My Craft Room

This post is probably a year and a half over due, but everything takes longer with a toddler!

In 2021 we renovated pretty much the whole of the downstairs of our house, including turning the old garage into my new craft room.

The garage was cold and damp. The previous owner of the house had extended it at the back but the new bit of roof leaked and the brickwork was crumbling. Also the electrics didn't work!

Our builders gutted it, rebuilt, insulated and boarded the space, and added two windows and a door so I have a lovely view of our garden. It's also now attached to the house via a utility room so I don't have to go outside to access it. 

This was all going on while I was pregnant and by the time the room was ready to decorate I was very big!  But that didn't stop me from getting on a ladder (very carefully with lots of supervision!) and doing the cutting in. Initially I had wanted the room to be all white but once we'd done the first coat we went a bit snow-blind so I chose to add some colour with this duck egg paint and some simple geometric lines.

This is what my craft room looks like today. Note, I did tidy up especially for these photos. It definitely does not look this tidy all the time!

My 2 metre desk, which I've had since our last house, sits in front of the large window. We actually asked the builders to make the window wider to match my worktop. 

In previous set ups my Circuit machine has had to sit on the desk, which takes up a fair bit of space especially when it's in use, but I was able to repurpose a spare kitchen unit which fits it perfectly. I store my Circuit mats and large piece of paper and canvases in the cupboard.

At the end of the room I have a designated area for product photography. This is another thing that used to have to happen on my desk, meaning I'd have to clear it each time, and I was always having to move around my lights as they got in the way. It is so great having a spot for them which I can leave set up.

I already had a lot of the furniture in this room but I did add a few things, including these three Billy bookcases from Ikea. I wanted all of my supplies to be accessible and on display, as I'll often forgot I have something if I can't see it.

I also ordered an Ikea wardrobe which is mainly used to store all my felt.

I am so lucky to have this space. If my son is asleep then chances are this is where you'll find me.

My Craft Room

I'm very excited to share photos of my craft room with you!

When we were looking at houses last year we knew that the second bedroom would be 'my room' for all my art and craft things, and also be used as a guest room. We were lucky enough to find a house with a second bedroom big enough for both of these functions, as we saw a lot of houses with tiny second bedrooms.

When we first moved in last August the room looked like this. Our bedroom was going to be our first decorating project so we squeezed all of our bedroom furniture into the second bedroom. It wasn't ideal but it was only for a few weeks while we got our bedroom sorted.
The previous owner had painted the end wall with this Mondrian pattern. Perfect for an art room, right? Well...some of the lines were wonky, and there was a lot of paint bleed and I was after a more fresh, white vibe. I thought it would take many, many coats of paint to cover up the pattern but when I looked closer I found that the paint peeled off!

I decided to paint all of the walls white and add colour with art and other decorations.
My Dad kindly made this picture ledge to go on the wall so I could display a lot of art and photos, and be able to switch them around whenever I want.

As this room will also be used as a guest room if we have people come to stay, we bought a day bed from Ikea. We looked at a few different sofa beds but decided on this day bed which pulls out to a double. It has two drawers underneath which I've had no problem filling with more craft stuff.
I've covered the mattress with a duck egg blue throw blanket from Wilkos and put my handmade patchwork blanket on top. The big stripey cushion is from my parents house, and I think I'll recover it when I find the right fabric, the seagull cushions, from Dunelm, were a gift, and I bought the raccoon cushion from The Range.

Once we'd picked out the daybed we found we had enough room to get a 4-square Ikea Kallax to add additional storage space, and we already had the white box inserts from another Ikea unit. (This room could also be known as 'the room that Ikea built'. Not in any way sponsored, their furniture is just so convenient!)
The globe on top is actually a lamp and came with us from the flat.

Something I knew I wanted for my craft room was a long table. When we found this house I checked the measurements on the listing again and again to make sure I'd be able fit a 2 metre work top. It fits perfectly in front of the window so it's a lovely, bright space to work at. The table top rests on two Ikea Alex drawers and cupboard. Initially I was just going to get the drawers but when we saw the set up on display in Ikea, Andrew noted there was still a lot of space underneath and suggested getting the extra cupboard. #keeper

My Dad put up the shelves, which were random ones found in my parent's garage. I painted them white and covered the tops with wallpaper the previous owner had left behind.
I also have one of my hand painted guitars on display next to my easel which is usually hidden by the open door.
My chair, which was my Chrismas present from Andrew, is from Argos and is very comfortable. The space under the table where my chair goes is also where the radiator is, so during the winter this is the perfect place to work.

Next to my desk is a double wardrobe and a single wardrobe. We used these in the bedroom in our old flat but our new bedroom has a built in wardrobe so we didn't need them there. I assured Andrew I could make use of them in my craft room so we brought them with us. As you've prbably figured out, these were also from Ikea.
I bought a magnetic whiteboard to go on the side of the wardrobe which I attached with command strips. I also attached my Macklemore lyric embroidery and a string of flower lights I've had since I was 15.

This photo shows the inside of the double wardrobe. The two drawers hold all my fabric and the bottom basket has rolls of paper. My favourite use of space is this hanger which attaches to the wardrobe rail and is used to store all my felt. It's so handy being able to separate it into different colours!

It is so nice having this space to work in and store all my things (and I have a lot of things). And Andrew likes it because it means my craft materials don't spread all over the house like they used to when we lived in the flat!