Showing posts with label IKEA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IKEA. Show all posts

Friday, February 4, 2011

Evolution of a crafty room - Part Two


After I put together my ironing table (Evolution of a craft room - Part One), I cleared the room of everything that wasn't staying - all that was left was the table, my TV and my IKEA Expidit shelves.  I love how bright my room is, even though it is tecnically a basement room.  The window is large and faces south, so even on the rainiest days, it is light.

Here is a before (badly put-together) panoramic shot: 

I chose to paint it a sky blue, to minimize any lighting distortions.  The first colour I chose was too grey, but I had only painted the wall on the left, behind the Expidit so I left it as is and painted the other three walls in the new shade.

All the trim work was painted Bright White for a nice clean look.

Then I made another trip to IKEA for these:

A shelf for my favourite photos and collectibles (don't you just love the new wall colour?):
(Relax metal wall hanging from Michaels)


A small Expidit for my personal scrapbooking supplies :

Nestled in between my storage cubes from Michaels - these hold the rest of my scrapbooking supplies.



 Two VIKA tables to form an L-shaped work station:   


I repurposed a lazy susan to hold my baby computer.  That way I can view it from either side - I use it to view instructions when I'm tackling something new (or surf blogs while I'm sewing).

I also bought a BYGEL hanging rod and containers for those little things that like to clutter my workspace:



And finally, this magnetic chalk board - it covers an ugly electrical panel.  I painted it with one of my accent colours and I'm going to make some little patchwork panels to cover the useless brown bottom part.  My other accent colours are hot pink and bright blue or aqua.



I hope you are enjoying my little tour.  Part 3 will be about repurposing what I have on hand and organizing my many bins of crafts and sewing.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Evolution of a crafty room - Part One

It all started with a dream of my very own space to create and an idea from the internet: 


After almost 10 years of kids moving in and out, there was light at the end of the tunnel.  My daughter, her husband and baby had been living with me for close to 2 years as he went through the immigration process (he is from New Zealand) and saved to purchase a home. With townhouse prices hovering near the quarter-million dollar mark, it was the only way for them to get into a home of their own and we were getting along great!  Finally, they were able to purchase right around the corner from me, almost next door to my other daughter - lucky me, both my girls live within a 2-minute walk.  They moved out on February 4, 2010 and I made a run to IKEA the following weekend!

My little man helped me build it (he is 17-months in this picture and loves tools!):


Please ignore the '90s - style sponge painting - that's why this is titled an evolution!

I bought Insul-brite batting and a pink-striped pillow ticking to make the cover.  I stapled the batting to the underside of the top (2 layers thick) and then realized the drawers wouldn't open and close properly - I couldn't face pulling all those staples so I haven't redone it as of yet.  I made the cover with a casing and just like my grandma's ironing board, I threaded it with kitchen string and pulled it tight.  I find it gives me a much better fit than elastic; call me funny that way!




So now I have a 17" x 6-ft long ironing table, complete with drawers and shelves.  This is how it looks today.  Cutting mat on one end, 3 projects piled on the other and a great ironing surface!



That is all I got done the first month.  I just had to go take this in, since it was taking place in my backyard:


This is as close as we could get to the 2010 Olympic cauldron without a 3-hour wait.



View of Robson St. looking towards the dome of BC Place Stadium. I've never seen so many people in one place.



The Vancouver Library - I proud to say my daughter designed the layout of the fifth floor!



Thousands of Inuksuks were built impromptly by visitors on the rock-lined shore of False Creek.  It was an amazing sight!