Craft Closet Makeover!

For me, living in an old house can be charming and quaint. The wood floors have a hump in the hallway that squeaks when you step on it. The treads on the stairs are tiny and tricky to climb up and down. The kitchen is not part of an open floor plan like all of the new houses down the street, but rather tucked in the back overlooking vegetable gardens. I list these traits as positives when most others would probably treat them as negatives. That's just me. Don't get me wrong; there are plenty of quirks in this house that drive me crazy. For example, little teeny tiny closets. Apparently, people in the 40's owned a lot less than we do nowadays because they sure didn't feel the need to incorporate storage! I have worked tirelessly to organize and reorganize every inch of storage in this house to make it more functional, and it's still not done! However, I made HUGE progress recently when I reworked the hall closet into a craft closet for my trunk business. This is the closet in our house that became the dumping ground for all of the odds and ends that no one knew where to keep. You know the one I'm talking about. Its little sister is the junk drawer in the kitchen. We all have one! My dear husband was determined to turn ours into a mini-bar which I certainly would've enjoyed, but it just wasn't practical. I need this space for my trunk business, and I am soooo happy with the way it turned out. Here is the BEFORE:

Time to drag all of that stuff out and go through it. That was probably the worst part!

I chose to take out the shelving and paint the walls to match the hallway. I originally wanted to use something fun like a poppy color or aqua, but decided that IF my husband ever gets his way and turns it into a bar, the neutral color would be more palatable. I reattached the main shelf with cute white brackets instead of the old industrial metal ones and rounded up some storage supplies from other rooms that weren't being used. I painted two sheets of pegboard to match the walls and started organizing. I made a skirt around the table and attached it with hook and loop tape. It hides a cart with supplies under there! And let me just say, "God bless the woman who figured out how to store fabric on comic book boards!" I saved so much space and can actually find what I'm looking for without going through piles of fabric scraps. Love it! AFTER:

Here's a close-up of the fabric storage:

I'm so happy with the result. It looks nice and it's incredibly functional now. Hope you like it, too! Time to go sew something!

Annie's Trunk and Matching Laundry Bag

It's February and customers are already gearing up for summer camp.  They're either really good planners or they have some serious cabin fever going on with their kids!  Regardless, I just had to post details of the latest summer camp trunk I made.

The task:  Annie is going to camp and wants a pink trunk, but her camp colors are orange and blue.  Her mother and I searched online and in local fabric stores for material that incorporated these colors and was suitable for a young girl.  This was not an easy assignment!  Together we chose 'Hootie Tootie Cutie Floral' and 'Hootie Tootie Cutie Stripe' to coordinate.  The result was adorable!

Check out the matching laundry bag.  Her mother actually ordered two--good thinking!  She must be the 'really good planner' parent and not the 'cabin fever' one.

I chose to add an orange pocket with a blue monogram to the laundry bags to accentuate the camp colors and to provide a spot to stash laundry money.  The orange piping that trims both the lid and base of the trunk helps tie it all together.  Overall, Annie and her mom loved the trunk and laundry bags.  She is ready for summer.  If only Mother Nature would be!!