Craft Room Clutter

One of the perks of being an almost-empty-nester has been to reclaim our finished attic, previously a playroom, then a teen hang-out space, then storage and remake it into my own art studio!  

I painted the space in blues and grays to match the carpet and give it a dreamy feel.  I look over the trees and rooftops of our neighborhood and the space reminds me of the sky on a cloudy day.  It is my favorite retreat when it's raining and when it's sunny, the light pours into the windows.

For years I have carted my supplies upstairs and downstairs to create/sew/craft on our dining room table and then, so we could eat, carried it all back and put it away in the various rooms it was stored. Maybe you can relate?

This is only some of my art stash... 

       

Messy art closet

My fabric stash

Sewing notions - yes that is a toolbox!

I continue to work on relocating many items in the attic to other places...my oldest son's collections...the "take to college" pile for my youngest son...my husband's life archive...my scrapbooks and memorabilia and various other stuff that no one knows quite what to do with.  So, I'll be showing the before and after photos once the transformation is complete. For now, there are quite a few piles of boxes around the perimeter of the room. 

Patience is a virtue.

In the meantime, what to do about storage for all of my art stash items?  I happen to love old things and so Ikea was out.  Instead I  thrifted a couple of cool pieces of furniture at The Beldenville Flea.

Rusty  and stained top of the cabinet

This dingy Army issue card file cabinet was being used for automotive and electrical parts.  The first step was to clean it all out.  

Time to put on the gloves!

Look at all the cool stuff inside!  My husband kept quite a bit of these items as the fuses were exactly the ones we needed for the garage.  It was like a treasure hunt although I could have done without the mouse nest...yuck.

After scouting around the Flea for awhile, I came across this old oak dresser that seemed the perfect height and width to put the card file on.  It's even on wheels!

It was badly stained and the original ornate drawer handles were missing.  In the past I wouldn't have dreamed of painting good wood furniture, but as Myquillan Smith, aka "The Nester" from The Nesting Place, recommends, if you hate it anyway, why not paint it?  

So I did.

But first, as it was all coming apart, I glued it all back together using wood carpenter's glue, then I sanded all the gunk that was stuck to the top and I used this product to make the drawers slide easily into place.  (I'd never done anything like this before, thankfully bloggers are in my friend group.)

I primed it and then used up some floor and porch paint that I had laying around.  This color reminds me of the ocean.  I purchased sleek new modern drawer handles and lined the drawers with contact paper from Target.

This pattern brings to mind all the little stones one might find on a beach, it seems so perfect in my nature inspired space.

Then on to the card file cabinet!  

I chose the sun as my inspiration and picked out a golden shade of yellow spray paint to match and went to work.

Here it is in my attic space...but it's not done yet!

The inside of many of the drawers were rusty and stained from water damaage, so that contact paper came in handy and adds so much fun to the cabinet.




I also painted all the drawer dividers...now to organize and label them.  (They are the same shade of yellow and that contact paper is white not blue..who knows what happened here?)

The final touch was to add the labels.  I used my own handwriting!

And now...



The missing drawers created space for my origami paper, large rulers and beads.

I used this product for organizing my beads. The plastic containers have lids that screw on and off and 12 of them fit into their own plastic case.  Perfect for seed and bugle beads.

Let's review!  

BEFORE....

AFTER...

Wall stencils courtesy of Alabama Chanin

I do believe this is Pinterest worthy!

What I haven't mentioned was the fact that I didn't buy the card file initially...it was more than I wanted to spend, so I went home empty-handed. The next morning I felt convicted that I was meant to have it, if it was still there.  I drove back to the Flea and there it was sitting in the rain...just for me. The vendor who took my $ told me, that instead of an impulse buyer, I was a "fate" shopper.  I loved this compliment!

This prescription bottle I found inside one of the drawers sealed the deal.

The last 4 digits of the phone number are the same as mine!

If you could repurpose any space in your home, what would you do with it?  What would you put in your very own card file cabinet?