Sunday, December 30, 2012

EEk! to Chic! Craft Room Makeover


Alright people - time to get real here: My personal craft room makeover! 

My "craft room"  has been in desperate need of some...um... ahem..reorganization. OKAY, so It's been a complete disaster pretty much from day one. It basically looks as if a party threw up in my room. But here is my excuse - we moved into our home 2 days after our son was born! Lets face it, as a new mom the craft room was on the end of the priorities list. 

Now, six years later,  the kids are in school and I find myself with a little time on my hands. I occasionally have the opportunity to work on some projects that have been on the back burner. I honestly think I'd be too embarrassed to show you this before photo, if it wasn't for how much I love the after results! 



Isn't it dreamy?!...I still have some details to work out (hanging art, etc.) but I love the look so far. I started by choosing a wall stencil because I knew I wanted the room it to be unique that really reflected me. I love patterns and lately chevron has been cropping up in many of my designs. So after hours scouring Pinterest for ideas, I took a leap and chose a chevron stencil.

 I originally had in mind the chevron wall would be aqua (one of my favorite colors), but after some sample paint trials and a few trips to Home Depot, I fell in love with this Vintage Gold and I've never been so pleased with a color choice. Lets face it - gold is the perfect warm & versatile neutral! And gold works with pretty pastels - aqua, peaches and pinks as well as jewel tones - so all of my favorites! I can simply change my accessories and have an entire new look.



I knew I wanted white furniture. That was a must have! I even tried to convince my husband to paint existing furniture white.. but he hates painting! So as a birthday gift to myself I took a little shopping trip to Ikea and picked up three bookcases, and plenty storage boxes to contain my chaos!



What a dramatic difference pretty storage can make.


All my glass jars look lovely perched on top the simple bookcases and I just adore the little golden owl my husband bought me as my first fun room accessory.


The cubby book case was perfect for housing my cake stands collection and fake cakes.  So nice to have all the serving pieces off my desk leaving me plenty of room to work.


This makeover took much too long. Life always seems to get in the way, so from start to finish this process took about 6 months. From choosing & testing paint, furniture shopping & assemble and all the little details in between I am just glad to have a functioning room! There are always little hang ups that you have to get through.  


Our first little challenge was the paint. The first color I chose (aqua) was not looking good. Once I found the perfect paint, the stencil presented the next issue. No matter how simple it seems a stencil can be, they never seem to actually be that easy to use! Maybe it's just a personal short fall, but stencils always seem to shift, flop, or let the paint bleed. After a few frustrating attempts we decided to use the stencil to mark the wall and then apply painters tape. This seemed to be a great compromise other than the fact my husband used blue chalk to mark the wall. Chalk does wash off, but I recommend choosing a light color as it can leave a light shade behind no matter how many magic erasers you scrub with!


The wall having the window splitting it in half made it simply to break the painting up into sections.
My husband always jokes that I have no patience, and to be honest I cannot wait until the day where technology will allow us to change a wall color with the push of a button! Needless to say after the painting was complete, I let my husband take care of all the book case assembly! 



Bookshelfs:
Ikea - EXPEDIT

Shelving unit, white 
$89.00


Boxes:

Ikea - KVARNVIK
Box with lid, white

$9.99 - 16.99





Paint:

Martha Stewart - Vintage Gold

$9.94 / 2 pk








Stencil:

Medium Reusable Chevron Stencil - DIY Stencils

$25.00





So overall, I spent under $500. and that includes all the new furniture. If you have more time I'm sure one could find some fabulous thrift store finds that could get the effect for even less. And while there are still more things I'd like to change in my craft room, I am loving what we have done so far! It is so nice to walk into the room and think how great it looks instead of feeling instantly overwhelmed with the chaos. (By the way.. did anyone notice my awesome boom box on my desk! ha!) Hope this gives you some ideas for creating your own perfect space! I think I may start referring to this space as "my studio" instead of as a craft room.. it just seems like so much more now!



8 comments:

  1. Christy ..I love this ..AWESOME !!! I so have to share !!

    www.moodyliciouschildrensspa.com

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  2. I bet that's your favorite room in the house now. Its amazing how just a bit of paint, decorations and organization can make a room so inviting and conducive to creativity. I see a lot of great new ideas coming from ItsyBelle this year.

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  3. Oh sweet goodness! That room is lovely. If I weren't moving out of this house in 5 months, I'd rip off your room and make one of my own. Seriously, it looks so bright and serene! In awe!

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  4. My husband and I are talking about redoing the office that we share and will continue to share. My half craft room and other his office. Have spent weeks looking for bookshelves - no ikea near us. Love your before and after and hope my after looks like yours. Beautiful.

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  5. The gold paint was a perfect choice. Can you do mine too? Great inspiration and thanks for giving the rest of hope.

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