Wednesday 27 February 2013

Crafty conception.....

I've been spending a lot of my working days in the workroom lately (if you discount the amount of time I spend faffing around on the internet) and I have to admit it's looking a little 'tired'.

And as it also looks as though we're in it for the long haul in terms of moving house, I'm inclined to give it a bit of a makeover.

Or to be more accurate, give the bits and pieces we'll be (eventually) taking with us, a bit of a makeover.

For example, I've had this little wooden storage chest for donkey's years, meaning to paint it but I've never been quite able to decide on a colour.



So, when I stumbled across this today......



on Debbie's blog,  I decided that I could easily do something similar in my workroom, on a shoestring budget. 

At present, the workroom is quite boring and utilitarian.

For storage of moulds and equipment I have several of these


They were from an 'end of range' kitchen unit clearance sale about 15 years ago.... three base units and two wall units.  The doors are oak and are as good as new but they're an uninspiring dark orangey colour which I've never really liked.  As they will eventually be moving to my new craft room (wherever and whenever that may be) it struck me that it would be a good idea to repaint the doors.  I've recently discovered this amazing 'chalk paint'  which apparently can be used straight onto wood without having to sand and/or strip off the finish, and a bit of internet sleuthing has revealed a reasonably local supplier.   It comes in a range of wonderful vintage 'shabby chic' colours which I'm sure would be perfect.

Aside from the kitchen units, I also have one whole wall taken up with an open-fronted display unit, in which I have dozens of plastic storage boxes for all my ribbons, trimmings etc......


Although useful, they don't look particularly edifying, so I've hit on what I hope is a damn fine plan to use a similar idea to the little wooden chest and insert different strips of shabby chic scrapbooking paper inside each one, just at the front.  This will not only make a prettier display, it will also more effectively shield the contents from the fading effects of the sunlight which pours into the room.

At the bottom of this unit there are also A4 size  cardboard storage boxes, which have all seen better days, so again, I can cover the fronts with an array of scrapbooking papers, which I've discovered can be digitally downloaded and printed off 'in house' thereby saving me a small fortune.

Other than that, with some new curtains and a rug I won't recognise the place.  It might even make me more creative! 

Not only that, I will then have a ready-made shabby chic workroom all ready to relocate to our new house in due course.

I do like to have a project (or two) in hand.....

 

 

5 comments:

Debbie said...

Glad to have given you some inspiration. Enjoy your displacement therapy, I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures...Have fun.

Sandra Morris said...

Thanks Debbie....

I'm sure that decorating the storage boxes will be fun.
Doing the cupboard doors less so...
I'll keep you posted on progress, or more likely, the lack of!

Sx

Karin F. said...

not to burst your bubble but.....
is printer ink so much cheaper in the UK? You'd be better to find some cheap scrapbooking paper

Irene said...

Papering the front of the little sets of drawers is a great idea. I love the inspiration pic - they look great all sitting there.

It'll certainly make a change from creating dolls/decorating properties! You'll have to keep us updated with this one.

Eliza said...

Can't wait to see how you fix up your workspace. Rather than printing out the scrapbook papers and using a lot of ink, you might want to tear up old wallpaper sample books. Often, wallpaper stores are happy to give them away, once the patterns have been discontinued. You may have to ask around a bit, but you can find some pretty papers this way.