hope I’ve given you some ideas for your own special craft room!
Dawn says
Hey Ladies! You are awesome! I have awarded you the Liebster Award! Congratulations! follow to my post! http://www.birdiebirdiewait.com/2012/07/liebster-dearest-liebster-means-dearest.html
Kathy Moody says
Wow, your room looks amazing! I would love to have all that space to work in! I love the colors! I know what you mean about the brown in the rest of the house. One of these days I’m going to tackle my bedroom and paint it blue. LOL
HUGS
Patty Martinez says
That looks awesome! What a transformation. Thanks for stopping by my blog and following. I love your blog.
Laura says
Wow! The room looks great! I love your new sewing machine!
Roeshel says
Wow! What a room! Great space to get creative and crafty! Awesome organization and pretty details! Love it!
Anu@MyDreamCanvas says
Great room!!! I am hosting a Giveaway to win a 50 dollar gift card to the store HomeGoods. It would be great if you stopped by and entered. Thanks Anu
Elzabeth@ Blue Clear Sky says
What a great makeover. You are going to enjoy working there.
Yvonne @ StoneGable says
Doreen, a makeover is right! From the before picture till your pretty finished room… the transformation is amazing!!!!]
The best part is that you have your new vintage-look sewing machine in the cabin with you and you are crafting!!!! I think that is as close to heaven I could get on earth. I would never want to come out!!!!
Please join us for TUTORIALS TIPS AND TIDBITS, my weekly linky party. Your craft room makeover would be perfect to share! Linky goes live tonight (Wednesday) at 8:00 pm. Hope to see you there!
Joy @avintagegreen says
Hi Doreen; great craft room renew – and an amazing Singer. Never saw that one before, bet it works like a charm. Thanks for visiting and commenting on my post.
Joy
Megan says
Your room looks amazing! Especially considering what you started out with. You did a great job using all of the available wall space and even the doors. Aren’t those hanging ironing boards great? Thanks for sharing!
Jennifer says
I love your craft room. I dream of having a room like that. You have a great blog with a lot of inspiring posts. I will be checking back more frequently. Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Liz Fourez says
Hi Doreen! Your craft room is shaping up to be beautiful. And that sewing machine… LOVE!
Shannon says
Cute space–light and bright and tons of room. I am jealous. I am just dying for light lately! and wait–that sewing machine is new? Very, very cool!
Sarah{Handbags*N*Pigtails} says
What a great space you have now! And I love your sign on the wall:) Made me smile!
Donna L. says
Love your craft room. I too, need to cover a fuse box in my room. Never thought about a curtain. Might have to try that one. Got a lot of good ideas from your room.
Thanks for posting!
Donna