Saturday, July 06, 2013

Craft Cave

Yeah, that's right. If the Dude can have his Man Cave, then I get a craft cave. That was part of the deal when we started looking for a house. I agreed that it could serve a dual purpose as a guest room as well, on those rare occasions, but I wanted a separate room - with a door and a closet for storage - for my creative space. Here's what I got:

Craft Room Makeover - Before

This is the photo from the real estate listing. The previous owner was using it as a sitting room of sorts. It was a decent-sized space, with large windows for plenty of natural light and two closets (one medium-sized and one no wider than the door). Yeah, I could work with this.

Before we moved in, we did quite a bit of painting, this room included. The old color wasn't particularly distasteful to me (unlike the blue kitchen - eesh!), but it would be much easier to change now, without any furniture in it, than it would be later on. Let's strip this room down and have a closer look at those colors, shall we? Greenish khaki walls and white closet doors that really stood out (and not necessarily in a good way) from the creamy wainscoting.

Craft Room Makeover - Before

Craft Room Makeover - Before

Craft Room Makeover - Before

Now how about a gander at today's version?

Craft Room Makeover - After

Are you excited yet? I know I am! Please, step inside.

Craft Room Makeover - After

The green hue has been replaced with a warm tan (the same "Moose Mousse" from the after pics of the kitchen, in fact). A fresh white on the wainscoting meshes nicely with the closet doors and makes the room feel much brighter and more contemporary.

Craft Room Makeover - After

We returned the existing curtains to their place after painting since they were neutral enough and, you know, free. I did, however, get a lovely new-to-me desk from Craigslist. It has a large glass surface for spreading out fabric and a 3-drawer cabinet to keep my notions nearby.

Craft Room Makeover - After

Two bookcases in the corner hold all my craft books and magazines, as well as bins of my 'good' yarn (because every knitter has a little bit of 'bad' yarn that hides in the closet) and some other odds and ends. Ignore the computer graveyard in the corner; I do not plan for that to be a permanent fixture.

Craft Room Makeover - After

And finally we come to the guest room portion of the tour. This is not the cheap-o, garage-sale, funny-smelling futon you had in college. We didn't have to make a single visit to the chiropractor after sleeping on it for 5 weeks last summer due to an issue with our old apartment (I won't go into details, but suffice it to say you don't ever want to cohabitate with raccoons). Anywho, this is the perfect spot for me to sit and knit, to have friends over to chat while we craft, or of course, to house an out-of-town visitor or a party-goer who may have over-imbibed.

So there you have it - my very own craft haven. Sure, I still need to make some art for the walls and replace that ridiculous ceiling fan, but at least now it's functional. And you know what that means, right? Yep, I've been sewing all day today, and once I enlist the help of my photograhusband, I will have some pretties to show you!

4 comments:

  1. This is beautiful! Looking forward to what you create in here.

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  2. Very nice, Carissa! Your old craft corner was nice, but this is so much more spacious! Yay!

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  3. Hi Carissa!
    I like it, it's functional!
    I can't wait to see what you have been sewing!!!!
    Have been missing you!
    Kisses from Portugal!

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  4. I have a craft room and can't imagine life without one!

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