new bedroom - before

Let's continue the house tour with the before installments, and here we are in the master bedroom.

Not the best angle, I'm afraid...

Here I used the same dove-grey as the entryway, but painted it full height, with horizontal stripes. You might have noticed I used a stripes pattern which is different for every room. It is not a coincidence, obviously.

For this room, furniture includes:
- two wardrobes;
- one (big) chest of drawers;
- one bed (duh!)
- side tables;
- big rug;
- lights;
- decoration.

This room will also stage three of my most ambitious projects:
- the craft corner
- the headboard made of pallets
- the bed skirt

While I've already planned out everything about the headboard (and I mean planned, down to the last nail) and the bed skirt, I'm still unsure on the outcome for the craft corner. The space is very small and it will have to be highly and perfectly organised to hold everything I have for crafting. This is worrying me, 'cause the current space is *much more* big than the one I have in this new house... I'm probably going to store some things in other places. I hope not, but I might have to. And certainly I'll have to move to another room to actually craft, especially if it's the sewing.

Stay tuned for updates.

needles (not pins)

There's this cosmic rule in my craft space that my needles get lost as soon as they are stored in a safe place... so safe that I can't remember where I put them... the rule does not apply to my pins, that are easily stored in a Nutella glass (along with the classic white cap).

This thing is driving me crazy, so I surfed the net for some solution... I found my inspiration and I made this needle book, which will hopefully help me with my hiding needles.

It only has 4 pages: the first for hand sewing needles, the second for safety pins holding labels on baby clothes, the third is for embroidery needles (no points) and the last is for wool needles (the big ones).

I love this little book!

craft room restyling - take 2

Every now and then (too often, if you listen to hubs) I feel the need of a revolution and begin to paint walls, haul furniture around and generally turn a supposed mess into something more pleasing to the eye.

My craft room (being my space and all) is frequently subjected to some kind of reorganization, sometimes minor, at times major.

As much as I'd like to own a big enough house to have a specific room to call 'lab', and being conscious that I'd never reach the fabulous levels of some of your craft spaces, I'm trying my best to keep my little corner in the best condition I can.

You may remember the beginning:

craft room 1.0

craft room 1.5

I didn't have the storage I needed, so I upgraded to version 2.0:

craft room 2.0

This version had some things I needed to change, both for practical reasons and aesthetics.

First of all, my table (on the left in the photo) was directly under the air conditioning system, which was noooo good for my health. Plus, light hit the table from the right, and with me being right handed it was simply poor. The other light points where placed on the left (not shown in photo) and under the shelf in the right, under the roof window. All wrong.

The chest of drawers on the right was used as change table for Smurfette#2, and in the drawers I had to keep her clothes and all. Lots of no crafting space.

The white square shelfs (Ikea's Expedit, in case you're wondering) where not so practical as library: things were sparse and my sense of proportion was a little offended by this 'highness' near another (the fabric storage). I didn't really like also that they were so different in style from everything else.

Then there was the wall color. I'm more in tune with something pale green, almost sage green, but very light. The creamy is not so flattering in this room any more.

What did I do?

I moved the Expedits in the girls' bedroom for toys storage (perfect), I swapped the table and the chest of drawers (Smurfette#2 now has her own change table in the bathroom - waaay more convenient) and I bought a smaller Smadal shelf at Ikea (same line as the fabric storage, yuppie!).

craft room 3.0

Now everything is better. I didn't paint the wall, 'cause I didn't have time, but I'll do it as soon as I can. I already have the paint. Also, I didn't finish to repaint the chest of drawers (I'm making it cream white), but I promise to complete this project soon.

I'm satisfied (for now, at least).

WIP wednesday #44

This week has been quite feverish, being the first week in primary school for Smurfette#1 and the first week in kindergarden for Smurfette#2... let's not dwell on that for now, I'll post about it another time. Aside from that, I got a serger (which I've not been able to use yet - remember the feverish part?) and sewed and crafted and planned...

