Craft Area Complete

Well I did it... I finished my basement craft area to the best of my ability. 

I say to the best of my ability because right now we are waiting until the spring to paint the basement... we are waiting for the shelving to arrive....

One day too we are going to remodel the basement and I will have an actual craft room but for now... 

I have the space at the bottom of the stairs!

HERE is the before post of the basement

Here too are the BEFORE pics

 

  

As you can see what I really needed to do is to declutter and so it began!

I got rid of mostly all the cardboard boxes and excess papers and things that just did not belong in the craft area

Most of this stuff was from the move in November and then the Holidays arrived and everything was just left there and dumped there and ... forget the excuses!

I then began to compartmentalize everything... stickers and papers and glue and scissors and floral supplies and stamps and punches... well you get the picture!

Everything got a label and a home!

AFTER

I have a beautiful vision for what my craft room will look like in the future... here is what is looks like now. 

It is functional... I know where everything is and it is all easy to put back 

If I have someone over to craft,  they know where things are too

It is easier to be creative when everything is organized... even if it is primitive and not pretty!

Here is the view from the stairs

(yep there is a spool of thread under the ladder)

I love my ladder shelf!

It is so versatile and holds a ton of stuff

Here is the ladder shelf and my cricut table!

The screen in the background is for holding wreaths ~ I still need to hang them!

Here are all of my gift bags hanging from the ceiling!

Much better view than all the clutter

See the cart... well that holds all the projects that I am in the process of completing as well as some gifts too! This cart is right next to my wrapping paper container and above this cart are the gift bags

Here are all the drawers that I keep sewing stuff and tags and paints

(would have been nice if I closed them... keepin it real)

The carpet is a MESS... it is from upstairs... we changed out the carpeting and I moved it to the basement... we are planning to paint the floor soon 

We were planning on tossing all the carpeting but by moving it to the basement I can be as messy as I want and know that when we do finally get rid of it I will know that I used and abused it!

The containers to the right are household stuff waiting for the shelves!

The stuff in the background needs to be organized too when the shelves FINALLY arrive!

All in all though I am thrilled with the space because now I can create and make a mess and when I am done I can clean it up because like a good preschool... everything has a place and is labeled!

LOL

It works...

it really does work!!!

My friend and I ventured to JCP Outlet last Monday.

While we were there they were having an additional 30% off clearance sale.

I was thrilled because I was looking for small pates for my plate wall in my kitchen

You can see the wall I am referring to HERE

Here is what I found... 6 different white dessert and saucer sized plates in tone on tone white!!!

(please ignore the condition of my work table)

The price... just a whopping 70 cents each!

I knew I wanted to hang them on the wall ... but how???

Then I found Diane... and she has a blog and she designs and she shares...

So then I proceeded to add a hook on the back of each one using this AWESOME tutorial from Diane @ in my own style  ~ check her out you will be glad you did!

I used a sanding block... some hot glue sticks... hot glue gun and paper clips

Nothing beats a project that uses readily available stuff!!

WAHOOOOO

and here it is...

Let me tell you this is so CHEAP... and so EASY and so SECURE too!

I cannot show you what I did with the plates after adding the hooks YET...

but stay tuned and I will show you all on Sunday...

I am squealing over this project!!!

Craft Area BEFORE

Okay... here is FULL DISCLOSURE

I am lucky... our basement is very large with high ceilings.
When we purchased our home I knew just where I would craft... in the basement.

Eventually we would like to make a living room down there but there is a lot to do before that will happen.  For now... I will craft in the basement.

I have a New Year goal of creating a space in the basement to craft... but my secret goal is to have it COMPLETED by 2/27

So now I reveal the BEFORE... I held nothing back... this is the actual untouched space that will be my craft area...

These are the organizers that I am going to use to store most of the bigger stuff

Some already have things in them BUT will need to be gone though and labeled

This is my ladder shelf that will hold all the scrapbook papers and buttons and stickers and other fun stuff

This is a crazy pile of junk and good stuff that needs to be organized

Oh and you can see our new light fixture box for our yard that we got for Christmas from my inlaws

Here is a wonderful pic of the 1973 green walls and stunning curtains too

This is a rather large space 

We are painting the walls and the floor in the spring 

Hubby will have the back wall work section and work bench

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I am excited to organize this space... I love to create and need a space to do it

Stuff still needs to be unpacked and put in its proper space and I cannot wait to fully use it!