Tuesday, January 08, 2013

The Planning Part 1 - My Craft Room

Because we were building our new home custom, the sky was literally the limit in the planning portion of the floor plans.  The limit became the reality of what I really want vs need.

In our last house, I had a small craft room.   Ok, some would even call it a closet.  It was on purpose in our Master Bath.  It was large enough for a work desk and tons of crafting supplies.  But, we knew that such a space might never aid in the sell of this house down the road.  But a huge closet would.  :)  And it would be a THIRD closet in the Master Suite.  (And it did help sell the house . . . for sale by owner . . . in 60 days . . . God is good)

At first I thought it would be so awkward to have my craft room in the Master Bath.  Just typing it sounds hilarious!!  But, as it turns out, it was genius!  Our master set on the end of our house.  So my craft room was far away from the rest of the house.  My getaway . . . my retreat . . . it allowed this stay at home mom some much needed get away time (think husband works 60 to 80 hours a week most weeks).  And when you don't really have a lot of money to get away with, you can understand what a blessing this space was to me.  Free . . . always available . . . and with immediate access.

Here is what that space looked like and how I used it.


I had this huge bank of amazing shelves.  I tried my best to keep things nice, neat, and tidy.  I grew to be in love with the ability to grab everything with a slight reach.

So here I sat . . . builder and husband asking me what I wanted to do.  Armed with lots of prayer, dreaming on Pinterest, and my past experience - I had two obvious things to decide.  How big?  And where in the house did I want this space?

How big?  After much soul searching, praying, thinking and deliberating, I realized that I did need (and could and would use) a bigger space than a closet.  But making it the size of a bedroom seemed inappropriate as well.  Although it would be amazing, I knew in my heart that it needed to be something in between.

Where?  This was at times really hard for me.  I love my family.  I have literally given me over to them - above my own career ambitions, above my own sanity some days.  And to be truthful . .  . I love it!!!  I love serving my family.  Nothing (well crafting does run pretty close to the top) gives me more satisfaction.  So on one hand, I wanted my space to be an extension of my world with in the main flow of the house.  But on the other hand, I love having a retreat and my own little haven.  For me, crafting is so therapeutic.  It keeps my sanity . . . keeps me balanced.  Life is so hard and stressful at times.  In the end, having a place to retreat and reload was more important to this mom.  So, I decided it would be off of the master suite somewhere.

As it turns out, it was placed at the back of my closet.  So in order to find me in my crafting world, you have to come into my house.  Walk across the living room.  Go through my bedroom.  Walk through the bathroom.  And when you get to my closet, take a deep breath, open the door and head to the little hidden door at the back.  Pause . . . open . . . and you are in my oasis.  My fun room!!  My craft room.

Saturday, January 05, 2013

The Dream - My Craft Room

It has been WAY too long since I was very active on my blog and even in my creating world.  WAY too long!!  That is about to change.  And by about to change, I mean in 5 to 6 months.  :)

We are 75% through the actual construction phase of our home.  It has been crazy, fun, heart-breaking, humbling, amazing, awesome, tedious, treacherous, and tons of fun.  By far the largest point of stress and time has gone into my craft room.  From the dreaming phase, to the planning phase, and then to the building phase - my craft room has remained a high priority and at the forefront of a lot of planning, thoughts, decision, and budget.  Can anyone say HUSBAND OF THE YEAR!!!??

The cabinets are officially in!!


But before I jump right to it, I thought I would take a couple of posts to show you what went in to this room.  I hope that the long and tedious hours I spent might somehow or someway help even one person in their journey to craft room heaven.

It all began with a dream . . . my very own craft room.  It would be this amazing 250 sqft space of high ceilings, bright lights, and more storage than you could shake a stick at.



I mean . . . who wouldn't want a room like this.  It has custom cabinets, a large island, amazing work space, lots of light - both natural and artificial.

Or how about this one . . .

This room takes my breath away.  So beautiful.  So clean.  So pristine.  In the end, it became my capstone of inspiration.  I kept coming back to this picture somehow.  In a dreamers world, the sky is the limit.  So why not dream BIG!

Then . . .

. . . reality hit . . .

What could or would I actually appropriate to such a space?  How much square footage did I really want to ear mark in my home for my craft area?  How much was I willing to spend?  How much could I spend?  What is wisdom on how much this room should eat into my planning time, budget, and mental capacity?  How important is a craft room, really?

So, I stopped thinking.  I went to the Pin Boards and started my dreaming journey back up.  I only pinned things that inspired me.  Things I could see myself doing.  Things I enjoyed.  Even if it was clever or beautiful, if it didn't fit me . . . it didn't get a pin.  I didn't worry about budget, space, or reality.  What was it that I truly loved in a craft space?





I loved the separate work spaces here.  I really like the idea of having my computer work station right in my craft room.


Or how about these amazing drawer units.  Such great space!

I will not put all my pins in this post.  (I can hear the thank you and hallelujahs now.)  If you want to see my Craft Room Inspiration Board, please have a look.  You can see it here: http://pinterest.com/leannjolliff/craft-room-ideas/

After pinning for several months, it became clearer to me what I tended to gravitate towards.  I learned that I love to keep things compartmentalized.  I like having everything orderly, in its place, and behind some sort of storage (rather it is a bin, box, drawer, cabinet - but not showing).   I learned that I couldn't do an overly cluttered space where my buttons, embellishments, ribbons, etc. hung out for all to see.    I learned that just about every craft room on Pinterest is done in white.  And that was ok because I LOVED the white.   I learned that I didn't mind wall to wall furniture . . . as long as I couldn't "see" the stuff.  -- Do you see a major trend here? --  I learned that I was blessed to even have a "problem" such as what kind of craft space do I really want.

So . . . I could begin to see it . . . my craft space . . . an orderly space . . . a white space . . . a space where I could relax . . . a space that inspires . . . a space that allows me a retreat . . . a space for a passion . . . a space to read my bible . . . a space to call my own . . . a space that made me feel good . . .