The Craft Room

Even before buying this house, I had really wanted a craft room! It would be a place to store all my yarn and fabric and beads and other crafty necessities. I could set up the sewing machine and not have to worry about hijacking the dining table. I would have a little corner to sit and knit and look through crafty mags. It would be so fabulous!

Thankfully our house, with its four bedrooms, lent itself quite accommodating for a craft room. I claimed the smallest bedroom for this honor!

In the beginning, it was yellow with lacy curtains. Since a redo on this room wasn't high on our list, we actually had a few guests stay in this room as is.

In July/August 2010, while Eric was traveling and apparently I was bored, I decided it was time for this room to get its makeover! I gutted the closet (it was just a rod and shelf) and installed an adjustable shelving system. I painted the ceiling, trim and walls. There had been some water damage near the window and it took a LOT of spackle and sanding (repeat 20 times!) before I deemed it bearable (I am a bit of a perfectionist).

I managed to take the room and closet doors off the hinges for painting and figured while I was at it, I would do the closet door in the guest room. The inside of the door had some hand prints. My guess is it was the daughter of the previous owner and her friends. I think they painted the guest room themselves (in the lovely pink/purple combo!).


I felt kinda sad when I painted over this for painting over someone's memories!

I suppose the scary part of this is I painted my craft room purple (my favorite color) and it was actually kind of similar to what the scary guest room used to be...


Done painting... photo without flash

I was really unsure about the color after realizing this and also, since it is a small room I was afraid the dark color would make it even smaller!

Originally I had envisioned a tealish/aqua craft room but the office was sort of a faint aqua and the guest room was a light green and the bedroom was blues so I was afraid of having my whole upstairs being blues and greens. Purple it was.

I moved in some furniture going for white/grey accents.

I love the Expedit units from Ikea and was so sad when we had to leave ours at the condo (though the thought of taking it apart and transporting it made me less sad). I was so happy to find this white one in the as-is section for half off... and the table attachment was only $7!!

I didn't want to overwhelm non-crafty folks with my extensive yarn stash so only the top row has yarn in it. The rest is mostly knitting/sewing books/magazines and notions.

I had pictured a chair where the little white bookcase was and got my chance when we bought some new chairs for our master bedroom last month. I moved the poang chair in here and the white bookcase to the guest room.



One of my other specifics for this room was that we can still have guests in here and with the desk to one end, we can move out the chair and pump up the aerobed for company!

I love having my craft room but other than storage, I don't actually hang out in it a lot! The puppy is pretty much under constant supervision so I can't hole myself up here for days at a time to sew or knit. I thought at some point when we decided to let him upstairs (ie he has no more accidents) he could come hang out with me, but actually going upstairs makes him very nervous/excited/overwhelmed and he can't bring himself to do it. Last time we gave him a bath, Eric had to carry him up and down. We couldn't even lure him with treats.

But back on topic, I still love my craft room. I would love to see yours! Or maybe just the corner where you craft. Is it totally inspiring?

PS Paint is "Lazy Afternoon" by Benjamin Moore

PPS Linking up to the Houseography House Tour Party!

Happy Easter!

I consider myself ready for Easter... from a crafting standpoint of course! Never mind I still have Thanksgiving and Christmas stuff up on mantle (I did at least put away the pine cones).

I crocheted some Easter egg cozies! It sounds very grandma-ish but you have to admit, it's super cute.

I believe the pattern was meant for regular hard boiled eggs but I used large plastic ones. I ended up having to add 2 rows to the main body to cover them all the way.

These were quick to make which is why I actually met my deadline and they are on their way to California (for my sister).

The inside of one holds gummy bears and the other has some summery Paul Frank magnets. I wasn't sure anything chocolate would survive the journey!

The pattern is free from Lion Brand (sheep here, bunny here). You have to sign up but it's free.

The white yarn is Red Heart Super Saver, the grey is Lion Brand Wool Ease, and the black is some random acrylic (maybe Red Heart Super Soft? Is that even a real yarn or am I making it up?).

Next week I'll have a post about my craft room!

Atlanta!

Oh hi, I'm still alive! Life has been crazy... I've traveled a little, Eric's traveled a lot. Being a puppy momma is hard while taking care of a house (and trying to decorate still!) and work got really busy. 

But I am here to tell you I'm still kicking and I will try again at the posting once a week thing. I think it will be easier once I get Photoshop and all my pics off my super slow laptop (circa 2006). 

Today I am going to share my trip to Atlanta a month ago to visit Eric who was there on work!

Despite my calling it "Hotlanta," it was actually cool and rainy when I went. Figures! Our first stop was the World of Coca Cola.



I would have loved to see a movie about their history and various products around the world. Perhaps even their marketing and branding approach (that could just be the business me) but instead we got an animated feature and a Disney-esque ride. Oh well! The exhibits with Coke memorabilia were pretty neat and I enjoyed these decorated Coke bottles. I mean, look at that knit Coke cozy!

The highlight is at the end where they have a tasting room and you can taste Coke products from all over the world. Some were good, some not so good. I took a picture here of Inca Kola from Peru because our next big trip will be there! Alas, I have learned I do not like Inca Kola so I hope they will have regular Coke there.

Right across from World of Coke is the Georgia Aquarium - the largest aquarium in the world!

We saw lots of jellies...

And coral reefs (this made us miss having our saltwater tank)...

And a really giant... well, aquarium! I am hoping you can tell the size of this by the people standing in front. Those are two WHALE sharks in there and a manta ray who kept doing flips for the crowd. We arrived right at whale shark feeding time and it was amazing to see them all swimming around!

 

Even as the largest aquarium, we still managed to spin through in 2 hours. It was super packed so I don't think we stayed as long as we would have.

We took a walk through the Olympic Centennial Park on the way back to the car.

 

I did some research before going down and decided I really need to try this place:

 

Five o'clock and already there was a wait! The chicken was good, the waffles were average (I like the thick deep Belgian style waffles). Definetely the Southern style meal I was looking for though!

The next day we began with a delicious breakfast at Ria's Bluebird. Go for the pancakes with caramelized bananas... it's like candy for breakfast!

With full bellies we took the studio tour at CNN.

They have the world's longest free standing elevator in the "lobby."

 


Because it was Sunday, not a ton was going on but it was still neat to see the newsrooms and sets. No pics allowed inside though!

We walked around some neighborhoods with small shops after and enjoyed a yummy dinner at Ecco (what seemed like the only place open on a Sun night!). Highly recommend the fried goat cheese with honey and peppercorns... yum...

So that was my visit to Atlanta! We seemed to get everything done in 2 days so I'm not sure I'd go back. Anyone else been to Atlanta? What did you think?