Craft Corner Completed!

Oh what a great day it was yesterday when I finally completed my craft corner. It ended when I finished covering my Fira chest. It took several coats of paint and lacquer and two attempts at covering with paper, but now I am so, so pleased. In fact, I am very excited about all of my color and paper choices lately. I began to modify the phrase "measure twice, cut once," to say, "think once, create twice," in that whatever my initial plan is, I execute it, something goes wrong or I decide to change it, (like with my bulletin board) and then I love it in the end.


The drawers before I put them into the base.


Close up of the pattern of the side.


The insides of the drawers, painted yellow and lacquered, were dusty, bumpy and rough and I thought that I wouldn't want to put my paper and supplies into the drawers that way. So I covered the bottoms with paper from a pack of 12x12 scrapbook paper that I got at Target for just $1 this past Sunday! I love Target's $1 bins - I also got a stamp pad, ribbon and two packs of small scraps (that match the larger pack of paper), all for $1 each.


Voila! Here is my new, clean space. I think the colors all go so perfectly together. The area really lights up the room and finally something is on the walls! I'm going to order two shelves to put above the TV to display my many cameras and knick knacks and I think that wall will finally be complete.


Speaking of walls, I finally began my mirror wall in the entryway. You see, when I was growing up, my grandmother still lived in her house in Belle Harbor, Queens, NY, that my dad and aunt grew up in. I loved it, so vintage, cozy, a few houses down from the beach. One of my favorite features was that the whole entry wall, going all the way up the staircase, was covered with mirrors collected from all over the world. When she sold the house, I was still young and didn't have any interest in most of the mirrors. But after I moved into my apartment, I had the perfect wall for mirrors and for my birthday, my grandmother gave me a few of the ones that were on her wall. I already had the two larger mirrors and one of the stained glass ones, but the rest are hers. There's a mirror on there from Greece and one from China, probably other places, too, but now I forget. I can't wait to see this wall grow.

That's what I've been up to lately. With each project, I get closer to feeling like I have a completed apartment that really feels like home.

Ikea Hacks

Took a trip back to Ikea on Saturday and loaded up on goodies. Many of them were to "hack" (well, really, just paint!)



This was the first draft of my Chris noticeboard. I used three colors of paint samples from the hardware store. But after I painted it, I realized it really didn't go with my new drawers (see below) and my magnet board. So I changed a little bit and wound up with something much prettier and matching with my new color scheme.





I also got the Helmer drawers that I've been wanting for a while. I took off the casters and it fits perfectly under my desk. All it took was some paper cut to size and spray glue and voila. Though it did take a lot of trial and error to get the paper to stick the right way.

Other things to be painted are the Vika Furusund, which is now a leg of the kitchen table, 6 Knuff magazine files and a Fira chest, which is already in progress.

Other things purchased during the trip were a Rian side table for my sewing machine, 6 Branas baskets, a Global lamp and a Lisbet runner, but we haven't laid it down permanently yet and when we did as a test, wow it made me so dizzy, so we'll have to see if that's going to stay, and several other little things like picture frames and bowls.

I'm looking forward to a happier, brighter apartment soon!