COMPLETED PROJECTS:

- kindergarden bag: for my youngest nephew, Smurf#2

- pre-school bib: for another nephew, Smurf#1

- oilcloth diapers pouch: an organization issue is often the starting point for a new project...

- more little oilcloth pouches: after seeing my diapers pouch, Mom's asked me for smaller versions to keep in her bag for cosmetics, tissues, ... you can't say no to Mom, now, can you?

this is Smurfette#1's shot, complete with our feet... (!)

- basket ball holding net (the fishnet): I've finished the net, and now (   ) I have to invent a practical handle...

PROJECTS IN PROGRESS:

- heavy girls' bedroom blind: planned, now I need to get supplies (plastic rings, wood sticks, string, ...)

- lunch bag: on hold

pre-sewn lunch bag

- Paths in my Garden quilt (king size quilt) - on hold 

- Secret project #1 (lap size quilt) - on hold

- Chains of Love quilt (twin size quilt) - on hold for priority reasons

- Secret project #2: it's a Christmas present for very important people :) - planned and partially supplied with the right fabric...
- craft room restyling: I know, I'm repeating myself, but don't you think that once in a while some restyling is in order?
- family room restyling: this is a very much needed project, and we are slowly progressing. I'll post about it later, it deserves a specific post.

THIS WEEK:

completed projects: 5

in progress: 9

new projects: 8

uhmmm... not so good, but I hot to do better next week!

craft corner in the making

Now that the flooring issue is over, I can concentrate on organizing the new sewing corner. Previous versions had a big table area and the storage was not so functional.

I found that I really don't need a big table, because I always end up cutting my fabric on the kitchen table (which allows me to walk all around) and sewing on my FANTASTIC little folding table (Muddus@Ikea).
So now I'm going to place the little fellow with my sewing machine in my corner.

Next, a little thought about my fabric stash: I realized I needed something to keep the dust away from my fabric, but I wanted also to still see the whole stash. Guess what? Smadal@Ikea with its glass doors is just the right thing.

Then, for the library and some other assorted things, I had some (Ikea) furniture to replace.

This is the partial result of the restyling:

craft corner 2.0 (almost)

You can see on the left the space I left for the sewing table, which will have also a brand new comfy chair with a fluffy pillow. I'm also repainting an old (Ikea... what else?) chest of drawers that's going to be on the right, below the wall shelf and the hearts. That would be plenty of storage.

When everything is complete, I'll show you things in details. For now, the only detail I want to share is a little Thun bell that a dear friend of mine gave to me on my birthday. Sooo nice!

the flooring issue is finally over!

We thought that maybe in the bedrooms upstairs it was better not having a tile floor. We thought that maybe laminate flooring was better. We thought the Smurfettes were going to like the change. We thought everything would be prettier. We certainly were SO VERY RIGHT!

Smurfettes' bedroom

guests room - detail of flooring

We also thought that it was no big deal. We thought it wouldn't take a toll whatsoever on any of us. We were SO VERY WRONG!

the studio disaster, aka bedrooms redecoration
our master bedroom is in a similar shape... well, a little better... we did sleep on our bed last night

But, boy!, how we like it now!!!!

And this is going to be my craft corner!!!

the soon-to-be craft corner

craft room revamping

My craft room is not a room, it's more a corner... but it does work, because it's a corner of the spare bedroom and it is very conveniently placed just below the roof window.

craft room 1.0

Since the above photo, things have been reorganized a little bit (thanks to lovely Ikea), and now the place looks like this:

craft room 1.5

As you can see, it's been transformed into a nursery, thanks to Smurfette#2. The table should work like that for a while (hopefully NOT till potty training...!), but I'm thinking about revamping the whole thing to version 2.0 (in which my sewing machine will join the party).

This project should be a consequence of our studio restyling, and relocation of some furniture will be in order. Everything is very clear in my mind, but I must wait till next trip to Ikea to make the dream come true.