I suddenly felt motivated to tackle the closet in my office/craft room/guest room. I don’t really know what to call it – it is upstairs and it has a bed in it so it could be a guest room. But it also has a bookshelf, a desk and a computer so it could be an office. And it has all my art supplies, wrapping paper, unfinished projects, and sewing machine in it so it could be a craft room. For the most part, it is just “my room.” Joe almost never goes up there, and when she is home Chicken Little only goes in there to “borrow” supplies or when her mess has consumed her room and she needs some space to work.
This is what the closet looked like before I started. It was bad. (Sorry for the fuzzy pictures.)
After I got everything out of the closet, I decided it would be fun to paint it. Once I started thinking about pulling out all the painting stuff, it seemed like a good idea to just paint the entire room. I painted it about 18 months ago and never really liked it, and I have really been obsessing about a pink room. Also, since it was a three day weekend, it seemed like I would have plenty of time to paint the ceiling. The ceiling had been two tones of tan, and I think ceilings should be mostly white.
Everything that couldn’t be piled into the center of the room was moved to the hallway and Lib’s room.
I wish I had taken some before pictures, but I was this far into it before it hit me that this might be a bloggable project. So, this is what it looked like after I painted the closet and had just trimmed out the ceiling.
What was I thinking?
As you can see, I’d painted an “accent” wall a deep red and the rest of the walls were gray. I’ve never been a fan of the accent wall. I like either all or nothing. And I LIKE color – lots of it. So bye-bye red and gray and HELLO pink!
At one point, it was so crowded in the room with the furniture and the ladder that I tripped, stepped on the edge of the paint tray, and flipped it over on the floor and on me. Luckily I had put down plastic and I was barefoot. I was able to grab my flip flops (which didn’t have paint on them) so I could walk out of the room to get cleaned up. The carpet was not ruined. Just call me Grace. Geez!
The three day weekend project turned into a three week project, but I finally finished!!!
Here’s the reorganized closet. You probably can’t tell much difference, but it really is well organized and everything has a spot now. Also, if you look closely, you can tell that I painted it a really gorgeous leafy green color.
Now that I know what’s in there, I’m in the process of using up some of that junk so that it’s not so stuffed to the gills.
Drum roll, please…
It’s a whole lotta pink (actually more of a melon color), but I like it. The colors for the room came from the fabric that’s in the blanket on the bed. I’ve had that fabric for about 9 months with the intention of doing exactly this. I’m loving the blanket and feeling pretty proud of myself for making it (I don’t really know how to sew – I just wing it). Overall, I’m thrilled with it.
All of this furniture was already in the room. The bed’s from Ikea and the chest of drawers is from the Salvation Army. It was one of those 70’s bamboo ones that was ugly light wood. A coat of white paint can fix a multitude of sins. The deer head just makes me smile.
I found the three cow pictures in Chicken Little’s stash of artwork. I bought the frames at Michael’s for $3.99 each and they’re perfect. I’d like to have 9 cows in a little grid on this wall – that would look really cool. Surely there are 9 different kinds of cows, right?
I didn’t buy any new furniture, except for the desk chair. I got the desk/tables at Ikea last year and I got the chair there this weekend. I’ve been wanting a clear acrylic chair. I had a big red leather desk chair in here that ate up half the room. This one is so much better and just disappears and the room seems so much bigger.
I didn’t buy any new furniture, except for the desk chair. I got the desk/tables at Ikea last year and I got the chair there this weekend. I’ve been wanting a clear acrylic chair. I had a big red leather desk chair in here that ate up half the room. This one is so much better and just disappears and the room seems so much bigger.
I painted the bulletin board because I wanted it to disappear. I also installed the paper towel holder ($1.99 at Target) under the desk. When I’m painting or using glue I’m always looking for something to clean up messes, but I didn’t know where I was going to put the paper towels. I'm very happy to have come up with a solution. The laundry basket under the desk is the projects-in-progress-keeper.
On the bookshelf, I got rid of a bunch of magazines and books – I’m pretty sure I can find whatever I need on the web. I moved the white board out of the closet to the space behind the door. I love quotes, so it makes me happy to have this place to write whatever is inspiring me at the moment.
I made the cornice board over the window and then padded and covered it. I used the power tools and everything!
I put the storage cubes under the window to hold the printer, the cricut and the card-making stuff. I think I would prefer a “cleaner” look, but if I don’t see it I won’t use it. So, I like having all of it close to the desk where it’s easy to see and access.
Ta da!!! A space of my own! It’s pretty and girlie – soooooo happy with it!
In case you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty proud of myself. Even though it took way more time to finish than I had planned, I had some really satisfying moments during this process. It was so worth a couple of weekends. I actually want to spend time here. By organizing it, I know what’s in there. By throwing a bunch of stuff away, I feel like I have some room to breathe and think and create something. YEA, me!
In case you couldn’t tell, I’m pretty proud of myself. Even though it took way more time to finish than I had planned, I had some really satisfying moments during this process. It was so worth a couple of weekends. I actually want to spend time here. By organizing it, I know what’s in there. By throwing a bunch of stuff away, I feel like I have some room to breathe and think and create something. YEA, me!
