Saturday, January 24, 2009

A Lemming and A Naked Craft Room

I know, you're asking, "A lemming, as in the furry creature that blindly follows the lemming in front of him regardless of the consequences??" Not quite, but I am a Blog-lemming, which can lead me to dangerous places, like online stores with things that get added to my totally out of control wish list... ANYWAY, something happened in blogland, because some Sisterhood blogs that I thought I was following, I wasn't, and I just realized that this morning, and *sheesh* have I been missing out on a lot of posts!! So, sorry Michelle and Karen and Gael that I have been missing so much on your blogs! Hopefully, that will all be fixed in a jiffy!!

Below are a few pics of my totally undecorated and naked craft space (more on how I'm going to resolve that in a minute). To make a long story short, my DH walked into his Nascar room/our computer room one day and said, "Do you want me to make this into a craft room for you?" After I regained consciousness then took his temperature and validated his identity, we packed up all the Nascar stuff and got to work. I was considering built-in shelves and cabinets, but I want to be able to convert this back to a small bedroom if the need arises. The pics are small so this post won't be a mile long, but just click on 'em for a closer view. :-)

These are pics of that hutch thingy that my hubby brought home one day...way bigger than I imagined and not too bad after a couple coats of paint!! Behind the doors are all my big platters and bakeware and such that I don't use every day (because I have NO space in my small, old kitchen that I hope we resolve soon). Oh, and that is Lila, The Girl Cat, lounging in the picture. When I am in this room, she is almost always in here with me.



The lower shelves of the top section hold my stamp sets plus my ironing supplies, which will be hidden soon behind a curtain that I'll hang from that tension rod. The top shelf has lights, so I'm going to wind my ribbon around old-fashioned clothespins and store them in clear jars for a pop of color (got this idea somewhere on SCS). My paper lanterns will soon be lit, and you can see the pretty, frosted heart box that my Secret Sister Tanja sent me! I can't wait to alter it and have the perfect paper in mind! I also like showing off cards that I receive from my SCS Sisters!

Next to this is a narrow closet shelf I found at Lowes which fits perfectly between the hutch and my work desk. The shelves are adjustable so I can switch them up to suit my needs. The top half (in pic above) holds a box of embellies, my 6x6 and 12x12 DP, and some jars of buttons and such. The bottom half holds my punches and Cuttlebug, and I keep the embossing folders and Nesties in the green box and my envelopes and mailing supplies on the bottom. I keep all my cardstock in the filing cabinet under the desk in hanging folders--SU papers in the top (sorted by color family of course) and all other cardstock in the bottom. I need to get that thing painted white!!

Next is a pic of the U-shaped work desk that we made from MDF to fit the space (geez, look at the window glare; gotta get that blind up!). I'm really lucky to have a DH who is so handy!! He is going to build a shelf on the windowsill so The Furry Children can watch the birdies while I'm crafting. The things we do for them!! Overall, it's working out well for now and there's plenty of room for DH or DD to be at the computer when I'm working in my own little corner, in my own little chair.


I do my crafting on the left. I keep my embossing supplies, Prismacolors, Crop-a-Dile, acrylic stamp blocks, and other miscellaneous supplies in the drawers, and I store my paper trimmers on top of that, which keeps them handy but off the desktop. See that cute little altered tin with the Riley? That's from my Secret Sister Tanja as well!!

The computer corner is on the right and needs some major reconfiguring, maybe with some shelves and a paper lantern for more light (and hopefully with a new computer with a flat panel later this year!)




Lastly, to the right of the computer corner is where I keep all my craft magazines and catalogs. The top is part of the Closits system I ordered online from Walmart, and I'm going to spruce up the magazine holders with DP or fabric, or add fabric to the back behind the shelves.

The bottom is a dresser with 6 large and 3 small drawers that my dad made when my sisters were little before I was even a twinkle in his eyes LOL!! Over the years, it's been painted white, light blue, yellow, pink, mint, peach, blueberry, now back to white! I keep my ribbons as well as my yarn and crochet supplies in the drawers on the right, and computer paper, envelopes, and other desk supplies in the drawers on the left.

As far as taking care of the nakedness of the room, I've finally decided I'm going to decorate with a sophisticated cottage shabby chic feel, only without all the niknaks, because I despise dusting. I really like the warm, cozy feel this look has and I love how you can mix-and-match all kinds of patterns, like in THIS PICTURE at sewgraceful.net. The walls are a soft almond color, so any cottage shabby chic colors will work well. Now if I could only get rid of the carpet.



And you know what? I think I'm going to let DH know that he is going to buy me an early birthday present of this Making Memories embellishment center that I visit regularly every time I'm at Michael's. LOL I could really use it on the wall above my craft corner to hold my punches and glitters and jars of colorful embellies. And I think I'll buy the little spinny carousel thingy as a "to me, from me, love me" present for Valentine's Day!



I have some much-neglected housework to tend to this afternoon, then I will be back in my naked craft room working on some cards. Hope you're having fun making something today too!

Happy Creating!
Susan

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love your room and I can't wait to see it "dressed". That and your idea for a to me love me gift. I've been eying that up too - it would sure go well on my desk!

Lorie said...

I think your naked craft room is great! I love the white furniture, and your U-shaped work area. You do indeed have a handy hubby there. Your space looks so light and airy and like it's a wonderful space to create. Your gifty goodies that you have picked out are awesome too! Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's all dressed up, complete with fur babies in the window!!

MiamiKel said...

Positively beautiful! I love that shelf too and oogle it at M's! Soon :) I love your kitty posing in the room! You must love being in there - thanks for sharing!