Today I’m writing to you from my brand new craft room. I can’t stop smiling. My U shaped desk is huge!!!! and I love it. All of my stuff is not in it yet, and there are tons of things – mostly those that I rarely, if ever, use – but I have my most used stuff and because I had my rolling 5 drawers and carts organized, I’m just about up and running. My husband is going to add some of my tools to my wall and bam (!) I’ll have everything I need to begin. 2021 is looking great so far!
We rent our current home. I’m not willing to agree that we will be living in Michigan for many more year just yet. I’d love to move back to Phoenix by the next 3 years. So we rent. And rent in Michigan is outrageous – Probably double the mortgage. So, we live in a smaller home that had an unfinished basement. My son was upstairs in the 3rd bedroom, but my husband recently made a bedroom for my son in the basement and that is when I decided not to take his bedroom as my craft room, moving it from the “great room” area, but instead having a LARGEr craft room in the basement.
I really was hoping that my husband would have been able to get my craft room done while I was away in November and December in Phoenix helping my friend recover from hip surgery and also getting a procedure done myself. But he worked the entire 25 days straight himself and so my craft room went unfinished. But he had some time off recently and was able to get it done with some major compromises on both of our parts.
My husband is a perfectionist when it comes to what he does. I just want things done NOW. So instead of him putting up drywall, mudding and sanding it then painting it – which would have taken well over 2 weeks, We put up paneling. Yes Paneling – and not the $10/sq foot paneling either – remember this is a rental home. Nope, we spent just $22.00 a panel. He did however put it horizonal instead of vertical, so it actually looks great. Also, I knew that I was going to be putting up a ton of wall storage on one wall. So he finished the paneling, then added another piece of paneling which was backed with 3/4″ plywood so that I could drill into it as much as I wanted and the panel beneath would get so many drill holes in it. He also did the same for where I wanted my peg board. That way, when we leave, all we have to do is take out the wall of storage and the pegboard and we won’t have to add anything to complete the basement so it looks finished. He has great ideas.
There are some major drawbacks. I didn’t want to finish the ceiling yet, and we have not decided about the flooring, so I’m working on a concrete floor, But it works. I have tons of lighting and my husband put heat down here so its warm enough and it will be great in the summer. It might not be my dream-dream-dream craftroom, but it is large, bright and MINE and it got done for a small amount of money. I’d say under $1,000.00 and that includes the heating and all of the electrical. No, you can’t beat it!!!!
A7 Size Girl -- In An A2 Size World 