A Peek Into my Craft Room

I'm basically calling it a 'peek' because it's really not 100% finished. More like 90%. 

But I've put it off long enough and decided to just go ahead and share the process with you... and I'll update when I get the last few things I want for it. 

Sound ok? 

Because this room, out of all the rooms in the house, has gone through the most transformation. 

Here's a peek into my little space: 

I didn't clean up alll the way for you guys. 

Because that's not real life. 

It's usually messy, cluttered and full of ongoing projects. 

Which is the way I like it. 

But I spruced up a bit for you :) 

When I say this room has come a long way, I mean it. 

When looking at houses, an office/craft room was a MUST. 

We were tired of the dining room at the old house being taken up with projects. We needed some space to create and play. It was just a necessity at that point. 

It took us forever and a day to find a house that had the bedrooms we needed, was a bit more updated than our old house AND had an office space. 

But really... it didn't have an office space. 

The 'office' in this house would need to be our fourth bedroom so it took away the option of an office. 

However. Our fabulous realtor had the idea of turning the formal dining room into an office space. 

Which we probably would never have thought of. We knew we wouldn't really use a formal dining room anyway and the office/craft room was a bit more vital at this point. 

One big problem... here's the space we were looking at: 

It's hard to tell from the photo, but that huge open space you're looking into was a huge entrance right off the front door foyer area. 

So basically, you'd walk in the front door and see this entire space. 

Pretty for a dining room.

Not so much for a creative, messy space. 

There was another large doorway on the left wall leading towards the kitchen so it was suggested that we possibly close this entire wall to give us more wall space, a more closed-off room and save us from that messier view as soon as you walk in the house. 

We decided this was a great option and it ended up being taken care of by the sellers to get the wall put up. 

Enter the new wall: 

It's a little fancy for a craft room with all the beautiful molding, large entrance and the huge chandelier but it was perfect for us. 

With three kids, there was a lot that needed to be done in other parts of the house that took precedence over the craft room so for a while it stayed this dark brown/creamy molding. 

In the meantime, we started piecing together different parts of the room. 

Initially this was my area for a bit. 

The table was a long, sturdy table we had gotten at Ikea a long time ago. It was the perfect length but lacked any storage that I desperately needed. 

We snagged two unfinished pre-made cabinets from Lowes, painted them white and just added the Ikea top over them. It was the perfect solution for more storage and raised the height of the table a bit so I could stand for projects if needed. 

More storage came with adding a framed pegboard for essential items. 

I painted a scrap piece of pegboard white and also painted a thrifted frame. 

Hubby attached it to the wall and I painted a few pegboard organizers gold to hang items with. 

I keep things like scissors, my glue gun,staple gun, twine, etc here for easy reaching. 

The shelf above my table has become a catch-all for all the pretty things I love. 

Milk glass, jars, small handmade items. They keep me inspired :) 

Projects like these guys gave the room new life with fresh coats of paint. 

They were both painted white, given new hardware and officially became major aspects of storage for the room. 

I shared this fun project earlier in the year and it's the star of the room. 

This thrifted hutch got a pink makeover- you can read more about it here. 

Once things in the rest of the house finally settled a bit, we were ready to start looking at painting. Because of the vaulted ceilings and crazy molding, we really wanted to hire out. We had the master bed/bath to get done too so we just threw in the craft room when the crew came out to paint. 

It took forever to find the perfect grey but we finally settled on Grayish by Sherwin Williams. 

I painted so many samples on the walls and decided it was the perfect cool grey color. The rooms get tons of lights and I wanted light & airy. 

The wall was exciting and all but nothing compared to it getting a new coat of paint. 

We had the walls and ceiling painted Grayish and then all the trim was painted in Snowbound. 

Gah. Look at the DIFFERENCE. 

The paint, the white furniture, lighter colors. 

It changed everything in the room. 

Now... before I share more pictures of the now, let's chat about plans going forward. 

*White rug

 (there was an unfortunate incident with a previous cat and our last rug)

*Changing the chandelier 

(help! It will have to be big but not budget breaking)

*Adding a pouf for the chair/sitting area 

(again, cat. Grrr.)

Those are all the short term things. 

The flooring drives me nuts but that isn't anywhere in the near future. So the white rug will have to do to help in that area :) 

Let's keep going with the afters though....

This is my desk.

I'm not ashamed. Haha. 

It's a bit cluttered and crazy but I love it. 

Crafting, painting and photography props litter it everywhere and that's the way my heart likes it. 

That pegboard is a lifesaver. Less than $15 for that entire project. 

I used scrap wood for my arrow above it and for the shelf. 

Cheap industrial piping from Lowes hold the shelf up. 

The premade cabinets look pretty in white with eclectic hardware. The catalog pulls were meant for another project but were too small so they ended up here. 

The pulls are all from Hobby Lobby. 

This FABULOUS utility cart was scored at a school sale. I think I got it for $5? It has plugins and a cord in the back so I can plug the cart into the wall and all my machines into the cart itself. 

It was originally black but a coat of white spraypaint did wonders. 

It houses my Silhouette, my printer, my sewing machine and my permanent/adhesive vinyl is stored in the cube bins. 

My heat transfer is stored in a portfolio binder under the cart. 

The filing cabinet got it's glorious makeover (can you believe that's the same piece as above?!?) and houses what you think it does- files :) 

My kiddos art supplies sit on top for easy reaching. 

This piece of Hobby Lobby art was the inspiration for the colors in this room. 

Makes my heart happy :) 

And just look at that pretty little blue Silhouette. 

Hubby surprised me with that upgrade this past Christmas. 

Although the name has changed, Tattered and Inked started with me and I still love my T & I letters :) 

{Pineapple garland from Handcrafted Buffalo}

To the left of my computer sits a lot of my photography props. 

I keep items here that need to be photographed for shops and small items that I pair with others frequently. 

We snagged the bar stool at Dirt Cheap for $20 and the pillow was a TJ Maxx find. The blanket is Ikea. 

Storage pretty much goes like this: 

Flatlay/seasonal props in bottom cabinets

Left side drawers house sewing, cording, beads. 

Right side drawers hold vinyl, camera accessories/lenses, stationary, tape and other easy access office supplies. 

The pink hutch stores all my small crafting items- paints, buttons, twine, glitter, paper, glues, etc. 

The bottom of the hutch contains ribbon, larger blank items and my kids craft supplies so they can craft with me. 

The top is hardly ever that clean- haha. 

Bins of items like fabric (I'm a hoarder), blank shirts/bags and my embroidery machine live in the garage. 

The other half of the room functions more for hubby & the kids. 

Hubby has his own computer hobbies and often is at his desk while I'm working in my area. It's also the kid friendly computer for lessons, games & school. 

The huge chalkboard is my favorite- another roadside rescue that was painted and hung. 

We also have two sweet bunnies that live in the corner of the craft room as of two months ago. 

The bookshelf I shared above looks pretty in white and houses a {small} portion of our books. I keep books, puzzles and sensory bins over here for my four year old to play with. She loves being in the same room with Mommy when I work and this allows us to all be together. I keep my rolls of paper for photography stored over here too. 

You may remember this duo from the old house. 

I couldn't get rid of my comfy chair. 

It got a facelift with white & grey and lives by the bookshelf for cuddle sessions. 

I couldn't bring myself to paint this little table and it actually ended up fitting right in with my inspiration painting so it's still going strong :) 

Whew. 

I feel like that's a lot to throw at you. 

Let's see a quick side by side to show in a glimpse how far it came. 

From dark & dreary to light & airy. 

It still has a few finishing touches to go but I'd say it's coming pretty darn far. 

What do you think?