Hey, Come On Over! It's Craft Room Tour Time:)

How about you come over to my place today?  Thanks to the internet I can have everyone come visit and not even have to clean up the rest of the house!  I thought I'd share a little tour of my craft room since that's where all my designing & projects start and it's been a while since I gave it some well deserved attention.

I first set up this room 2 years ago and did a little post about it back then.  It was originally a laundry room/mini kitchenette, but for the first few years we lived here it was this disorganized mess:

A real show stopper, I know.  So I re-purposed the heck out of what I had sitting around and, using a budget of $85, transformed it into a useable space.  And this year I spent just a few more dollars and a bit of time re-organizing to make it even more efficient.  Which proves you don't need a huge space or a giant budget to make a little slice of crafting heaven for yourself. So come on in and take a look:

My wood drop-side counter was from the kitchen in our first apartment.  The top is where my cutting machines reside, but below I keep all my adhesives, ironing gear and patterns, stowed out of sight, but within reach:

And all my cutting & marking gear is in the drawer so I can grab it quickly, but little hands can't:

Here's my sewing nook, where both my sewing machines, notions and hardware reside.  It was originally a really deep closet, but we'd taken the doors off to make it into an alcove.  Being right next to the window makes the lighting ideal too.

The shelves keep my favorite print fabrics in plain view, as well as my sewing books and trims.  My entire fabric stash is so ridiculous it doesn't all fit, so there are still box loads in my basement, but at least the prints get to see the daylight;)

Since I don't have a lot of horizontal space for all my ribbon spools, I just threaded them on shoelaces and hung them up so I can easily get to them:

The lighting & lavender wall color make it tricky to get the best photos, but my wall decor is simply canvases with scrapbooking paper (attached with poster putty so I can change them out if desired).  I cut out the lettering by hand back before I had a Cricut or Silhouette and still like it, so it's stayed:

I'd been keeping my threads in big jars by color, but it was tough to find an exact shade without dumping them all out.  I got these inexpensive wooden racks and now my rainbow of threads is easy to see:

This side of my craft room is mostly for my non-sewing projects - all my treat making, paper crafting and decorating stuff:

Here's how I redid my baking cupboard.  I took a bunch of glass jars and empty berry bins to organize all my little things like candies, sprinkles & straws.  I used a bunch of Ikea canvas boxes to organize my things like molds, tools & cake pans so things are contained, but easy to find.

 I also made little cutouts with my Silhouette so each bin could be labeled nicely:

And here's my favorite room update - a customized counter that cost $0!

Before: This counter had a sink, which rarely got used and just took up half the space:

After: Getting a new counter wasn't really an option, so I had my husband cut a piece of MDF from the garage to fit into the sink opening.  I upholstered it with Insul-Fleece™ and a layer of cute flannel fabric on top to make a big ironing surface.  Since it rests in the lip all the way around the sink it's perfectly lined up with the counter.

Now I have double the workspace and a huge surface to iron on.  Boy, does this make the big ironing jobs easier!

And I also have a special photo of my grandma, the original sewing maven, centered over it.  I wasn't interested in learning to sew when she was alive (so dumb on my part), but she made custom clothing, luxury drapes and was a certified fabric re-weaver.  She was just amazing at anything sewing related - she used to hem my pants with blind hem by hand!  Despite my previous lack of interest I think those skills must be in my genes and am so glad to have inherited that love of sewing from her.

I use this little side closet as my "catch-all" space.  That wooden bit at the top is a laundry shoot, but since laundry comes second to crafting it gets no use in this house.  I keep all my large paper stacks, cards, tape rolls and other paper-related products on the shelves and current projects in the striped bin so I can easily tuck them out of sight if anyone is over.  I saw the trick of cutting strips of scrapbook paper to camouflage the contents of the clear drawers somewhere online - I love how it hides clutter while looking pretty.  And since my fabric collection is um...constantly growing...I've got more fabric stacked up in here too.

Now don't let this facade of organization fool you.  It's not always this neat in here.  Especially when I've got several projects going and my kids wandering in with their sttuff.  And the rest of my house...well, let's just say it's less than tidy most of the time, so it's not like I'll be winning any awards for best kept home.  But this little crafting oasis really makes me feel like I've got my act together:)

Have you got a crafting room, maybe a little corner somewhere or even just a desk with your gear on it?  Go ahead and share it in the comments or via email.  I'm pinning my favorites to a special Craft Room board on Pinterest.   Any space you can craft in is something to be proud of & I'd love to see where you make your crafting magic happen:)

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