First off, let me say that I probably ought to change the name of my blog -
I'm officially an empty nester ! Of course the baby birds are always welcome
to fly back to the nest, but their rooms will not be as they left them ;)
I've been wrestling with the idea of making the second empty bedroom into another craft room of sorts for myself. The first empty bedroom will remain as a guest bedroom. This second empty bedroom was a perfectly good space that would be going to waste, there were no plans to use it for anything else. Well, other than the idea I had to scoot the old entertainment center turned into photographs /scrapbooks storage from the spare bedroom in there. I was also going to move my sewing machine and supplies in plus a small table that was being stored in the basement, unused. The table would have been useful for thumbing through photo albums or working on small sewing projects. So, I did have a little plan for that room................ but that plan soon snowballed !
While working on cleaning the bedroom and preparing for paint, I couldn't help but think about the other craft supplies left in the old, unfinished basement. Could I make room for most of them to fit in this room? It would, after all, be better to have them up out of the dingy craft dungeon without the threat of being flooded (I've dealt with that too many times over the years!). Plus, there have been numerous times I've needed something from down there while working on a project in the new upper level craft room.
I decided to just do it and have been slowly working on it the past month. Decluttering, deep cleaning, repairing damage to the walls, painting, etc and so on. Then lots of measurements and sketches, tossing around ideas of what to put where. This room doesn't have much wall space since there are three doors and three windows in it, so I utilized the center of the room as I did in the other craft room and craft dungeon before.
Numerous plastic storage tubs were bought over the years to keep things in while in that old basement craft dungeon, so I reused them upstairs after giving them all a good wipe with disinfecting cloths. No fancy furniture or cute storage units in my craft rooms. I may hang some pieces on the walls, but after all the time I spent filling in existing holes and gouges, I'm not sure I want to put new holes in them ;)
So, here it is, still a bit of a work in progress............
Solid wood kitchen table we no longer used
is centered in the room.
It's not the neatest look having all of the storage tubs
stacked around it, but it is the only way I could fit them.
I decided I may as well get as much out of the basement as possible.
No more flood (or critter!) worries and now easily accessible.
I'll eventually get all of the photos out of the
old entertainment center/storage unit and into
photo albums. The plan would to then put paints in those
The row of boxes on top are full of photographs.
Yes, I admit it, I have YEARS (ahem, make that decades)
worth of photos not put in albums.
I must get them into simple pocket photo albums at least.
Now that I have my rooms set up and everything on the same
level of the house, there is no excuse (other than finding time)
to get busy with that massive project.
Photo albums are in the center section behind the curtain
I made to try to help keep dust and light damage out.
I also stacked rolls of wide craft ribbon in the front of the side doors
on that old entertainment center. I'm glad I didn't get rid of it.
The light in this room is so much better than in the first craft room. Three windows that get better natural light plus a multi light ceiling fan (ahh, yes, a ceiling fan to help keep it cool, too!) in addition to the white walls make for a pretty well lit work space.
I'm using the existing blue roller shades and red curtains with the white walls for the time being.
I do like patriotic colors anyway. Besides, the colors coordinate with part of my view :)
Oh, and the closet ?
Several boxes of items for gift giving, fabric and
sewing supplies as well as mementos are stored in there.
Nearly all of my crafty hoard is now high and dry,
out of that dank old craft dungeon now.
Yippee !!!!!! Happy Dance !!!!
