and now for the real challenge

The solid blue wall just had to go!…

 

 

 

 

You think this looks cluttered and chaotic! Wait ’till you see the mess created by moving the furniture to get to that wall…

 

                                                                   can you believe my son moved that bookshelf
WITHOUT taking
all the books off first!

Between coats on the wall I started on my desk shelves.

before                                                                 after

before

                         after

 

 

 

 

all together now…

from this

              to this          

furniture next

Next I turned my attention to the furniture. This was a little bit daunting so I started with the smallest piece on this wall.

    this one

    which is actually in two bits,
a cheap-as-chips CD rack from
the $2 shop which was never
much use because I had the
printer stuck in front of it
and
a 30 year old bedside table
that I got when I first moved
out of home.

 

I painted everything white, stuck a bit of beading on the edges (painted pink), made a fancy bit for the top from my scrapbooking supplies and moved the ugly printer…this is the result…

Next I replaced the manly blue, heavy drapes with some light and filmy ones we had hanging in the house 25 years ago (hoarding DOES pay of!). I wanted a beaded fringe for the pelmet but at $60+ per metre (for 5 metres!) that was right out so I made one for under $50  -yes I know it wasn’t part of the spend-no-money plan but just look at it! so the result is

Before                                                  after

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Becca pointed out, and rightly so, that I forgot to mention the glass knobs on my drawers…lookaren’t they g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s! I got them whilst shopping with Renae & Becca at our wonderful local vintage shop after having eyed them off for about 6 months and saving for about as long. They’re all different – I was going for the eclectic look. The shop keeper didn’t think it would work but Renae, Becca and I agreed that it would and it DID. I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure from these little pink glass beauties.

shabby chic: before & after

I know I haven’t been a very faithful blogger but I have a bit of time on my hands right now so I thought I’d amuse myself with some before and after posts showing my journey towards a shabby chic craft-room.

Hope you get some pleasure out of them too. I am sooooooooooo happy with my little craft room, I find myself stopping as I pass by just to admire my handiwork.

My aim was to be as cost effective as possible, so I started by gathering some boxes and baskets
that were doing various jobs all over the house and then raiding the storage cupboard for all our old paint

I used up all our old white paint!

my Aussie Farmers Direct boxes came in handy.
my boring old brown baskets became something
new and not-so-boring

I did lash out and buy a few baskets too when my good friends Renae & Becca pointed them out on sale (how could I resist!)

see you tomorrow for some more before & after snaps.

merry Christmas and little break

Dear Blogland dwellers thanks for popping by to We Cerate from time to time, it’s been great being here, getting all sorts of creative ideas form you all. I’m having a little blog-break but would like to wish you all a wonderful blessed Christmas…see you all in 2010!

Here we go…

craft apron 

 

 

         boxes/baskets to paint

    
                                                                       pretty fabric

 

 

paint from the garage…

 

yuck not so white 5 yr old paint          

          hang on… that’ll do

                     here we go

paint on boxes (not an easy photo to take)

& furniture…                    I’m starting small one corner at a time

stuck in the middle with you

If you were to engage me in conversation at the moment you’d realise I’m totally obsessed with shabby chic design and I’m totally obsessed with my craft room make-over. My craft room is one of those annoying rooms that you end up with after renovations – you know the room stuck in the middle between old and new – the walk through room. It has had many incarnations over the last 25 years…it started out as our main bed room, it’s been an office, a teenage bedroom and now it’s my craft room and I love it!

It looks out onto the pool and there’s a bush-rock waterfall right outside my window, there’s nothing like crafting to the sound of running water!

The view from my window

If you look closely you can see the water running…

While I’d love to have buckets of money to throw at this project I must face facts, I just don’t, so it’ll be budget shabby and that’s okay with me. I’m using the existing furniture and shabby-ing it up.

I’ve bought some lovely baskets that my good friend Renae found for me in Spotlight, and I have plans for painting that manly-blue wall (right) a feminine pink. MGM’s a bit worried (all the network cabling is on that wall) but I think his real fear is that the sahbby chci-ing will creep creep creep out into the rest of the house. His fears are justified…

Our youngest cherub has caught the bug too and is all excited about continuing the theme in her room too. But it’s okay because her room is in the extension and only one room away from my study, Now here’s the rub, because there is a room in between her room and the craft room it would not be fair to just leave that all daggy-looking, would it…?

So it’s settled #3 and I will shabby up the craft room and her room and the laundry in between, Renae has already made a donation to the laundry – how gorgeous is this little soap and hand cream container! (how lucky am I to have such a great friend). I have no plans beyond the borders of my craft room…right now I am content to spend a little time each day dab dab dabbing with my little paint brush…

would you like to see?

Hello again

Blogging at this time of the year is as vulnerable to Seasonal  demands as any other pleasurable past-time, you know…the things you like to do get put on hold while the things you must do impose themselves.

Anyway while I haven’t posted them I have been keeping up with my Christmas countdown card making (sort of – not as finished as I should be), here they are… 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were very quick to make with these cool dimensional stickers.

Total made so far = 61 (nearly there & not before time either).