Craft Room Makeover - Part Deux

The reason this is a "part deux" post is because over a year ago I reorganized my space to look like this. Since then it has been changed a few times, but today I can honestly say this is by far my favorite. When I first had my craft nook, I hardly used it so it was small and not functional. Since then, I have grown my blog, opened an Etsy shop and had a baby. Needless to say, I need a space that can do my embroidery, blog and sew all at the same time (multi-tasking at its finest).

I apologize in advance for the craptastic pictures, I was lazy and took them with my phone. Since this area gets no natural light, it is nearly impossible to get good shots even with my nice camera, so phone it was.

As much as I liked my Ikea Expedit bookcase with the attached desk, it just wasn't enough surface area. With a computer and two sewing machines, it was impossible to have everything I needed on the desk at one time. So as you can see, I resorted to switching out my machines after every project and putting one on the floor while the other one was in use. Let's also not forget that this area was long overdue for a little cleaning/reorganization.

I'm so embarrassed with how messy and dysfunctional I let this area become. I realized I was wasting so much time setting up machines and then putting them away. It was taking me way too long to complete my Etsy orders because I never had what I needed at my fingertips. So to fix this, I needed to gain surface area while not breaking the bank, so off to Ikea I went!

Less than $100 and two hours later, I had this! I'm so happy with my new space and I LOVE that it fits everything with room to spare!

To make this L-shaped desk, I bought two tabletops and nine legs. One tabletop was 78"x 23" ($45) and the other was 47"x 23" ($16). Since the first one was so long, it called for five legs ($3.50 each) instead of just four so there is a middle support. Since I'm used to crazy complicated Ikea furniture, just attaching the legs made this project seem too easy.

I didn't get the black/brown color to match my bookcase for a few reasons, the main being that it was out of stock. Another reason is that because this is such a small space, I worry that if everything was dark it would look cramped and heavy. My last reason for using the white was for pictures. Whenever I would photograph a new item for my Etsy shop I was forced to use the black background of my desk because nowhere in my house do I have a nice clean white surface. So to tie it all together and not have it look completely disconnected, I bought black legs and white tabletops. My husband calls this the tuxedo look.

Some before/after side by side pictures for comparison:

Linking up with:

Craft Room Makeover

I think I've mentioned our "nook" area in the house before ( I was using it as my office), but now I'm excited to share its face lift! For some reason, it is the only room in our house that I just couldn't seem to get right. It was a place that housed all the things your couldn't find a home for elsewhere. It was beginning to look cluttered and let's face it, it was unused space. I wanted to make it functional. A little corner of our house that was all mine.

Since I started this blog, I have tried my hand at sewing. And of course I opened my very own Etsy shop and shared some of my tutorials here with you! So what better thing to convert this unused space, then to make it a craft/sewing nook?!

Here is what it looked like before:

 Cluttered with no real purpose or function....booooo!

So here it goes, I did not spend a ton of money to make this space functional. I mainly re-purposed a few things from around the house and rearranged the furniture. The few items I did buy, I got for a steal and others I made. Alas, my organized, neat and modern sewing nook!

Isn't this chair just perfect?! I found it at Home Goods on final clearance and it just HAD to come home with me! It's adds just the perfect touch of femininity to the room, don't you think?!

My mom is a Thirty One consultant so that was my inspiration. I had recently bought the bookcase cubes and the wall organizer from her, so from there I built the room around those few pieces!

I picked up a few knick knacks from Home Goods to really tie it all together. I used an old apothecary jar from my bathroom I wasn't using and filled it with sewing notions.

I stole this lamp from my sunroom downstairs because the colors were too perfect. I of course couldn't help but pick up this sign from Home Goods because the colors were perfect!

Lastly, I attempted to make a place to hang my ribbon, thread and scissors. (After bragging to my mom about how I did this all on my own, she proceeded to tell me it needed to be fixed...buzz kill). Good news is, she is coming over this weekend to help me make it just right! I will be sure to post a tutorial for you sometime next week to show you how I made this inexpensive but functional ribbon and thread wall organizer!

Hope you enjoyed my little corner and are now inspired to find that place in your house that you can call your own and actually make it your own!

Trying a new link up! - Saw it, Pinned it, Did it! (SPD) with Stephanie @ Beautiful Mess and Katie @Keep Calm & Carry On