My Craft Corner's History
Normally, a shorter version of a post would be first, but not this one. This one isn't about a project, it's about the history of my craft space. Maybe I can entertain someone out there, maybe I can help someone by providing a nudge, motivation, inspiration, or just a reminder that we don't all have to have areas that look like the professional ones.
I can't say how much I've spent on my Craft Corner because I've "shopped my house" as much as possible, patched things together, and I didn't do it all at one time. I've tried to purchase as little as I can. I'm currently trying to make it my own and make it a place that inspires me to create fun things.
When we moved into our current house, I thought I was going to have a small area that was probably used as the converted garage/man cave's fishing tackle closet. (It's a closet with a built in desk and a few wall shelves.) After I had moved some things in and was trying to figure out how to make better use of the space, hubs started to pout a bit. He thought it was going to be his area. . . and then pointed to the opposite corner in the room and said he thought that would be mine.
I re-built the entirety of my old craft area - an IKEA closet that we had in our previous master bedroom. Yes, it is a small space compared to many I've seen online, but I was very lucky to have anything and I made it work for years. Now I'm even luckier that it is only part of what I have! (Let's just say that it's been over 20 years of crafting before I got lucky enough to have a craft area of my own - and leave it at that. . .😶😊 )
I had more room in the corner and I also had a few other places in the new house that needed some storage/furniture. When I saw some cube furniture on sale at Walmart, I thought it might work for me, but wasn't sure. I didn't want to stretch things too far after buying a new house, so I only bought one each of pieces that I could think of different uses for. I got 2. I figured I'd assemble the small one to test it out (if it wasn't what I was thinking, it could go into a boy's room and I could return the bigger one). If I liked it, I'd build the other, see where they'd work, and go back to buy more if I needed them.
The cubes weren't really the size I was hoping, so I didn't buy any more. (The bigger piece ended up in the living room and the smaller one did end up in my son's room.)
Since that didn't work out, I gave up a bit and put the whole project on the back burner. As I worked on settling us into the rest of the house more, I'd put furniture that wasn't used/needed into the ex-man cave. When I had time, I'd move things around to see what could work for me. I'd test what pieces went together and what didn't. I also checked Craigslist for free furniture most nights. I felt like I hit a jackpot when I found a hutch and wasn't told it'd been gone for awhile. We drove 4 hours to get it, had lunch, then drove home. (We also got a table and a fire pit for our patio, so we got a little more out of our trip.) Great hutch - and it fit next to my old closet. I also moved a previously unused bookcase and file cabinet against the other wall, next to a front facing window to round things out and start using my stuff again. Hubs didn't want to use the IKEA Gnedby (CD/DVD storage) for our movies anymore, so put that in too.
I measured every piece and put them into an excel spreadsheet to see if they could work/or look better in a different configuration. I don't think it was designed for that, but I could move things around and see if it was something I might consider while keeping quiet enough for the rest of the family as they slept.
Not sure why I didn't like this arrangement, but something didn't seem right. I switched the hutch with the bookcase, CD/DVD thing, and file cabinet - and the hutch juuuust fit next to the window (slightly overlapped by an inch or so, but didn't interfere with the window or blind). When coming into the room and turning to the area, it was the first thing you see and looked nice. The shelves on the left and the shelves on the right of the hutch weren't the same size unfortunately, but one side fit the baskets I saved from being trampled on in the boys rooms and I made my own boxes out of cardboard boxes from school lunch and snack supplies for the other. I was doing my best to make it work and it was only annoying once in awhile (the sides weren't flush and made things a little difficult - I'd have to pull out the center box to get out the ones on the sides).
I saved, used a coupon, and got a ScrapRack. . . now the different shelf depth was a problem because half of the ScrapRack fit well and the other half would get stuck and I couldn't use it without damaging the ScrapRack and what I put in it. . . (first world problems, I know - again, this is a process and it's not a priority in this house.)
So, back to Craigslist. After a couple of weeks (- months? Not sure, life gets in the way and I'm not counting!), I got lucky and saw an ad - this time for wooden lockers. Another long drive, several trips having to be escorted up and down a slow elevator, nice lunch break, a drive home, and I had a different place for the ScrapRack.
