our craft room

We have been dreaming of a craft room for ages now.  Ok, maybe not ages since we've only been homeowners for 8 years... but for long enough, anyway.  Since we didn't have any other big projects happening at the time, we started construction in the craft room in the miserable-middle of January.  The room was all cement and cobwebs when we (and when I say 'we', I mostly mean Jordan) started to work.  And now, (sigh of satisfaction) our craft room is complete (and when I say 'complete', I mean there are still some minor things to wrap up). 

So... what we did- in a nutshell:

came up with structural design, electrical, lighting, framing and insulating, drywalling (you know - tape, mud, sand, mud, sand, mud, sand, mud, sand), built-in cabinet, doors, trim, paint, flooring, countertop, more painting, and finally, organizing our crafting stuff. 

And we LOVE it!  Although, to be honest, all we've done in there for crafts since its completion is playing with legos and the kids have made some cards down there.  As soon as the weather gets pleasant around here, we're outside.  Also, soon after its structural completion, we had an emergency bathroom makeover to tend to which took priority over the craft room's finishing touches.

So do you want a tour?!  Of course you do ;)  More than likely you haven't read anything of what I've just written.  Like I normally do, you are probably just scrolling through the words to get to the pictures.  So here we go!

We enter through a 'hidden doorway'.  The door to the craft room is disguised as a bookcase!  Yeah, my husband is amazing, I know!!  So from the basement family room to the craft room:

To the left is my favorite wall in the whole house.  Do you have a favorite wall in your house?  Or is it just me?  I have other walls that come close to being my favorite.  But this one is tops in our home.  And it's really simple.  What you see here are the studs in front of the wall.  And the wall is scrap wood that we used up behind the studs.  Simple but, I think, beautiful!
remember how I said it's 'completely' done... well, we still need doorknobs!

This is just a favorite spotlight found at a flea market that, for some reason, we just had to have!
Since our basement has low ceilings, we decided to just paint them how they are instead of covering up the beams and pipes and losing height.  This is the best thing to do about low basement ceilings.  I love the look of it, it's cheaper and simpler and taller.
I love lines!  To me, this look is perfection!

This column disguises a steel support rod that couldn't be moved. But Jordan made it more attractive and also ran electrical on it so our main crafting table can have easy access to power.

This is what we came up with for the built-in cabinet.  I wanted equal amounts of open, showcasing shelves but also some cupboards with doors and drawers to conceal supplies.






Our backsplash is simple: can't go wrong with chalkboard.  And we knew we wanted some direct lighting over our craft table and onto the countertop.
Most of the storage boxes in here are from Ikea.  So far, I love them :)


Stools under the counter are also from Ikea. And we're always on the look-out for the perfect stools for by the table.

There was a perfect niche in the room for a closet.  There's nothing special about it.  Eventually there will be a closet organizing system but for now we store 'untouchables' in there like some bigger prints we have and a model that Jordan is anxiously awaiting working on.  The other doorway into this room is an extension of our unfinished basement, which is where Jordan does his extra carpentry work

And this is our crafting table.  We plan to extend the sides of it with some barn wood we have on hand, to make it longer.  We'll also add some locking castors.  This table came from my deceased grandpa's barn.  I wonder what the story is behind it....  We were happy to rescue it :)
I think that is all.  Everything you're looking at was done on a budget.  Most definitely, we were able to keep the cost of it under $1000.  Granted, our carpenter worked for free and we were also blessed with a gift of $500 from Grandpa to 'have fun with'.  So out of pocket for us, we definitely spent less than $500.  Mission accomplished!  Now I am feeling the anticipation growing for a snow-day where we'll all be stuck inside, forced to drink hot-cocoa and craft!

Before:

And after (again! because I love it!)

Comments

  1. LOVE it, Lindsey! Want to design our basement? :)

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  2. Yes!! Want to photograph our family?! I'm always lovin' your pics!!

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  3. I'm. So. Jealous! Great job with the room. I wouldn't want to leave! Stop by my Friday's Five Features and link up this post (and others)! http://diy-vintage-chic.blogspot.com/2013/08/fridays-five-features-no-3.html

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  4. great looking room great job
    come see me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

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  5. Wow what a fabulous space. I love it. I would love for you to link up to my Inspire Me party that is ongoing.http://www.astrollthrulife.net/2013/08/177th-inspire-me-tuesday.html Hugs, Marty

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  6. Wow! It looks lovely. I'd love a space like this to be organised in. Good job!

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  7. That chalkboard backsplash is amazeballs! LOVE it! And your spotlight find is sooo cute! Love the space (:

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  8. Your craft room looks gorgeous!! Wow, very well done! I really liked the secret doorway too, so cool. I have this linked to my craft rooms post too today, for inspiration!

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  9. Once I started scrolling through your blog, I knew I'd seen your work before! Sure enough! I LOVE what you've done with this craft room, and kind of want to move in. It's too late to stop me, I already know where the secret entrance is! ;)

    --Lindsey@BetterAfter

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  10. Love the secret door and your new craft room is just wonderful! So many character adding details - the scrap wood wall, the chalkboard, the flea market spotlight and the exposed pipes.
    Thanks for the inspiration,
    Suzanne
    Pieced Pastimes
    PS-Would love to have you link this up to Saturday Sparks. Links are open till Friday.

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  11. Replies
    1. Thank you! I fussed for too long on it but when I threw up my hands and stopped trying so hard, it came together :)

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  12. I don't know what I like better - the amazing built-ins or the secret door!! I've always wanted a secret door! It looks fantastic! Lucky you to have such a handy hubby!

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    1. I am lucky! Couldn't do it without him! Thanks for stopping by!

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  13. I LOVE the ceiling! Did you paint it yourself?

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    1. I just noticed this comment from you SO long ago! Sorry for my very delayed response!! Yes, we did paint it ourselves (sprayed it) and it still looks great! Thanks for stopping by!

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  14. I LOVE how it turned out! I have the exact ceiling in our basement and have 3 questions for you.
    1. How long did it take you to paint the ceiling and the grooves?
    2. Did you roll it on or spray it?
    3. Do you find that it attracts dust and dirt?

    It really looks great!

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    1. I'm sorry, I just realized that a LONG time ago you asked me about our craft room ceiling! In case you are still wondering....
      1. it took maybe half an hour each to prime and to paint it (and about an hour to tape up everything we didn't want paint overspray on)
      2. we sprayed it
      3. It doesn't show dust really so I can't tell if it attracts it more or less.
      Hope I could still be helpful to you:) Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. I came across your basement on Pinterest and it looks like you have florescent lighting in it. Do you like it, or do your prefer your recessed bulbs? Also, what color did you paint your ceiling? It's a nice cream. I'm in the planning stages of our basement project, so your input would be great :)

    Thanks for your help!
    Laura

    http://blueoncenter.blogspot.com

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    1. Oh my goodness!!! I am just seeing this comment, I'm so sorry! Did you get your basement started or completed yet?

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