Monday, September 14, 2009

My New Craft Room

I have been unbelievably busy for the past few days. Isn't it amazing how a simple comment can turn your life upside down?? My youngest has been in an upstairs bedroom since we moved into this house. It's a cute room where the ceiling angles down on either side (kind of like a barn-shape). And the closet in there has been just her size; because it's built into the angled side of the room, it's very short, so she can easily reach her clothes - they're only about 3 feet off the floor.

One day DH and I were talking about how she would eventually outgrow that closet. We know this because we've each whacked our head on the frame of her closet while either putting something away or helping her find something. Let me tell ya, it hurts! She is getting bigger all the time (since I haven't figured out yet how to make kids stop growing!) and so we knew in a year or two, we'd have to figure out another bedroom plan.

We decided that the best idea might be for our son (the oldest) to move downstairs. Our basement is nicely finished, and a little different. It's U-shaped with the stairs in the middle. You go down the stairs and enter the room, turning left. Immediately on the right is the bathroom, then the door to the garage. You walk forward into the sitting area where the TV and fireplace are, then turn left again to the pool table, then left again to the "bar area." The people who lived here before us installed the bar because they had lots of parties. I have been using the bar as a scrapbooking center - nothing alcoholic about it. Anyway, we thought that our son might enjoy that back area if we could figure out a way to make a temporary wall to enclose it.

Well said son heard the discussion and got very excited about having his room downstairs. He loved the idea of having his own space away from everyone and having the bar area for Lego Bionicle building. But he wanted it NOW. And he said that since nobody goes downstairs after bedtime, he didn't care if we put up a wall yet or not. He just wanted his room down there. The girls then got wind of this, and got all excited about having their rooms across from each other. So suddenly the youngest wants to move into her brother's room NOW.

So what did I do? I decided to let them have what they wanted. Ugh. We had to move furniture from the main level to the basement, from the upper level to the main level, and from the basement to the upper level! It has been chaotic at best! But now, I'm happy to say, my son is happily sleeping downstairs, the girls are settled in their rooms across from each other, and I have a sewing/craft room upstairs! It has taken hours of work and lots of trips up and down the stairs, but I love my new room. I haven't decorated yet at all, but I took some photos of how I've set it up.

I tried to put it together in "zones." Each corner is basically a different area. I am going to get some more chairs moved up there - there's plenty more work to do, but the bulk of it is done. Here is the far right corner as you enter - it's my scrapbooking area:

That weird box beside the table with the white hose-thing on top? That's the portable air conditioner, which is necessary because this particular room gets REALLY hot when it gets over 80° outside. I'm not sure what they did when building it, but it gets like an attic. That a/c gets it cool very quickly, though.

And here is a close up of the shelf area, as verification that I have ENTIRELY too many scrapping papers! lol

Now, to the left of that window, in the other corner on that side of the room, is my sewing area. I haven't gotten into my bins and pulled out my fabric, so the shelf is partially empty, but someday it might be a cool and productive area (we'll see, anyway!):

And just over from that, in the corner "behind" the door, I have an area that the kids can use for their activities. There is a little dresser where supplies can be stored, and room for a folding table to be set up for them to work on their own special projects:

And finally, the corner just to the right as you walk into the room is my cozy little reading/knitting nook. I love the chair, so I had to have it, and it's right next to the shelf with all my various crafting books and magazines. I just need to get a nice lamp to put beside the chair and I'm set!

I'm hoping that I can get a lot done in this new room of mine. If I get going, I'll definitely post projects as I finish them. I just hope they start turning out better than that baby sweater.....*sigh*

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