My Craft Room



PART 1 - THE GUTTING & PLASTERING

We started gutting what was our old kitchen back in February to make a craft/utility room.
Gutted!

With only weekends really to work on it it has taken us ages. The walls had to be dry lined & waiting for the builder to come & plaster them held us back a bit.
Plastered!
A slate tiled floor was painstakingly put down by my "star" of a husband. Not the easiest of jobs. Each one was of a different thickness so to get them level was murder. They then had to be grouted and sealed. 
After a bit of plumbing a new sink unit was installed with Ikea kitchen units and beech worktops from B & Q. Two deep window sills were made out of the side panels of an old wardrobe.
Neat!
I had the task of doing all the painting. Not an easy or quick job. We have beams which had to be painted black. I would prefer them to be bare wood but it would have been a far too hard & messy job. I could only paint a few at a time as it hurt my neck so much. After lots of searching online for colour inspiration turquoise really appealed to me but I chickened out. I played safe & chose B & Q Antique White Matt Emulsion in the end. The room has a low ceiling with small windows facing east so it can get quite dark especially on dull days so decided a light shade would be better. I still haven't finished all the walls.


The next stage of my craft/utility room was shelving for storing all my craft stuff. I want to see what I've got and make it easy to get to it. Before I had so much stuff stacked on top or in front of each other I didn't know where anything was. It took so much effort to find things I ended up not even trying.

Because of the low ceilings and the beams we were restricted with height so we chose Ikea Expedit shelving units all along one wall. One 4 x 4 unit and one 5 x 5. They fitted perfectly with room on top of the smaller one for some of my jars and a little chest of drawers. (Btw, they have stopped making the Expedit shelving & replaced it with Kallax range. Same internal measurements but if we hadn't bought the Expedit ones when we did we would have gaps at either end)





PART 2 - STORAGE


I scoured shops and the Internet for boxes that would fit into the cubicles to make the most of the space. I also needed smaller ones that could stack and fill the space.
With tape measure in my hand I found some food storage boxes approx 33 x 33 x 11cm  from Asda for £2 each. Not very pretty but I plan to insert some floral paper down the inside.

Asda Food Storage Box


Next I got 3 Fushia pink boxes with lids from Argos. 45W x 34D x 26H
They stick out a bit but the colour will hide the not so attractive bits & pieces.

Pink boxes from Argos



A friend who runs a cafe/tuck shop gave me some empty sweet boxes which were perfect for smaller collections of items e.g. Hearts - wooden, rusty, buttons, tiny willow wreaths etc. Yet again I plan to insert some pretty paper down the inside at the front. Although I have washed them they still smell of sweets. Quite a pleasant smell I think.

Sweet boxes (think Fizzy Strawberry Laces were in these - yum!)



I bought 3 slightly see through 24L lidded boxes from The Range then I found the perfect fit in B & Q (wish I'd discovered these first!) Expensive, and the clear plastic doesn't seem very good quality, but 2 of the medium boxes stacked on top of each other fit perfectly in a cubicle. 3 of the smaller ones stacked also fit perfectly. These boxes are ideal for my fat quarters, eighths and smaller left over pieces.

B & Q Sweater box

B & Q Shirt box

24L Storage box from The Rang



PART 3 - CUPBOARD

As well as the Expedit shelving units I wanted a dresser or cupboard. 

I had seen this -

here  

but couldn't find a new cupboard suitable. 
I needed a cupboard that wasn't too deep as I didn't want to have to squeeze past with my washing basket and, due to the low ceilings, not very tall. And it had to fit between to sets of wall lights (I do like to make things awkward for myself!). 

Then I wondered if putting their 40 x 80 x 80 kitchen base units on top of each other would work.
The "star" (my other half) did the measuring and planning and said "yes" it was possible. So, we bought 2 base units, a top piece (which I hadn't thought about because normally a worktop would go on the top of these base units) and end panels, using one of these to divide the 2 cupboards.




We used doors that matched the other kitchen cupboards for the bottom cupboard and the glazed option for the top half. 

We then used 4 medium wooded door knobs that we had spare for the feet. Extra wide opening hinges and some shelves and here we have it......


my "cute" cupboard if I don't mind saying so!

Zx



PART 4 - FILLING THE SHELVES AND CUPBOARDS



Once I had my cupboards and shelves I needed to fill them with boxes and baskets. I was so excited especially as it would remind me of all of the gorgeous things I had to "play" with!
I sorted things into categories e.g. Woollen fabrics, flannels, felt, christmas prints, stationery etc, etc. Keeping the same things together would make it easier to find (fingers crossed!). I was lucky I could squeeze most of the same thing in one box and generally similar items could be grouped together on nearby shelves or in the cupboards.



I didn't want to be able to see some things through the boxes as they would look messy, so I slipped some patterned paper down the front of these boxes. So that I would know what was in them I used some Cath Kidston sticky labels and a book of Crafty sticky labels (I knew they would come in handy one day!)





I had 4 drawers in the Ikea expedit shelving units to fill. I had to work out what I would need more often so I could just turn around and grab it easily.  I decided to used them for glues & sellotape, tools, rulers & scrap paper.

On some shelves I put my Mollie Makes magazines (I had about 2 years worth) and a few other craft magazines I buy occasionally like Making, Homemaker & Handmade. These magazines aren't cheap so I only buy them if there are several things or ideas in an issue that I could make or use.



Another couple of shelves were reserved for some of my craft books like a few Tilda ones and Cath Kidston Sew, Stitch, Patch,  & her latest "Sewing" (a Christmas present) to name a few. I love books like these and cannot imagine ever having an e-book version.

I have quite a few folders too full of patterns and ideas. The ones that had boring covers got covered in wrapping paper. I used sticky labels on these too. 

I painted some wooden Ikea magazine box files in shades pink, turquoise and aqua. I want to stencil or paint a rose on them but still haven't made my mind up yet what to do. I've had a go with paints on scrap paper but haven't quite found the look I'm after. I also want to finish off a painted chair and stool with the same motif so it's got to be just right. I'll have to give it more thought and do some more searching online for inspiration.

I have a couple of pots (melamine tumblers) that I have put paint brushes and a few pens & pencils in and I bought a cutlery drainer from Dunelm Mill in a gorgeous shade of pink which I use like a desk tidy. It will do until I see something better.




I will review my tins, jars and other containers I've used in a future post but for now here are some photos of my filled shelves and cupboard in my new craft room.



Zx

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