Before and After: My Office/Craft Room

Welcome to my office.

I know. It's a mess in this picture. Okay, it was a mess much of the time, really, but this was taken shortly before we started our room makeover project and you know how that goes. What's the point in cleaning up if you're just going to rip everything out anyway? 

Some serious crafting has happened in this room over the years. This is where I did all my vinyl lettering projects from the design to the finished product. This is where I made cards and paper projects and even, briefly, jewelry pendants. It stored my supplies from calligraphy to wrapping paper to fabric. Yes, it stored fabric, but I didn't sew in here. There just wasn't room - never a free flat surface big enough for a sewing machine and all that goes along with it. Whenever I needed to sew, I set up a card table in the living room. Lovely.

As grateful as I was to have my own place, it started to feel chaotic. Even when I cleaned it up, it just wasn't very inviting. So as summer was coming to a close, we decided to redo the office. It was a big project. We took everything out and started from scratch. 

We purchased and installed new cabinets in one day. Little did I know that I'd be grounded for two months while we waited for the counter top to come in! That was frustrating, especially because all the contents of my office were now in the music room...

The music room during the makeover.
This is what you saw as soon as you walked down the stairs. Ugh!

Finally, the counter top came in and we were able to finish. Here are some similar shots to show you before and after from a few different angles. Drum roll please...

Main view - BEFORE.

Main view - AFTER. (Cue choirs of angels...)

Looking in the doorway - BEFORE.

Looking in the doorway - AFTER.

 

Opposite wall - BEFORE.

Opposite wall - AFTER. 

Needless to say, I love how it turned out. It's so refreshing and calm. It's easy to keep clean because there's a place for everything. Plus I got rid of a lot of stuff in the process. You might have noticed we didn't repaint. I looked at a lot of different paint colors and realized I didn't love anything as much as what I already had. The contrast with the white cabinets makes it look so different and fresh.

It was definitely worth the wait! :)