craft room repair {before}

I'm getting there - it's almost complete - I can see the end is near.

My craft room has been getting a major overhaul of late. I literally emptied out all the contents...sorted, stashed, chucked, shrieked "Oh my goodness" when I found five packs of velcro all in various parts of the room.  There was fabric everywhere, all in a mess, bags of "I'll get to that project one day" in all corners and just general disarray of every sort.  I wonder how I managed any creativity in such a disaster zone. But slowly and surely this space is being transformed.  It's only small.  1.7 metres by 2 metres.  With a window and a cupboard there's not much room to swing a cat....when I first dedicated this room as a craft room we rather haphazardly put in a bit of a built in desk.  It's not perfect but it sure does the job as I can sit my sewing machine along side my overlocker....no packing up one to get out the other.

So.... Organisation has followed, alongside some decorating, prettying and shooshing up.

Oh it's been fun.  I even painted.  the cupboard door.  yellow.  Just because.

So before I reveal the new look craft room take a look at how it looked before.  Pretty miserable right.

Do you love a good spruce up?
What's your craft area/room/cupboard/nook like?
What is your best craft room organisation tip??

xx

From rust bucket to shiny new {yes, another DIY}

I'm pretty sure I imaged these chairs into existence.  It's not often I go thrifted and think to myself "gee I really do want a pair of fold up chairs...comfy...bright in colour perhaps, and only needing a but of tlc."

Wham!  They appeared before I could even finish this sentence in my head.  And at the stellar price of $8 a pop....these little babies took no time to shine like new.   I quickly stashed them at my folks little hobby farm - perfect spot for a bit of DIY when sanding rust and spray paint was involved. 

I then moved them to my father-in-laws shed....where he kindly finished them off by giving the seats the clean of their life....nothing a bit of metho and some elbow grease!  

Not a speck of rust in sight!!! 

Take a seat why don't you??  

So from rust bucket to sparkly new....

the only cost was the rust proof aluminum spray can for $14!

Ever found just what you were looking for whilst thrifting? 

Do share...

xx

DIY overload

There has been an awful lot of DIYing going on at my house.

It seemed to all come to a head at once.  That, and the fact that we could no longer get into the small back shed, so it was now or never.  Just look at my backyard! 

This photo was taken a few weeks ago, when everthing got pulled out...I donned my work gear, floral scarf wrapped around my head and set to work.  I sanded, and filled, painted and scraped.  I traded visits to Spotlight for Bunnings and I felt like a warrior in the process.  I enjoy this fixer-up-ering journey.  I love watching items that were, perhaps destined for the rubbish heap or no longer wanted, brought to new life.

My kids watched eagerly too - and with a paintbrush in their hand, I quickly set them with a bucket of water to "paint the fence" (genuis dad!).  I hope I am teaching them the value of "make do and mend" and that new is not always necessary. 

Here is the latest finished item.  A salvaged narrow ladder that I collected during hard rubbish.  All she needed was a sand, stain and a little colour.

Do love fixing stuff up?  does it hang around in your shed or garage though? Or are you great at fixing it up as soon as you bring it home....

xx

my creative space {another one saved}

On a recent trip to the Country to visit the folks, I chanced the opportunity to go to a fav thrift store, and struck it lucky with this delightful little timber side table.  

I could not resist.  And for the stellar price of a tenner....my little DIY gene was in full swing.

This little table, once a few peices of timber  I would say has been hand-crafted.  It also looks as though it's been painted several times.  Bright orange being one such choice long ago...

So, yes, with those curves it was just crying out for more than just plain paint.  I armed myself with some lovely delux gift wrap, mod podge and a brush and got to it. 

I painted the majority of the table in grey, which is the same paint I used to paint the bottom of these chairs.  I left the top, and the draw and the bottom shelf plain as I wanted to cover them in the gift wrap.

I added the gift wrap to the top and the drawer using mod podge as both a glue and a top coat. I didn't have enough paper to cover the bottom shelf, so instead used a little yellow paint that I had coincidentally bought some time ago, and it matched perfectly. 

And here she is....in all her newly updated DIY glory!
A new drawer knob from provincial living, and it was all done!

I love how it has turned out.  Yellow and grew are just a match made in colour heaven.  I'm also glad I just painted the bottom shelf plain yellow as I think more paper would have been a bit too much. I

 couldn't resist doing a little styling with my newest (old) saved bit of furniture.  

And for much much more inspirational projects click this way...

xx

DIY - road side find... {before & after}

 I love a good DIY project...and these lovely wooden chairs I found whilst walking around our neighbourhood a good six months ago during hard rubbish.  I was actually going to leave them, as I was walking with the two kids and it began to rain....We decided to cut out walk short, and I saw these beauties.  But, it was raining, and I had a little one that didn't want to walk any further.... So i reluctantly left them...

So we walked back home...and my son said "mum, lets just drive back and get the chairs..." 

"Oh terrific idea!"  I said! 

And so these chairs have sat idle in the shed waiting for a re-vamp. 

They are sturdy and only one little spoke needs some attention, but otherwise I knew a lick of paint would see them sparkle again. 

I set off to Bunnings, for some spak-filla, some paint and brushes.  I sanded, and wiped, I brushed and spent the weekend with the sun on my back and paint brush in hand watching these chairs that were destined for the scrap heap get a second chance....

And here they are.....In all their painted glory! 

 I struggled to decide on a colour, and then wandered around the "miss-tints" shelf at Bunnings.  Its a shelf of varying paint cans all incorrectly tinted and so, drastically reduced.  Seeing as I am not familiar with the whole DIY furniture re-vamp,  I also wanted this to be a minimal cost exercise....

So when I spotted this gorgeous blue - 2L for $20 I grabbed it as well as a small 500ml pot of grey/beige for $4, which I painted the bottom of the legs, just for contrast. 

And here is my own little stylist taking some snaps of the new blue chairs....

Have you had a road-side find re-vamp? 

I think I'm looking forward to the next hard-rubbish!!! 

xx