Closet turned Wrapping Paper/Crafting Space

My little crafting corner is complete! This room was once just a game room and the closet just a place to store costumes, CD's, and other random stuff.  After I lost my craft room to my son's new space, I turned this little corner into the crafting/gift wrapping area. I think it's just perfect! I can also sew here too.  Here is sort of the BEFORE, but really it was more "during" when I had to put craft supplies in here during the transition. But you get the idea that it was really just a closet that had I painted earlier and had a plastic clothing rod. 

The first thing I did was unbolt this shelf and remove it.  It left pretty big gaping holes in the wall so I used my Patch N' Paint and filled in the holes. Luckily I also had some touch up paint to cover the holes. After that it was ready.

AFTER!

We sawed off the legs of the brown table top that was in the garage and it fit perfectly in here at exactly 24" deep. We did have to remove the inside door trim to make it fit though. We placed it at Counter Height just above the storage cabinets below. This height of the table makes wrapping gifts way easier on your back.

It's also hardly noticeable but I lined both sides of the closet with wallpaper that I already had left over from the laundry room makeover. Then I added four 2' Rubbermaid shelves with black brackets to either side just above the table top. And additional larger 4' shelf above the wrapping paper holder. Up there I fit a large wrapping paper storage bag that holds Christmas wrapping paper (link below.)

On either side of the table, holding up the table, are these black Halifax cabinets. They were pretty easy to put together and hold tons of gift bags and party supplies.

For some hidden storage underneath the counter I installed some simple bike hooks to hold additional wrapping paper.

I found super cute baskets with wooden hooks to hold additional fabric and crafting materials.

The gray felt bin is my favorite. The simple leather ties are so adorable.

The light fixture is a simple linen shade attached to a light kit you can get online. It plugs in and has an on/off switch. The extra lighting in here was a must.

Because I removed the doors for ease in using this space, I installed a single curtain rod above the door and these pretty drapes. The rod installation didn't go as smoothly as I hoped because I hit something hard behind the wall with my drill about half way into the wall. Only one of my pilot holes was deep enough for the 6 screws that came with the rod. In order to compensate I clipped the dry wall studs with a wire cutter about half way down and used shorter screws. Sometimes you have to improvise and this adds time to any DIY project. 

It was a happy accident too that the drapes play really nicely with the chairs I reupholstered with Scott Living Fabric collection a while back. I must have already known that in my head! 

 

My grandfather built this beautiful hutch and my Grandmother painted it. It works really nicely to hold even more craft supplies and sewing supplies. I think the muted green works nicely with the wall color as well.

I'm so happy to have my upstairs functioning once again and have a place for the kids to spread out and use this space for their "homeschooling" art projects.  Maybe I should sew a mask or 5 when I have a free minute. :)

Stay well friends,

xoxo
Cathleen

Sources:
Rubbermaid Shelves
Shelf Brackets
Larger Shelf Brackets
Curtain Rod
Curtains
Polka Dot Bins
Gift Wrap Bag
Felt Bin
Chair fabric
Bike Rack Hooks
Black Storage Cabinets

Craft Room Update!

Things kicked off in the craft room with new flooring and then progressed when I scored three brand new kitchen cabinets from the Restore. You read that right. Brand New! I had to have them when I first laid eyes on them. At $40 each they were a great find. They really prompted the whole idea of a work space in this room and turned it into a craft room. 

So after Joe knocked out the flooring probably over a month ago we laid out the cabinets where we wanted them and where they'd make the most sense. We came up with the idea of wrapping them around one corner and using two whole walls as work top space.  And then ideally have three stools for the kids to work on projects if their hearts desired.  In this corner now is my sewing machine and all of my sewing supplies fill one of these cabinets.

We built the workspace out of new wood that was stained gray and coated with Polyurethane for durability.  Joe cut all the pieces to size to fit like a puzzle at the corners.  The room also got a new light fixture by Lane Furniture in a cool copper wire cage.

There is plenty of space for crafts, art work etc.

I found the jars at Home Goods to store all of my rubber stamps.

In this Corner is the hutch my Grandfather built and my Grandmother painted. It's a great craft supply storage unit.

I repurposed old canning jars into craft supply storage. 

Having the old metal pencil sharpener hang in this room made a lot of sense.  It's great for the kids to sharpen their colored pencils.

 Another view of the great workspace.

Joe added knobs to the kitchen cabinets that the builder left at our house. Guess they thought we may need extra some day. Joe also wrapped the floor moldings around the bottom of the cabinets so they are built-in.

I found this cute Washi tape dispenser at Marshalls.

Our two fabric pin boards that used to hang in our eat-in-kitchen turned out to be a good fit for this room. We can hang inspirations and little art projects on it.

And here's the Wrapping paper rack I shared with you yesterday.  My own dedicated wrapping space is so awesome to have!

For a little more info on this  DIY wrapping paper rack see yesterday's post.

Two picture frame wires were mounted on the wall for the kid's artwork to be displayed.  Little pink clothespins were used for hanging the art.

This is the old kitchen table turned kid's craft table that we had in our old house.  We think the kid's may now be getting a little big for it. So when we have some time we'd like to build a center island in this room for more work space. That will be a fun project don't you think?

This room has a walk-in closet so it can store quite a lot.  Right now, we installed our old Ikea shoe rack in it to use for gift wrapping supplies. The clothing rack is a great way to hang shopping bags.

I found this old black chest at a consignment shop years ago. I thought it was cute to hold all of my Christmas wrapping paper.  See that cutting mat?  I think having a middle island in the craft room will mean I can cut fabric on it instead of the floor. Yay.

So three full rooms practically done! Woohoo. Three months in. I'd say we're 20% done with the whole house, so a long way still. Tomorrow the hallways, loft and down the stairs is getting painted. And hopefully I share some pics of that..and guess what? The Master Bedroom is just about done! We have been busy bees around here.

Have a great week!! It's summer break around here for the kids, so things will slow down a bit and we'll squeeze in projects when we can.

xo

Cathleen 

DIY wrapping paper rack

The third and final room on the upper right side of the house is coming along nicely. We have deemed this last bedroom the Craft/Art room.  Oh and wrapping room.  Every wrapping station needs a wrapping paper holder.  Probably the easiest DIY project around.   And a super cute and a fun way to display all that fun wrapping paper.

For the holder we purchased 4 small backing pieces to secure it to the wall, two side pieces and 10 dowels.

For the two side pieces, one straight 1" x 4" x 8' board was cut into two 42" pieces at Lowes, and two 1" x 2" x 8' whiteboard were cut to make four 42" lengths for backers.  After letting the paint cure (Flirty Fuchsia by Sherwin Williams and a coat of PolyUrethane,) the backer pieces were mounted at studs just under 12" apart (measuring exactly 42" to the top, then we used a Kreg pocket hole jig to drill holes in the side pieces at the positions of the backers, and used a spade bit to drill holes for the dowels at 4" intervals (top of dowel to top of dowel. The dowels measure just under 3/4" and were stained gray.

The rack was mounted directly above the counter top space so that I could reach all the way to the top. So cute huh! A dedicated space just to wrap gifts. I even picked up extra scissors and tape that are on the side.

Stay tuned for more craft room updates including this cool worktop space.

xo
Cathleen