Always Arty: 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.