The Barn: Craft Room- Honoring our Past; Creating in the Present; and Preserving for the Future
I have always dreamed of having a place to do my crafts. If the project is D-I-Y, I'm in! I guess it's in my blood. My mother, and hers, were both ultimate crafters. Actually, my Grandmother was a seamstress for Neiman-Marcus, back in the day. My mother was also a seamstress, quilter, dollmaker. My sister is a certified "Floral Designer". And I just like to create!
For so many years any, and all, creativeness was done in a spare bedroom, or on the kitchen table. The door to the bedroom could be shut; the kitchen table cleared....This all changed when we built the new Barn. A brand spanking new space dedicated to creating! YAY!
The following pictures don't even do our space justice...but, it's a glimpse inside our perfect craft room, and some of the projects that have already been done:
The Beginning: the room is 10' x 15' with 10' tall walls. The walls are 1" x 4" pine, and the ceiling is corrugated tin. At one end of the room the "working space" was installed.
Now, I want you to keep something in mind as you read this...I did these shelves all by myself. I planned, measured, cut and screwed every single one of these BY MYSELF. That top shelf was a 2' x 10' x 1" solid piece of board. I had to climb the ladder and wedge that board into place, before screwing it into the supports. I did this twice...even though I measured everything accurately, the wall gave me fits. I would get the board up the ladder, and it wouldn't wedge into place. At one time, I really thought I was going to stand on that ladder until someone missed me, and came looking for me! These shelves were a real challenge; that I did manage to conquer. Will I do this again (by myself)...absolutely not! (Edited to add: Never say Never! Read the blog post on the "The Barn: Kitchen")
For so many years any, and all, creativeness was done in a spare bedroom, or on the kitchen table. The door to the bedroom could be shut; the kitchen table cleared....This all changed when we built the new Barn. A brand spanking new space dedicated to creating! YAY!
The following pictures don't even do our space justice...but, it's a glimpse inside our perfect craft room, and some of the projects that have already been done:
The Beginning: the room is 10' x 15' with 10' tall walls. The walls are 1" x 4" pine, and the ceiling is corrugated tin. At one end of the room the "working space" was installed.
Now, I want you to keep something in mind as you read this...I did these shelves all by myself. I planned, measured, cut and screwed every single one of these BY MYSELF. That top shelf was a 2' x 10' x 1" solid piece of board. I had to climb the ladder and wedge that board into place, before screwing it into the supports. I did this twice...even though I measured everything accurately, the wall gave me fits. I would get the board up the ladder, and it wouldn't wedge into place. At one time, I really thought I was going to stand on that ladder until someone missed me, and came looking for me! These shelves were a real challenge; that I did manage to conquer. Will I do this again (by myself)...absolutely not! (Edited to add: Never say Never! Read the blog post on the "The Barn: Kitchen")
Everything is starting to take shape! BUT, those blue plastic totes just did not fit in with the whole rustic/Victorian theme...
The farmhouse table is the first table my husband, and I, ever bought. It was a perfect choice for the new craftroom. The top is small white tiles, and the trim is natural wood to match the walls. I bought "shoe-box" plastic organizers at the dollar store, and labeled them to hold all of our craft supplies.
Wooden "Bushel Baskets" took the places of the blue plastic totes. As well as, providing the perfect space for some of my grandmother's crocheted doilies; they also store fabrics and plenty of silk flowers for future projects.
Craft Room: Ribbon Caddy: Over the years, my sister and I have managed to collect quite a lot of ribbon. Over the years, we have managed to have that ribbon scattered everywhere...from plastic shopping bags to an obscure place in the closet...you name it, we've got ribbon. We really needed a place to keep all that ribbon! Here is one of the first "projects" I created for the new craftroom: A Ribbon Caddy!! I internet-researched a lot of ribbon caddies...nothing even came close to being big enough. We had a 2' x 2' space on the left-hand side of the farmhouse table to accomodate my ribbon caddy. I then proceeded to build the perfect place for all our ribbon:
I will include a more details on the ribbon caddy in another post.
Craft Room: Gift-Wrapping Station: On the other side of the farmhouse table, I wanted something to house all of our gift wrapping supplies.
I will put a more detailed tutorial on the re-purposed Gift Wrapping Cabinet in another post.
Craft Room: Drop-Cloth Curtains: We wanted some way to close off the "working end" of the room. While this is a space dedicated to crafting, I do have grandchildren and an occasional overnight guest that spend time in the room. I wanted to be able to hide all our "mess", if needed. And, I was also a little concerned about little fingers playing with the sewing machine, or exacto knife, or... The solution was to make curtains to close off the room. I used painter's drop-cloth, battenburg lace valances, and aluminum conduit for the rod. I will provide a more detailed explanation of the curtains in another post. But here is the "working end" of the room, hidden behind the curtains:
I didn't realize this post was going to be so long, or have so many pictures! I think I'm going to break this up. But, I'll include here the many "things" that make this room so special. As I mentioned, I'm not the only crafter of the family...it's a generational hobby. Over the years, as we've lost our beloved Mother, Grandmother, and several Great-Aunts, we have accumulated many of their sewing, quilting, crocheting, and decorative items. What better spot to pay homage to these special ladies, than to place their possessions in our craft room...
Next Post: The Barn: Craft Room - Trundle Bed Project.
Till next time...
And lastly, I created a Texas Sized shower curtain for our rustic bathroom. The ceiling in the room is 10' tall. The shower is 6' wide. I cut out the star from the top section, and then stitch-witched the white material to the back of the opening. I then frayed the edges of the blue fabric opening, and also the edges of the two bottom panels (red and white). I used very cheap rope from the local hardware store for the tie-backs. For curtain rods, I have begun using 1/2" metal conduit from the hardware store. It is extremely sturdy (no sagging from heavy material), comes in 10' lengths and can be cut easily with a metal saw blade. It is also very cheap. I needed 3 rods for this bathroom project: 1 for the top blue panel, 1 for the 2 bottom panels, and 1 for the clear shower curtain inside the 2 bottom panels. In order to make the the clear shower liner, I bought clear plastic tablecloth material from walmart. The plastic was 42" wide, so I used 2 panels 72" long. I then used small metal curtain rings that clipped to the top of the plastic panels. The small rings simply slide onto the metal conduit curtain rod.
