Renovate my office or QUIT: part 1

Ok, let's start by saying this is way, way, way, way overdue.

I would love to be able to say that it wouldn't bother me for you to see just how bad this room was before I gutted it, but yup, it does.  It was an embarrassment and frankly, I hated working in there.  It was heavy and un-inspiring, messy and disorganized.

About 15 years of super creativity: 1000's of projects for magazines, classes, videos, television and my own card group, not to mention owning a crafting store for 2 years, it was completely overrun with product, projects and no real space to put it all.  I would make attempts at organizing over the years and you might be surprised to know that I actually did know where everything was, it just wasn't fun getting to it!

It took some guts, time and money to commit myself to this project.  I also needed the help of my husband.  He was not thrilled when I proposed this summer project.  I don't blame him.  He spent the bulk of last year renovating other parts of our house and deck.  He wanted to spent his summer on his motorcycle, not in my office!

Normally, I would be understanding and supportive and give in to his suggested winter 2015 timeline, but really, I just couldn't.  I told him I would quit if I can't have a new work space to live in.  Now I suppose that sounds a drama queen, but I wasn't kidding.  The time was right for me.  Not him, but me.  It sounds selfish, I know, but if you know me, you know it's not.

My class schedule is Sept - June.  I take the summer off.  I knew this project would be so huge that I would need lots of uninterrupted time to complete the task.  So after several conversations (I'll call them that!) we decided to move forward.

I knew I could do a lot of it myself, but I'm not an electrician (neither is Steve, but really, he can do anything!), or good at baseboards and such.

The first step was gutting it.  Fifteen years of stuff had to be removed from my small room (it is now been donated or strewn throughout my downstairs family room and guest rooms...driving me crazy actually!).

Lights!  This was huge!  My office was very dark.  Steve put in some warmer lighting and now there are no dark corners.  I don't even need a desk lamp anymore.

Paint.  Pretty, soothing, light aqua color.
Floor.  wood laminate.  Love it!  I did it and was sore for days afterwards.
Baseboards.

Custom cabinets.  The door to this room is through what used to be a closet for a bedroom.  The dimensions were weird, so I had to go custom and pay for it!












Ikea.  SO grateful we have one close by.  Saved my budget!  I can say I'm pretty much an expert at putting Ikea things together! :)

I spent ages on the internet trying to find a configuration that would work for my work patterns.  I needed a deep desk to accommodate printers, cutters and still have work to design.  This desk really works for me.  And I feel like a kid when I roll from one side to the other!

I really needed to lighten up the darkest corner of our house and went with all white.  Because the desk is so deep I can take advantage of all that space and use Ikea's drawer unit underneath.  This is a great use of space for me.  They are all on rollers so I can easily access them.

Well, this is as far I am right now.  There is currently more ikea boxes on the floor however, a project for tonight.  There is still SO much to do, but I don't want to rush it.  As impatient as I am, I want to do this right.

Going through my old plastic storage units and re-organizing them into the ikea drawer units. Making the most out of this precious space and retreating from the rest of the house.

Hoping to share part 2 of this renovation (hopefully the LAST part of this project) in August.
I encouraged my students to work on their creative spaces this summer, so I'm wondering how it's all going?  I also encouraged you all to get caught up on kits you haven't put together yet.  

It'll be SO nice to start fresh & clean in September...I've got such fun Kits to share with you!

Leave a comment & let me know!