The hutch was moved to the other side of the window and is one of the few things that I've been able to repurpose for the boys (and I still get to look at the pretty piece and try to focus on that instead of all the other stuff they put in "their" area).
Again, it's not the "perfect" / store-bought solution I could dream about or drool over YouTube for, but it's starting to work. The wall next to the window got the bookcase back, the file cabinet moved out, a paper cube and file cube from the early 2000's was put on top of the bookcase, and the IKEA CD/DVD unit fit beside whole thing. I had some metal curtain tie backs that I was thinking of mounting on the bookcase so I could put some binders in the space between it and the CD unit, but hubs just got a new toy and wanted to play around. He designed, cut, and bent some metal pieces and made ones in the back that are almost like basketball boards with a little piece that sticks out to balance the binders. I know that doesn't really explain the pieces, but I doubt it'd work anywhere else and we don't have the file to share. . .
While he was working on that and that there was room, I put some of the wooden lockers in the space next to the closet. The IKEA closet was too big to move, so I had to work with the space as is. Due to the sizes of the lockers and the bookcase, there was a "hole" in the corner that was technically wider than one of the wooden lockers, but the doors couldn't open due to the bookcase.
I figured if I took the doors off, I could still have access to it. I couldn't push it all the way to the wall because I'd only have an inch or two to get into it, and that would limit what I could put in there. Since it'd already be behind the bookcase, I moved it a little more behind it and to make cardboard "shelves" and put some things there. I measured and cut some cardboard boxes into shelves and sides, doubled them up, wrapped them with some white duct tape from the Dollar Tree, and used gravity to keep them in place. (I suppose they became the mock-up for the corner shelves I eventually made, but didn't realize that until just now as I was typing.) The middle shelf was empty, but after using this configuration, I was realizing it was difficult to get things in and out of the partially hidden locker and would be something I should try to fix.
Not sure if I "owe" the COVID19 quarantine or if it's just because I had used the space enough to figure things out, but I decided to tackle the corner. The few inches of extra space behind the locker always bothered me. I kept picturing what could be back there - both good things (supplies I had or wanted to get - things I didn't even know I'd want or need) and "bad" things (gigantic dust bunnies, dog hair, and due to our more country-like surroundings; vermin of all sorts and various numbers of legs who would be attracted by the dust bunnies and the dark, sheltered place).
And that brings us up to speed, so to speak. 😊 Now that I have the bigger pieces in place (I do have the pull-out project that I'd call "big", but I need help from a busy hubs as well as supplies. It doesn't feel like it's worth "un-quarantine-ing" for yet), I'll start sharing the small solutions I've used to help organize my space.
- hope you're doing well and hope that maybe I sparked a bit of creativity or courage/motivation in you!
If you're a "pinner," please check me out at https://www.pinterest.com/daylightdesigns/
I can't say how much I've spent on my Craft Corner because I've "shopped my house" as much as possible, patched things together, and I didn't do it all at one time. I've tried to purchase as little as I can. I'm currently trying to make it my own and make it a place that inspires me to create fun things.
When we moved into our current house, I thought I was going to have a small area that was probably used as the converted garage/man cave's fishing tackle closet. (It's a closet with a built in desk and a few wall shelves.) After I had moved some things in and was trying to figure out how to make better use of the space, hubs started to pout a bit. He thought it was going to be his area. . . and then pointed to the opposite corner in the room and said he thought that would be mine.
I re-built the entirety of my old craft area - an IKEA closet that we had in our previous master bedroom. Yes, it is a small space compared to many I've seen online, but I was very lucky to have anything and I made it work for years. Now I'm even luckier that it is only part of what I have! (Let's just say that it's been over 20 years of crafting before I got lucky enough to have a craft area of my own - and leave it at that. . .😶😊 )
The cubes weren't really the size I was hoping, so I didn't buy any more. (The bigger piece ended up in the living room and the smaller one did end up in my son's room.)
