Crazy Crafty Lady

Do you have a special room to do your crafts, sewing or writing in or do you use your kitchen table or coffee table or whatever space you can find? I’d love to see your spaces.

I thought I would share how I created a space to craft in a small living area and give a few tips on how to make a shared space or multipurpose space work.

I actually have a small room that I store my crafts in but I have never been able to do any work in it because it doubles as storage for other miscellaneous items that gave no other home like a folding bed for guests. Mostly,  it is filled with yarn, fabric, patterns, canvases and craft supplies. After all, crafting is 89% of who I am. I just made that number up. It’s my go to number when I don’t have a real figure or I’m exaggerating.

Recently, my wonderful boyfriend made me a crafting table to fit in the kitchen. It replaced the kitchen table because no one ate there anyway. He did make it so it could convert into a smooth surface on the rare chance that we would entertain guests.

We live in a rented duplex with a postage-stamp sized back yard that matches every other yard and rundown duplex on the street. The living room and dining area are one space with a small galley kitchen off to the side. There are three small bedrooms upstairs. My grandson lives with us so he has one bedroom. The smallest is where I store my crafts. There’s not much space but we make it work.

I used to do all my crafting on the kitchen table. I had to carry my sewing machine from the craft room upstairs down to the table when I sewed and that became tiring because I sew a lot. I ended up storing the sewing machine on top of the dog kennel under the stairs which was not a good idea because he reekeths.

Did I mention the big dog? Yeah, he shares the space too. We think he is a pitbull mixed with some kind of hound.  He has oily skin that emits an odor that is overwhelming and hard to describe but dirty feet and Fritos come to mind. He gets bathed often but it doesn’t help much. What can we do though? He’s part of the family.

I LOVE MY CRAFT TABLE! And the area we have built around it. Max, my love muffin, made it specifically for my needs. One side is for sewing and one side is for my computer and Cricut. He cut out space for the sewing machine to go so I can sit comfortably and sew. On each side, under the table, are shelves with cubbies to hold fabric and sewing notions and tools.

The other side has a dropdown space for my computer. My Cricut sits on top to one side. The shelves underneath and on each side hold vinyl, my 12×12 cutting mats, cardstock and other necessities vital to Cricutting. I don’t think that’s an actual word but it should be. You’ll notice I make up all kinds of words.

The top of the table is tall enough so I can comfortably cut out fabric or use for all my Cricutting magic that goes on there. I keep the Cricut Easypress in the back, by the wall and move it to the front when I need it.

The back wall has a shelf on it that has my printer, the breadbox and some coffee cans I converted into dry food containers for beans and rice. After all, I share the space with the kitchen. Max put up pegboard to hang tools and he made me two little racks to hold some vinyl. He also installed folder holders so I can keep records and my genealogy. I use the space for that too.

Because I share my crafting space with my kitchen and the living room is connected, I had to get creative. I had to separate the living room from my workspace/kitchen.  I used a wooden shelf I already had and asked Max to paint it dark grey like another shelf in my living room. MY NUMBER ONE RULE AND KEY TO MAKING A MULTIPURPOSE SPACE WORK  IS COLOR COORDINATION! Actually, that’s the key to almost any design. My colors are black, grey, cream and a splash of bright pink. I can’t do anything about the white walls or the hideous cupboards, the outdated and chipped countertops, the broken vertical blinds, the ancient cracked vinyl floor or the 40 year-old worn brown carpet so I just have to work around those.

Back to the bookshelf! I put the side with the shelves facing my craft space behind the office chair I use to sit at the computer. The shelf’s back is up against my comfy armchair in the living room. I put black plastic trash bins on the shelves because they were inexpensive and fit pretty well. They hold food and other kitchen supplies. I painted some dollar store bins I already owned bright pink to fit on the top shelf.

On the wall, was a tall black book shelf that I used for kitchen storage. I scooted it over towards the living room space and put big pink storage cubes on the shelves to hide the big cereal bags, ramen noodles and things like napkins and paper plates. Max stores a ratty insulated bag on the bottom shelf. I know the bowls and pots on the top shelf do not match. It is a work in progress and it is driving me bonkers to see it. The steins have to stay because they are a gift from Max’s mother.

I squeezed a skinny grey dresser in between the tall shelf and my craft table. It’s actually two dressers. One on top of the other. Max secured them together. He’s so handy! This holds so many things. The top drawer is Max’s stuff and the other drawers are for tape, glue guns and stamps and envelopes. I’d own a lot more of these if I had the space.

The space works well for me. I continue to tweak things as needed. I do have another little space that I do messy crafts. It’s a board I put on my ottoman in front of my living room chair. I hide it under the stairs when not in use.

I know this was a super long post but I hope it gives someone ideas for their own craft area especially if they rent or have limited space.

I would love to see your craft or writing spaces and any suggestions below. It asks for emails but ignore that if you just want vfc to be anonymous.