Chair Transformation

In my craft room I am trying to incorporate GREEN into the builder-beige palette so I figured that making a partial slipcover for sewing desk chair would be an easy way to bring green into the room without making a large, permanent commitment to the color.

Every once in a while I discover something fabulous in the remnants bin at the local JoAnn's. It's a great way to get a yard or less of expensive fabric for a big discount. The only catch is that you then have to figure out what to do with that small amount of fabric!

So I had this piece of green and white decorator fabric which was obviously too small to make a curtain out of. I could have made pillows out of it, though I would have had to pair it with another fabric to get more than one substantial pillow. However, I recalled one of those home improvement TV shows where the designer took a family's old dining set and made these little slipcases for the tops of the chairs to instantly update them and make them fresh and white. I decided I would try that project myself!

It took about 30 minutes to make my own slipcover for the chair in my crafting room. It probably would have been a lot faster if I didn't waste time figuring out how to do it, but once I figured it out it was really easy and I could have replicated it quickly if I had more chairs (and more fabric) to go through. This is definately something you could do in a batch to quickly transform your dining set, or just decorate an accent chair or desk chair like I did.

The"before" picture, from June 2010. The poor chair looks naked.

The "after" picture.

If I ever get bored with green I can make a new one in PINK or maybe ORANGE... whatever color is the new BLACK.

Dresser Facelift

This dresser has been in my family a very long time.

At one time it was painted a lovely turquoise color. I believe it was changed to purple for my sister's room about 25 years ago and my cousins never changed the color when they used it.

The "BEFORE" picture.

I believe it was my grandma's, then my mom's, my sister's, my cousins'... clothes have been stored in, babies have been changed on top of it... and now I have it!

But it could use a little sprucing up...

The "AFTER" picture.

I painted it a different shade of white to match the trim in my house, and also replaced the hardware. Gorgeous!

Craft Room Organization

A well-organized space is essential to productivity!

Allow me to give you a tour of my craft room...

My sewing corner is over by the windows. All of my sewing supplies (and even some of my painting supplies) are close at hand in nifty storage cubes. My desk is actually a dining table I got at Ikea when I used to live in a tiny studio apartment. To the right of my desk (unpictured) is my ironing board so I don't have to move very far from my sewing machine to press seams.

I discovered this fabric storage idea online at hgtv.com. IKEA sells these great wire baskets and frames for very affordable prices. I purchased two sets for a total of 12 baskets stacked floor-to-ceiling.

The wire baskets allow my fabrics to breath while also allowing me to easily see all of the different fabrics I have available to me.

I sorted the fabrics by color and hung little labels on the on baskets!

The labels are small pieces of wood I purchased at Michael's and spray-painted with chalkboard paint. Then I used white chalk to write on the color names. I hung them with mini binder clips.

If I ever need to get more in the future it will be easy enough to pick up more of these stackable, modular baskets!

Over the years I have ended up with so many little small organizers that it made sense to repurpose a tall wardrobe as a shelving unit to house them all. Now, whenever I need buttons, snaps, hook-and-eyes, Velcro or other odds and ends I know to look behind door number one!

I dedicated a separate little center for my paper crafts and ribbons. I usually separate my paper crafts from my sewing so it makes sense to keep all of the scrapbooking/paper supplies and tools separate too.

I transformed a wine rack into a bookshelf! It holds my books related to crafts, sewing, fashion, costume design, stage makeup, etc.

On the lower shelf are my "idea binders", which are full of doodles and notes... creative inspiration,sketches, small patterns and diagrams for quilts. 

Two of the idea binders are plain white ones, the kind that you can slip paper into the front of. I customized them with pretty scrapbooking paper to make the binders a little more attractive.