Crafty Crafting

Isn’t it just about every woman’s dream to have one room in the house dedicated solely to her crafting pursuits?

Well, it was this woman’s dream (one of them anyway).

I have to tell you, I am not the most crafty person in the world.  But when the urge strikes, I can be manic about it.

Because of this urge-striking business, I have collected quite an enormous supply of various crafting materials over the years. They mostly sat in Rubbermaid containers in closets throughout my various houses until needed.

When I moved into this house, I decided I really wanted to go to town, splurge like crazy, and do up a craft room the right way.  I would call in consultants– royal craftsmen–the finest minds in the housewife craft-room industry to give me the craft room of my dreams!

Of course that was the work of the Spendy Devil whispering in my left ear.  But luckily for my pocket book the Frugal Angel was shouting into my right ear.

As usual before heading out the door to part with my hard earned moolah, I took a good look around the house to see what I already had that could help me further my goals.

I hit pay dirt out in the garage.  The garage held four forlorn bookcases.  These are pretty cheap, purchased years ago at Home Depot, but still decent looking.

There was also a rickety old “farmhouse” style dining table that my husband had purchased years ago at a furniture outlet to use as a computer table.  This was also pretty cheap, the fake wood laminate on the top bubbling up a bit, the legs wobbly, and the surface bowed down in the middle.  But in considering my no-holds-barred crafting style (read: messy messy messy), I decided that this beat-up old table would be the perfect crafting surface for me.  I convince myself that this table has a great shabby chic vibe.

So up to the spare bedroom (ooops! I mean craft room) all these items went.  Now I could see that I would need containers to hold all my stuff.

Well, I had lots of cardboard boxes.  And lots of empty Folger’s coffee containers.  But that was about it.

This is where my Frugal ways met their Waterloo.  I wanted neat, somewhat stylish organization, and cardboard boxes and Folger’s containers just didn’t cut it. Time to crack open the cobweb-encrusted wallet.

So naturally the first place I head to is Big Lots.  They had baskets that were the right size, but they were weird flourescent pink, greens, and oranges.  Worst of all they were $14.00 each.  You broke my heart, Big Lots.

Next I go to Dollar Tree, not expecting much.  But I did pick up about 10 plastic shoeboxes with lids, great for holding small odds and ends.

I’m lazy, so I was getting tired of this shopping business pretty quickly. Oh no! Save me Frugal gods, from the seductive, over-priced wonders of the Container Store!  But I girded my (frugal) loins and decided to try one more place, a sort of department store outlet.

Bingo! I found pretty woven baskets (lined) in all shapes and sizes and pretty decorative cardboard boxes.  The biggest baskets were $6.97 and the smallest were $1.50.  I needed a lot, so I just decided to buy up all the baskets they had.  Boy was that store manager happy to see me. You know, though, I wish I had asked for a volume discount!

When I got out of that store, I had spent a total of $163.00.  Some of the items rang up at an additional sale price. Yay! So I managed to put my “Ultimate” craft room together for $173.00.  Not that you can put a price on dreams, but I’ll take it.

Here it is:

It’s still a work in progress, but all the main elements are there now.  I also have a comfy twin bed in the corner for those times when crafting poops me out.  Or for when guests come to visit.

Let the Crafting Commence!