Making a Craft Room Part 1

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. ​  But, all opinions expressed are my own.

     Hi everyone!  Hope you had a wonderful Labor Day holiday!  My long weekend started out great with the birth of a new granddaughter! We now have 10 grandchildren, 5 boys and 5 girls and we love them all so much.  
     Today I am finally sharing with you the beginnings of my new craft room.  Madalynn has moved in with a roommate leaving my husband and I as empty nesters, at least until Jake comes home from his mission.  So, the time of purging, organizing and repurposing rooms in our home has begun.  The bedroom that always belonged to my daughters has many built in shelves and I have decided that it will be the perfect place to make my sewing/craft/blogging room.  I am really excited about it. Alicia came over from California to help me get started.  Unfortunately, we forgot about pictures until we had begun, so we only have one to show you as the before, plus there is one of the ugly floor. 

This is why Alicia came to help me. We painted this room with the stripes, galaxy and sun, moon and stars when she was in Junior High! Now my vision is for a soft and serene green and white.

This is the ugly vinyl that was under the carpet. We are still deciding what to do with the floor. And, we are replacing the door that has seen much better days.

     I felt like it was going to be a beast to cover those dark blue stripes and sponge painted walls and stamps.  But, we went to Lowe's and found Valspar Signature High Hiding Paint +Primer that did such a great job.  Two coats covered everything perfectly! 

I love the soft green that doesn't scream green. It looks better in reality than it does here. It was so nice not to have to prime.

     In this small room, we didn't use rollers, but we used brushes.  It really didn't take long to paint a wall and it takes a lot less paint than it does to roll. That roller absorbs a lot of paint and there is so much waste.  Also, there was a lot of cutting in to do anyway with all of the molding and shelves, so it was easier to stick with brushes.  Just get good ones, you don't want brush hairs coming out into your nice paint.  We like angled brushes. They are great for cutting in.  And, here's a tip*, save the cardboard holder it comes in.  After you clean in, put it back in it to keep the brush's shape. 

Here is a shot of the built in shelves. I can just picture all of my craft supplies neatly organized in bins and baskets on them. I love how we decided to take the green all of the way in on the wall side and paint the rest white. See all of that cutting in?

     For all of that cutting in, we used Frogtape, a green painter's tape that sticks better than ever and gives crisper lines.  (I wish I had had it when I painted those stripes!) 

We left one of the shelves by the window totally white so that we can use it for photography for the blog! That was Alicia's genius idea! We've already used it a bit!

This area between the shelves used to be totally the sponge painting technique. The Valspar paint covered it so nicely. This is the area that is going to have a drop leaf desk for my sewing machine.

     Isn't it amazing the difference a coat of paint can make?  How do you like it?  I am so happy to keep you updated on our progress.  We have a few fun things up our sleeves that I can't wait to do and to share with you!  
     If you have any ideas for the floor, please share!  Definitely not carpet, but nothing too expensive. 
​