My $40, nothing-new craft room

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The time has come, the Walrus said, to talk of many things — of yarn and fabric and wool and thread, and how to store those things.

OK, that’s not exactly what the Walrus wished to discuss, but it’s what I wanted to discuss last week, at least with myself. Our home had one room in the basement that we hardly ever used. Once an office, it became a play room when I moved my office to the former guest room so I could have more light. But it didn’t get much play, as it is dark and out of the way.

For a while, Mr. Cheap stored his homebrew carboys there, because it’s not the kitchen and the temperature is consistent, but lately we’ve mostly been leaving the carboys in the kitchen so he doesn’t have to lug them downstairs and up. But for that while, the room earned the sobriquet “the beer room,” which isn’t so great when your child says it, as in, to a friend, “We can play in the beer room.” So the room had accumulated a huge cardboard box that needed breaking down and recycling, a desk piled with Christmas-ornament boxes, an old mattress, a bag of Goodwill donations … and dust.

That changed last week when I decided I could move my sewing table (a long door on two file cabinets) out of the family room, stop making the family room be all things to all people, and use the neglected room as a craft room. Best of all, the change took about half a day, about $40, and the purchase of nothing new!

First, I took the bag of Goodwill donations to Goodwill, took the mattress to a Freecycle recipient who lives on the way to Goodwill, donated an old nightstand we haven’t used for years, and listed the unused stereo components on Freecycle, to be picked up that night. I cut up the box and put it in the recycling bin and stashed the rest of the Christmas ornaments. Then I moved the furniture from room to room, calling upon the stalwart Mr. Cheap for help as needed. (I think he hates moving furniture with me. He likes to do it manly, non-verbal style, and I’m constantly saying, “What are you doing? Which way are you going?” etc.)

That’s the craft desk. We bought the file cabinets that support it more than five years ago. The door on top came from the trash long ago, and the doorknob hole makes a nice spot for cords to go down to the outlet. We had covered the wall in cork tiles when we moved into our house, and at this point, most of the art is courtesy of Mlle. Cheap’s younger days — I’m keeping what I like, and plan to use this wall as an “inspiration board.” The chair we’ve had for ages, and the bookshelves came out of a neighbor’s trash last week.

This shot shows my orange wall, which I’ve missed since I moved out. These photos are from a cloudy day, but when it’s sunny, the orange captures a great late-afternoon glow. This chair is seriously recycled — it was my mom’s desk chair when she was a girl! The CD player was a find on Freecycle — I love that it is wall-mounted, and I can connect an iPod too. The baskets on the table and high shelf are all thrift-store and yard-sale finds.

The shelves are a perfect, shallow depth, and not too tall. All the containers on the shelves were either things we already had, or things I picked up at Goodwill. I love the glass pumpkin jar on top, which I turned into a container for random balls of leftover yarn (an idea I stole from an artist & knitter friend).The next shelf has a white plastic container (repurposed from some cosmetics) that holds my project tags, and a ball of yarn made from cotton fabric that another friend brought from Czechoslovakia (as it was then) almost 20 years ago — I’ve never decided what to make with it.

The cigar boxes on the shelf below were found at various antique and thrift stores, and now hold more DPNs and crochet hooks, and various small knitting tools. And I was thrilled to find the set of five matching glass jars for bits and pieces! They hold dribs and drabs of yarn, my double-point needles for knitting, bits of fiber for spinning (pieces of which I just have an ounce or two), and the cotton from vitamin jars, which I might spin one day or stuff something with. The last one is now full of my button collection.

The far side of the room holds a setup I’m especially pleased with. My grandfather made me a Barbie doll house for Christmas when I was 10. (He made me a simple one when I was five, then made progressively more elaborate ones for my sister and cousin, so he finally upgraded me, too — check out the elevator!) But nobody plays with it at our house, and it won’t fit into our garage attic. And I couldn’t persuade my sister to store it in her larger house, either. Finally, rather than consider getting rid of it, I thought of using it to store & display yarn. Mine is sorted by weight, inspired by Nikol Lohr of the Thrifty Knitter as featured on Craftzine.com. (Check out the whole “make room for craft” series there if you want your own inspiration.)

The baskets in this area were either purchased for my office long ago (and reclaimed for craft) or found used. The cabinet at the far right was an amazing Freecycle find, and it’s now stuffed with fleece for spinning and sweaters to be repurposed. The blue chest is an old family piece that will soon move to the family room, to be replaced with my bins of fabric (which might even come OUT of their bins soon). The square baskets hold projects ready to go, and sewing patterns. The rug is one we bought before our daughter was born.

All in all, I’m so thrilled to have space for all of my projects. And this move has cleared out a lot of space in the family room so that Mlle. Cheap can do her running-and-jumping, piano-practicing, gymnastics, dart-throwing, giant-horse-playing, Wii competition thing in there.

Are you crafty? Do you have a dedicated craft room? Any solutions to share?

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Post Tags: craft, repurpose

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Comments ( 10 )

Woohoo for you! I walked into work and found that I had been nominated to be on the “redesign the staff room” committee. I spent part of last summer organizing the cabinets in one of the classrooms I’m in and usually take on decorating for holidays.

I usually save food and coffee containers to use in the art cabinets and for small math manipulatives. They’re clear, stackable, and when it comes to finding what I need, the clear containers are a plus over lables. It also tells me when I’m low on something instead of me having to open a non-clear container and find that I’m completely out of colorful noodles on necklace-making day.

I think the key is function. We try to maximize space by pulling things away from the wall and turning them into partitions. The back of the cubbies (which use to sit against the wall) now has hooks to hold vests, signs and other safety gear. That’s another thing: things are organized by function. All safety stuff in on one wall, special event items in their own cabinet (organized by event in the boxes our printer paper came in).

Ashley added these pithy words on Feb 09 10 at 3:37 pm

Well done, Mrs. (or is it Ms.) Cheap! I especially like the re-purposed doll house. And, I can’t imagine someone throwing away such a functional book shelf.

Maybe my reading comprehension skills are lacking, but what cost $40?

Karen Peissinger-Venhaus added these pithy words on Feb 09 10 at 4:42 pm

Sorry to be unclear! The containers from Goodwill and a few other used items added up to around $40.

Cheap Like Me added these pithy words on Feb 09 10 at 5:22 pm

I love the glass containers and the dollhouse storage. And yes, the price. Woot!

Condo Blues added these pithy words on Feb 09 10 at 7:48 pm

It’s so great to get organized. I think my home/freelance projects really took off when I focused on getting my main craft/office room organized. Hope this leads to many creative endeavors for you.

aemcdraw added these pithy words on Feb 09 10 at 10:43 pm

This room is fantastic! LOL< I need ot get off my butt and do something like this for my whole house! Lessee… smaller dining table, move loveseat from living room to dining room, move chair… work work work!

Rob added these pithy words on Feb 10 10 at 6:41 pm

Man, Susanna, you’re my hero.

I always get so overwhelmed with projects like these.

We currently have a new house. The owners left a bunch of random furniture and a store room full of stuff.

I’m inspired to turn it into something useable.

Leigh added these pithy words on Feb 10 10 at 9:44 pm

Wow! That looks fantastic. And I’m amazed you still have that random ball. At first glance I thought it was a giant ball of rubber bands.

Congrats on the spiffy new dedicated craft space. I’m jealous!!