Craft Area & Rugs

Our dog, Mitchy, loves the new craft area. (Woof Woof)

Hey Everyone,

I recently redid my craft area. It was to small of an area to spread out all my projects. I didn't have enough space to leave projects out & work on something else at the same time. It was always a mess. On the other side of the room dividers (top picture) is where we have a small family room area with a couch & two recliners (pictures to come). Before I moved stuff around the white tables where on the 'family room' side of the room dividers, which was the home for all of my pictures. I thought the end tables would be more pratical on the other side, while making my art area alittle bigger. I had old black end tables that I stacked on top of the white tables to give me more storage space, also by stacking them it also saved alot of floor space & at the same time its visually pretty interesting. You will notice that I still found space for picture frames & if you look really closely, I know the picture is dark, you will see all the mini projects I am working on. The middle picture. You will see my sewing machine, which I got from my mom, which she got from my grandma. I am looking for someone who can teach me how to use it. Do you know how? I have so many ideas going threw my head & knowing how to sew would help so much with alot of those ideas.

Still talking about middle photo, you will notice the shelf I have on the wall, which I love & got such a great deal on. Got this at Michaels for $15.00 on clearance, because it was returned with a couple of chips on the paint. Originaly it was $50.00. I scored big with this find. After touching up the chips with some white paint, bam, good as new. Then you will see the art table underneath. Also got this table at Michaels. It actually moves updiagonally. Kind of like a drafting table. I really don't ever use it for that purpose.

Originally the desk that stretches across the back wall, was an "L" shaped desk. When I had it this way it was just taking up a whole bunch of useable space. So I just took out the section that made it an "L" and made it into a long desk. On the left hand side of the desk houses my computer & house bill information, and record keeping. On the right hand side is a surface where my cricket machine is, & just an area where I can leave projects out that I am currently working on.

Light is a major issue in my basement, so I decided to line the back of the desk with lamps that I'm not using & these lamps also happen to be lamps that I look to revamp.

On that same wall I have two bulletin boards hanging above the desk that I use as bill reminders (left) & as an action calendar (right). An action calendar is where I put post-its on & write what projects I am working on & when I feel they should be completed by. This is a great idea for all house holds & can be used for a varity of things. I have been wanting to do this for a long time because I think that this will help me get things completed.

I am kind of stuck on what I want to do with the floor. The rugs that you see in the bottom picture are rugs that I have in my kitchen, they are definately not going to stay there but I wanted to see what size or how many rugs I wanted down there. I really like the feel of the two rugs. Give it some interest to the floor, but it drives me nuts that they move & aren't always square. So with that said I am in search of a rug, that's approximately 5X6 or larger. I also have another idea in mind & that is making a canvas rug. I have been looking around for instructions on how to make one. The best one that I could find was on Marthastewart.com, gotta love her. Click on link & see instructions http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/making-canvas-rugs . I have been wanting to do this for the longest time. Do you think this will be a big endeavor? I think that this would be expecially good idea since it will be in a space where there might be spills or messes that might happen. Also this will be a hard service so that it will be easy for my desk chairs to roll around. Hmmm... Decisions. And ooohh, the canvas rug will be custom, gotta love that. But might be alittle bit more expensive. I found this website that sells #10 canvas, http://www.allenscanvas.com/?gclid=CNWwqNTtzKYCFQHs7QodqkosIA , which for 25 yards I guess really isn't that bad. Oh my, just came up with an idea, I can make seperate sizes & make a puzzle out of a whole bunch of them to go on the floor or make enough for everyone for a Christmas gift. I will have to do some more shopping around. I always find that if you take your time with finding materials needed for an expensive project it usually turns out being cheaper than if you just went out & bought the stuff after reading this post. HAHA. That's kind of a given.
After doing some more looking around for carpet ideas, I found this DIY project on ApartmentTherapy.com, putting inexpensive rugs together by sewing them by hand. I think this might be an option I will definately look into. Inexpensive & probably can find a whole bunch of second hand rugs at Goodwill. Link & how to: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_OEIbDXvUlj8/TOq2KGdKFAI/AAAAAAAACm4/dbWOIIYUBKo/s1600/1-23-diy-rug-4_rect540.jpg&imgrefurl=http://gritsandlime.blogspot.com/&usg=__yTzSif-5bzUqIR926a3ABovLrDY=&h=405&w=540&sz=52&hl=en&start=83&zoom=1&tbnid=7MqW6ZT7FhD5yM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=132&ei=_U46TdSSM8K_gQfq5ICuCA&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddiy%2Bcanvas%2Brugs%26start%3D80%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1 You will need to scroll down to the part where is talks about the rug, click on it, then will bring up information on how to do this DIY.
I hope you enjoyed reading. Til' next time.