DYI Craft Room/Office

Hi, I'm Kim. I've been married for 37 years to one amazing man. We've raised 4 children, and now enjoying being grandparents to our 3 grandchildren. Along with working for a major airline for 24 years I also have my own Cakepop business. Not only do I make and sell the the ever so popular Cakepops, I also host monthly instructional cakepop classes. When time allows I blog at Cakepops101. I'm excited to share with Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous and all you DYI addicts, my craft room remodel.

When I started my Cakepops101 business from home, I knew I needed to update my craft room to also double as an office work space. My original crafting room consisted of a few shelving pieces I purchased from goodwill and a folding table used as my desk.

                                                                  BEFORE
 

As you all know the first step to any big project can be the hardest but once you start brain storming and determing a budget and functionallity of your space your off and running. I did have a bit of a push to get my project started when a good friend decided to remodel her kitchen and remove all of her oak whitewash cabinets. Being the DYI junkie I am, I didn't hesitate to ask her if I could take all the old cabinets off her hands, and was very excited when she said yes! I do admit, thanks to my dad, I have a hard time throwing anything away. My husbands works hard at keeping me in check.

 The first job on our list was to remove all the old carpet and install wide plank laminate flooring purchased on sale for 50% off from Costco. This helped get our budget off in the right direction.  My hubby also installed 4 counter height outlets so power would be right where I needed it. He is one handy guy and can do just about anything. I know I'm a very lucky gal.

I do give my husband most of the credit, when it comes to heavy lifting, sanding, priming, painting and all the detailed trim work, but just as important, of all his support and patience. It took me the longest time to decide on a finished paint color, along with the actual room layout. I wanted to try and use as many of the cabinets as I could get to fit in the 11x12ft room. I removed a couple of doors and tested out colors and glaze finishes. I love the vintage shabby look and setteled for a Behr Semi gloss at Home Depot and Martha Stewart's Finishing Glaze. All the original hinges were refinished by priming and spay painting dark brown. At $3 a piece for new ones, this saved me at least $200 + and looked great. We primed all cabinets with a power sprayer, however when it came time for the finish paint and glaze, I did that after the cabinets were actually in the room.  The rustic door knobs were also 50% off from Hobby Lobby.

To determine the layout of the cabinets, I cut large scraps of cardboard the size of each base cabinet.  Laying these on the floor and moving them around to decide what would fit best was so much easier than draging each cabinet around the room all day. I was able to use all cabinets but 2 wall cabinets.  I took a base cabinet and used it as island that I could move if more space was needed.  After getting a $1500 quote for laminate counters, I decided that I would just have MDF cut to fit, paint and trim for a cost of $80. MDF isn't water resistant so you do careful with liquids. I covered the island with a cute piece of fabric from Hobby Lobby, then added a piece of plexi glass to the top of it.
I built the hutch styled shelves to go over the last base cabinet. Didn't take me long to fill each and everyone of them with books, and all of my Cakepop supplies.

I made a magnetic chalkboard out of a mirror from an old dresser.

 

It's such a great feeling to be able to take on a project of this size, work through the challenges and then be able to sit back and enjoy what you've accomplished. Thanks all for stopping by!