Craft Studio Makeover - Before & After w/Dawn

I've got a different kind of post for you today. I hope you don't mind.

One of the questions that I've received many times over the years is "What does your craft space look like?" or "What are your top organization tips?" And I really had to laugh to myself.

1. My craft studio was a blight on our home. You know...if someone showed up unannounced, the first thing I did was b-line it to the studio to make sure the door was closed.

2. I should never, ever, under any circumstances be allowed to offer organization tips. Ask my husband.

Don't judge me. Hey, I had matchy-matchy bins. And in my defense, I knew where every single thing was in each matchy-matchy bin and stack of papers.

For a long time this did not bother me. I'm a create, create, create type of person. I can usually block everything out around me and completely immerse into what I am doing. Stop and clean? What is that? And then it's right into the next thing.

However, for several months, I had found myself burned out and not even wanting to enter the studio. So when my husband and my boys went skiing with the Scouts in January, I decided to tackle the studio. Now, mind you, it started with, I really need to clean and organize, maybe buy a few more baskets. It was reaching hoarder status.

I didn't take any true "before" pictures, because, well, I was just going to clean it out. Once I had removed all of the piles, I proudly sent my husband a picture (see "before" pic above) and my bestie, Kelly. To which they both replied with "are you feeling well?" Given their reactions, to truly appreciate the journey, I'm going to share this in stages of completion. It's going to be picture heavy and I apologize up front. Feel free to skip my banter and just look at the pictures, no offense taken.

With most everything cleaned out, I thought "I really need more organization units/furniture. And maybe a new craft station. (see old writer's desk on risers above)" So, I enlisted my mother and I hit up Pinterest for inspiration. And I fell into the hole of "IKEA hacks". Yes, if you don't know this hole I speak of, save yourself now. But, if you've got a few days to spare, by all means, go ahead. But, I came across this beauty at landeelu.com

Y'all, $160! It is inexpensive, counter height with a large work surface, has a smaller footprint and it has built in storage! Disclaimer: as with most things Pinterest, I have no idea if she is the originator of this idea, but it is where I saw it and I followed her recommendation. Don't @ me. I sent another picture. My husband is worried, but not wanting to jinx the momentum.

I made a run to Michaels. I had a coupon and all of their organization was on sale. I ended up grabbing several organization units with shelves and drawers, as well as a bunch of baskets and bins. I think I ended up spending around $200.

Mom and I assembled and then loaded up the closet. For maximum space, we took out (ripped off) the closet doors. Don't worry, we did not leave the closet open in the end...keep reading as they are the pièce de résistance of the room. ;o)

Now that everything was organized and I was on a roll, I decided it was time to tackle the elephant in the room...that oh so lovely shade of green paint left over from my son. His favorite color is green, he chose it, I begrudgingly obliged. By the way, my husband is delighted but seriously worried at this point. He suspects a "project" will be coming for him soon. And he's not wrong.

Because this just started snowballing and if I have to stop and make a choice at this point, it may never happen...I grabbed the leftover paint from when we redid the laundry room last year and started painting.

I really love the color - Arid Landscape by Behr- so it worked out well. I also rearranged the furniture at this point. I decided to have the craft table in the center, like an island with walking paths all around. It does make the room seem smaller, but it works best with the way the rest of the room is set up and is the most functional for my flow.

With all over the major elements done, it was time for the fun part, decorating and final touches!

This is the view from the doorway. Straight ahead is the crafting/filming station. Directly behind the craft table is one of the bookshelves my husband made for me years ago. My box lights are tucked out of the way on either side, but easy to pull forward when in use.

All of the canvas storage boxes were purchased from Amazon. I just ordered a bunch all at the same time so I would have matching ones as I grew into them.

The cubbies on the craft table are accessible from both sides, so I have crafty items in the cubes. Colored pencils, pencil sharpener, blender stumps, gamsol, etc in one. Laminator, Minc, foils etc in another. Yo get the point. My most used tools are housed on the bookshelf. Easy to reach and easy to store. Win-Win.

My video camera lives on the tripod there, but, I do eventually want to take out the ceiling fan and mount the camera from the ceiling. I haven't asked for that yet...but it's on the list.

I opted for a black top on my craft desk because I wanted it to tie in with my work desk which is black. So if you pan to the right of the room, you'll find said work desk.

I picked this up from Ballard Designs about 10 years ago. It's a classic piece that was NOT inexpensive so the rest of the room had to work around it. Side Note: when I went to grab this hot link, I noticed they are having a 20% off sitewide sale + an extra 5% off $500 or more. Lord help me. This isn't sponsored or affiliate linked, but it is my favorite store.

The shelves above and the filing bin above the desk are also from Ballard. The chair and lamp are both from IKEA. The farmhouse sign and the frame holding the cards below were both coupon buys from Michaels.

While I was ordering from IKEA, I also picked up this set of Alex Drawers. I didn't know exactly what I was going to do with it at the time, but figured I could work it in somewhere. That somewhere happened to be at the end of my work desk and fits my printer perfectly. This freed up a ton of space on my desk that was previously housing the printer. All of my fine art supplies and printer supplies are in these drawers.

So that brings us to the final piece. The big ask. Which, I just casually mentioned to my husband "would be nice", and to my surprise, he agreed. Right away. Remember the open closet from earlier. Well....

I am beyond excited to have these guys! My husband and I built them and hung them over two weekends. We purchased the hardware from Industrial By Design. We ended up buying the 8' rail and trimmed it down to a little over 7.5'. I opted for 3 smaller doors instead of door standard ones to give the most access when fully opened. And they kinda make a "W" when closed. LOL

I went back and forth on whether to stain or paint the doors, but in the end went with painting as we could use cheaper pine wood. Instead I splurged on the header board, choosing cedar and stained it. I love the way cedar stains and having the wood element makes my earthy Taurus heart happy.

The majority of all of my craft supplies are stored here in the closet. I really don't have an excess of supplies and I don't suffer from "full set syndrome". So this setup works perfect for me. However, I still have plenty of room to grow if needed.

All in all, I love the way it turned out. I did not intend on doing a complete over haul when I started, but like I said, it just kind of snowballed. There are still a few things I want to do, like the ceiling mount I mentioned. I need to hang the rod and buckets sitting in the chair in the corner, and I'd like to recover that chair cushion as well. And, since I just noticed that Ballard is having a sale, well, I know where I'll be looking for the fabric!

I love the simple high contrast color palette. As much as I love working with color, I can not live with color. Over the years I've learned that being surrounded by lots of color over stimulates me and sends my anxiety into overdrive. I need to be surrounded by neutral earthy tones. So this new space is perfect and already working it's magic on me. ;o)

I hope you enjoyed today's post, I know it is much different than usual. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you're having a great day!