Since that didn't work out, I gave up a bit and put the whole project on the back burner. As I worked on settling us into the rest of the house more, I'd put furniture that wasn't used/needed into the ex-man cave. When I had time, I'd move things around to see what could work for me. I'd test what pieces went together and what didn't. I also checked Craigslist for free furniture most nights. I felt like I hit a jackpot when I found a hutch and wasn't told it'd been gone for awhile. We drove 4 hours to get it, had lunch, then drove home. (We also got a table and a fire pit for our patio, so we got a little more out of our trip.) Great hutch - and it fit next to my old closet. I also moved a previously unused bookcase and file cabinet against the other wall, next to a front facing window to round things out and start using my stuff again. Hubs didn't want to use the IKEA Gnedby (CD/DVD storage) for our movies anymore, so put that in too.
I measured every piece and put them into an excel spreadsheet to see if they could work/or look better in a different configuration. I don't think it was designed for that, but I could move things around and see if it was something I might consider while keeping quiet enough for the rest of the family as they slept.
Not sure why I didn't like this arrangement, but something didn't seem right. I switched the hutch with the bookcase, CD/DVD thing, and file cabinet - and the hutch juuuust fit next to the window (slightly overlapped by an inch or so, but didn't interfere with the window or blind). When coming into the room and turning to the area, it was the first thing you see and looked nice. The shelves on the left and the shelves on the right of the hutch weren't the same size unfortunately, but one side fit the baskets I saved from being trampled on in the boys rooms and I made my own boxes out of cardboard boxes from school lunch and snack supplies for the other. I was doing my best to make it work and it was only annoying once in awhile (the sides weren't flush and made things a little difficult - I'd have to pull out the center box to get out the ones on the sides).
I saved, used a coupon, and got a ScrapRack. . . now the different shelf depth was a problem because half of the ScrapRack fit well and the other half would get stuck and I couldn't use it without damaging the ScrapRack and what I put in it. . . (first world problems, I know - again, this is a process and it's not a priority in this house.)
So, back to Craigslist. After a couple of weeks (- months? Not sure, life gets in the way and I'm not counting!), I got lucky and saw an ad - this time for wooden lockers. Another long drive, several trips having to be escorted up and down a slow elevator, nice lunch break, a drive home, and I had a different place for the ScrapRack.
The hutch was moved to the other side of the window and is one of the few things that I've been able to repurpose for the boys (and I still get to look at the pretty piece and try to focus on that instead of all the other stuff they put in "their" area).
Again, it's not the "perfect" / store-bought solution I could dream about or drool over YouTube for, but it's starting to work. The wall next to the window got the bookcase back, the file cabinet moved out, a paper cube and file cube from the early 2000's was put on top of the bookcase, and the IKEA CD/DVD unit fit beside whole thing. I had some metal curtain tie backs that I was thinking of mounting on the bookcase so I could put some binders in the space between it and the CD unit, but hubs just got a new toy and wanted to play around. He designed, cut, and bent some metal pieces and made ones in the back that are almost like basketball boards with a little piece that sticks out to balance the binders. I know that doesn't really explain the pieces, but I doubt it'd work anywhere else and we don't have the file to share. . .
I figured if I took the doors off, I could still have access to it. I couldn't push it all the way to the wall because I'd only have an inch or two to get into it, and that would limit what I could put in there. Since it'd already be behind the bookcase, I moved it a little more behind it and to make cardboard "shelves" and put some things there. I measured and cut some cardboard boxes into shelves and sides, doubled them up, wrapped them with some white duct tape from the Dollar Tree, and used gravity to keep them in place. (I suppose they became the mock-up for the corner shelves I eventually made, but didn't realize that until just now as I was typing.) The middle shelf was empty, but after using this configuration, I was realizing it was difficult to get things in and out of the partially hidden locker and would be something I should try to fix.
And that brings us up to speed, so to speak. 😊 Now that I have the bigger pieces in place (I do have the pull-out project that I'd call "big", but I need help from a busy hubs as well as supplies. It doesn't feel like it's worth "un-quarantine-ing" for yet), I'll start sharing the small solutions I've used to help organize my space.
- hope you're doing well and hope that maybe I sparked a bit of creativity or courage/motivation in you!
If you're a "pinner," please check me out at https://www.pinterest.com/daylightdesigns/
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