Positively Splendid {Crafts, Sewing, Recipes and Home Decor ...

Welcome to my brand-new creative space, a room that is honestly a dream come true for me!?
Until a couple of months ago, I never thought our small home had enough free space to dedicate a room entirely to my creative endeavors. Last year, one sweet baby boy gave us the best reason imaginable to convert what was at that point our bonus area and my potential sewing room into his nursery. Ever since, my sewing and crafting efforts have been relegated to the kitchen table or the desk in our master bedroom. I can't begin to count the number of evenings that I've had to clear away mounds of sewing supplies, my machines, and my projects in progress in order to set the kitchen table for supper or climb into bed at night. With this new room, I now have a dedicated space where my creative juices can flow. I am so excited to give you the full tour!
After taking inventory or our home's available space, my husband and I agreed that our formal dining area would be much better utilized as a home office. The only challenge with this space is that it is the very first thing you see when you walk through our front door. How would I design a creative space that was as stylish as it was functional? The Sewing Box was the answer to that conundrum. This cabinet allowed me to turn this small space into a veritable sewing command center without having our guests' first impression of our home be a mess of sewing machines, notions and mounds of fabric.
Are you familiar with the dream where you suddenly realize that there is a room in your home that you never even knew existed, and you find yourself imagining all of the amazing things you will do with it? The Sewing Box is the closest thing I've ever experienced to having that dream come true. With this cabinet, if you have just one free wall available in your home, you have enough room for a dedicated sewing space of your very own. I have never felt more compelled to shout from the rooftops how much a product has truly revolutionized my life!
On the outside, it looks unassuming enough: just a nice piece of furniture with beadboard accents. Most would assume it is an armoire of some sort, probably hiding away a television or some other form of electronic equipment.?

But oh! Look what is revealed when you take a peek inside!

In just a few moments' time, this little cabinet transforms into something to make any sewist's heart go pitter pat.
The design of this cabinet is absolutely ingenious. Every single feature a sewist could possibly wish for is all here: plenty of workspace, with abundant room for a serger and a standard machine, plus a fold-down desk on the right-hand side that can function as a cutting area or a general work surface.

And oh, the storage!

A thread organizer attaches to inside of the left-side door...

...and I found the shelves beneath to be the perfect size to accommodate?the small galvanized buckets from the dollar section at Target and?standard-sized plastic school supply boxes. Because the school supply boxes stack tidily and latch securely, they are terrific for holding just about any type of sewing notion under the sun.?

A handy slide-out drawer ensures my most-used tools are easily accessible...

...and three storage bins are perfect for housing tools like shears, bobbins, pins and the like. I purchased 12x12" drawer organizers from Target to tuck into the bottom of each one to maximize the storage space each had to offer.?

Would you ever in a million years guess that all of that stuff is hidden away in one cabinet? Incredible, I know!

I wanted to wall behind the Sewing Box to be the focal point of the room, so I opted to give it a faux board and batten treatment like I used in my hallway command center earlier this year. I debated the paint color to use here for literally weeks before I finally went with my initial instinct and painted everything in a shade of vivid teal. I am so glad I did! I love the contrast of that saturated color against the bright white of the furniture pieces in the space. It makes everything feel so lively, yet polished. For extra storage and a nice display, I mounted two 30-inch shelves above the Sewing Box. I purchased these at the Container store, and installing both of them was as simple as turning four screws into the wall. Even better, these beauties can each hold up to 100 pounds, so I can load them with books and other heavy items without ever giving it a second thought.

The shelves are the perfect place to store?my favorite sewing and crafting books and display some decorative accents. I owe so much of my passion for creativity to my family, and specifically to my children, mom, dad and grandmother. This space is filled with items I have received from each of them over the years: photos of my children, paintings from my dad, vintage pieces from my grandma and knick-knacks from my mom. Those items give this space a meaningful, cozy feel, which I know will inspire my creativity for years to come!

I purchased four media boxes at Jo-Ann to display on the shelves, which are perfect for storing any number of crafting supplies and tools, and the price ($3 apiece) can't be beat!

My mother-in-law made me this sweet little tiered tray for my birthday, and I decided it would be perfect to display beneath the shelves on top of my Sewing Box to hold loose buttons, pins, trims and such.?

I purchased my desk from Home Decorators Collection as a birthday gift to myself. My mom helped me assemble it during her last visit, and we were very pleasantly surprised with how easily it went together.
I knew I needed an ergonomic, comfortable chair for this space, so I opted to purchase a standard rolling office chair to go with the desk. To give it some pizzazz, I outfitted it with a custom slipcover I sewed using some of my favorite Premier Fabrics.

This was my very first slipcover project, and I have to say that I am absolutely tickled with how it turned out!? (I'll be sharing some slipcovering tips and tricks that I learned along the way soon.)

I used iron-on letters from Hobby Lobby to add a monogram accent to the back of the slipcover...
...and I accented the back with four pretty black buttons. (Reality check: these puppies are attached with hot glue.)

For the desk, I purchased a pretty lamp at Home Goods that came with a very simple white shade. A blank canvas! I punched it up a bit with a flower accent made from wool felt and a pretty, vintage-looking brooch. (I'll be sharing a tutorial for these flowers in the coming weeks.)

Voila! Instant glamour.

This laminate bookshelf next to the desk is almost identical to the one I painted for George's nursery, and I used the same method detailed in that post to give this one a similar facelift. The shelf was just deep enough to house my computer printer. I was so glad to be able to avoid the clutter of having to put it on top of the desk!

I made some custom magazine files to go on the shelves of the bookcase, along with other crafting, reference and cookbooks.

On the bottom shelf of the bookcase, I placed two of my diaper box canvas bins to house my camera and accessories. This no-sew version was so simple to make: we're talking an hour from start to finish for both of these little guys. (A tutorial for these is coming soon.) I finished the bins off with a bow accent using my tutorial available through the PS Facebook page. If you haven't already, head over to like PS on Facebook and download it for free!

The cabinet across the room, which I purchased a JC Penney a few years ago, is the perfect place to display a showy flower arrangement...

...and inside the cabinet you'll find my sewing supply command center! I outfitted the insides of the doors with chalkboard vinyl and cork tiles so that I can stay nice and organized.
On the top shelf I placed a lazy Susan with metal containers from the dollar section at Target. This is the perfect spot to store all of my most-used crafting tools and products.
My fabric is folded up on the second set of shelves...
...and the bottom shelf is home to all of my kiddos' crafting supplies. I found this cleaning caddy to be the perfect solution for holding all of their markers, paints, scissors and the like.

One final look at the finished space:

Thanks so much for stopping by to take this tour with me today! Be on the lookout in the coming weeks when I'll be sharing project tutorials for many of the DIY projects in the space.

Resources

Linking this to... Serenity Now Home Stories A to Z Tidy Mom Tatertots and Jello Flamingo Toes A Glimpse Inside
This post was sponsored by The Original Scrapbox.?

Disclosure: I received compensation in the form of product to write this post. Rest assured that I am committed to sharing only products that I feel my readers will benefit from and enjoy, and all opinions expressed in this post are, as always, entirely my own.

Source: http://www.positivelysplendid.com/2012/09/sewing-roomhome-office-reveal.html

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