Ever go to the grocery store to pick up one item, and when you leave the store you have a shopping cart full of groceries? That's how the renovation of my library-cum-craft-room started. All I wanted to do was remove the tacky old carpet and replace it with linoleum/vinyl, and get rid of the sofa and desk to make room for my craft table and rubber stamps. Famous last words. This simple project has turned into a major renovation.
The gloomy dark brown carpeting has been removed and I have a gorgeous new vinyl floor that is beige and white. I got rid of the desk and sofa and moved the old craft table from my bedroom to the new craft room. Ugh. The old table with cabinets beneath it just wasn't going to work--the table was too small and not the right shape. So I determined to build a new table, using recycled materials as much as possible. I kept the cabinets that were under the old table, and used them for the new table. Had to buy a few more cabinets because the new table is twice the size as the old one.
Then I hung the rest of the cabinets on the wall above the table, and installed a new window. I gutted the closet and installed shelving for all my art/craft/rubber stamping supplies. And I'm having a small sink installed so that I can easily wash glue and ink off my hands and my rubber stamps.
Progress on the craft room is slow. The guy I hired to do the stuff I can't do, can only work a day here and a day there. In the meantime, there's all kinds of construction debris lining my hallway--lumber, nails, boxes of craft stuff waiting to be emptied into the new cabinets and closet shelves, etc. The house is in utter chaos, and it's driving me bonkers, because I like things neat and tidy. Had I been able to do all this stuff myself, it would have been done long ago. But this bum leg and back prevent me from doing stuff I normally do. And when you rely on others, the work progresses at their speed, not yours.
Don't get me wrong--I am very grateful to Tove, the guy who's helping me. He's reasonably priced, and an easy-going guy. Fun to talk to, and a down-to-earth person. I enjoy working side-by-side with him. And in the 2 months we've been working on the craft room, it has seen major progress. I'm very excited, and can't wait to see the finished product.
I've kept costs down by using recycled materials as much as possible. I make weekly trips to Goodwill and have found a treasure trove of things I can use, from a brand new faucet for my sink, to nifty receptacles for the myriad pens, pencils, X-acto knives, rulers, artist's brushes, etc. Yesterday I found 3 stunning glass vases with really heavy bottoms. They're square shaped and staggered in size, and because they are base-heavy, they're perfect for my tabletop craft supplies, which tend to tip over if put in lightweight containers.
As soon as I finish the room, I'll post pictures. I know you're all just dying to see them. In the meantime, here is a "before" picture. I stitched 3 pictures together in Photoshop, so the alignment is off on the window and a few other areas.
I've already ditched the sofa, but the upright sofa cushion behind the maroon chair was saved for the dogs to lie on. The old carpet is rolled up on the right, ready for disposal. It was the same color as the ugly brown floor now exposed. Bookshelves line the entire wall on the right, on the left, and inside the closet to the far left of the picture. The old window in this picture has been replaced with a smaller one, and the cabinets are now hung on the left side of the window. The craft table and floor cabinets will stretch from the wall on the left to the edge of the window on the right.
