A few weeks back, the lovely people at Money Supermarket contacted me to see if I would be willing to take part in their Room For Improvement. challenge to makeover a room in my house for just £50. I like to think I’m pretty thrifty and creative, so I decided to do it.
I’ve wanted to spruce up my Craft Room for a while now as it looked drab and uninspiring. Be warned, this is a picture heavy post, but I hope you will enjoy it.
The Craft Room housed our (horrid yellow) futon mattress, a stool acting as a little table and loads of craft stuff in various bags and boxes.
I had managed to get this tray storage unit for free a while back, as my work were throwing it out. Useful but ugly and very much like school classroom trays. I had one magazine rack and the rest were crammed in the corner amongst other things.
The small brown boxes on the floor would soon solve the magazine problem…
Now coming the ‘during’ shots. I wanted a table to sew and make accessories on so I scoured Gumtree and eBay and found this solid wooden one for £10. I searched for local sellers as I don’t have a car and a kind man delivered.
He was not so kind for bringing about a billion spiders with the table!! After G had saved me from the creepy crawly invasion, I washed, sanded and painted it with some leftovers our decorator left from the recent paint job on our house.
Then the brown boxes saw a little craft knife action (after Tammy had done helping) and became magazine holders to be spray painted later.
A chalkboard from Poundland got the washi tape treatment to tie in with the pale blue theme I had in mind for the room.
I spent hours spray painting wicker baskets in the garden, but failed to take before or during shots of these oops! The baskets were free as I’d been saving them each Christmas from the hamper G gets from work.
I also spray painted this sewing spool holder so it stood out more.
The horrid red drawers needed a pretty curtain to hide behind, so my Mum’s hubby fitted a rail for me from supplies he already had. I stitched a quick slide along curtain.
I decided to also make curtains for the window, but Tammy was not happy about me taking the old ones down and promptly sat on them. Next, I whipped up a crochet doily to sit underneath a plant pot.
Are you ready for the after shots?!!!! TA DA!!
The stool acting as a table also got painted and the Fabric Notice Board I made with my sister was finally hung.
I spray painted a letter rack I had already to hold all my Post Circle mail, important letters, new pastel sharpies and my hand embroidered WI badge.
Rachel and Harriet convinced me that I could keep a succulent alive (I always kill house plants) so I got this baby from Aldi!
My spray painting marathon turned brown wicker baskets cream and blue to hold all my yarn, washi tapes and notebooks.
The bookshelf area hasn’t changed much, except the spray painted boxes-now-magazine racks are housed on top and I have hung the “Dream” sign my Nan gave me.
I covered the nasty yellow futon with a cream throw I already had (you can see it in the first shot) and Tammy seemed to love that and curled up immediately. I hung some bunting I received in a craft swap and added my Granny Squares Blanket.
The majority of my budget went on fabric for curtains because I wanted Clarke and Clarke Dotty. I think it was worth it as it really changes the room and I was chuffed to find it for £7.99 a metre on eBay, Bargain!
I painted the tray storage so it matched the table and stool and switched around the layout of the room.
BEFORE AND AFTER!
I managed to stretch the budget and tried to make the most of what I already had. I do enjoy finding ways to make something old look totally new and I think I achieved that.
It’s definitely more organised so I hope I can be a tidy crafter now!
Here’s my spend for the challenge:
- Wooden Table from eBay – £10
- Clarke and Clarke Curtain Fabric – £27.45 with postage from eBay
- Plastikote Spray Paint (Cream) – £7.99 from Hobbycraft, already had the blue
- Cream Paint – already had
- Storage unit curtain fabric – already had
- Wicker Baskets – already had
- Small brown boxes – already had
- Succulent Plant & Pot – £2.99 from Aldi
- Chalkboard – £1 from Poundland
Total Spend: £49.43
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing some more details of my craft space up close, so don’t forget to come back! Sorry for going on about it, but it was a lot of hard work!
Ooooh, amazing! My favourite bit is the addition of the curtain over the tray unit. You’ve been so creative with such little money, well done. Hope you enjoy it! X
Wow it looks fab! And on such a tight budget! Well done – the shops will now be selling out of spray paint as the baskets look fab! xxx
ohh it looks sooo good! 😀
Wow, it’s beautiful, you must feel so proud of all the upcycling!
Fabulous! Love what you’ve done 🙂 Especially jealous of your sewing table. How lovely!
Jones x
You’ve done a great job!
I love the spool holder, where’s it from?
I can’t remember where I got mine now, but Sew La La sell them http://www.sewlala.co.uk/category/sewing-treats-gifts/ x
Wow, it looks great, so pretty. I love the blue colour. You have done loads. Was a really fun challenege wasn’t it, I was really excited to do mine. x
I was worried I had over done it with the blue! I loved reading your post too, really liked the curtains in the school uniform fabric! x
What lovely makeover! You’ve managed to change the look of the room, as well as organise all your craft stash. Well done x
It looks fantastic, well done you! So lovely and fresh, and it was fun to see Tammy helping out. I love how pets sit on things they have strong opinions about! Your bike button goes well with your notice board too, may have to use that as a marketing ploy – “It’ll go well with your craft room!”
oh wow!!! looks great. I really really need to tidy my craft area. And oh my goodness, how gorgeous is Tammy! adorable!! 🙂
Wow Claire I love it! Well done you! *goes off to buy spray paint….*
Wow! I love the new craft room. Well done! The spool holder caught my attention. Very unique.
Wow this looks awesome! I love room re-do’s 🙂
It looks lovely now and hopefully it will inspire you too! I love tidying my craft space, probably spend too much time on it! I’ve picked up some great ideas from this post, well done for staying under budget! Cath
It looks great! So fresh and bright now, I love the colours you’ve used. X
http://hipslikecinders.blogspot.co.uk/
Wow, this is AMAZING Claire!!! Very impressive and inspirational! The Mr and I are currently in the process of buying our first house. I cannot wait to get decorating. Think I’ll definitely be giving this challenge a go on each room. It will certainly save much needed pennies!
Joanna 🙂 x
A huge improvement! Amazing what you can do with a spray can. Lovely and fresh. Well done.
Wow that is amazing!
So simple yet incredibly effective.
I love the curtain on your draws and the pale blue theme. Xx
Awesome job, you’ve really gone all out! Also, congratulations on your new succulent plant! 🙂
Loving the colours. It is very impressive. Are your services for hire? 😉
can’t believe what an improvement you’ve made! well done! and i love the colour scheme 🙂
Looks great! The love the idea of the curtain and the wicker baskets 🙂
Wowzers you’ve been busy! It looks fab. I’m dead impressed, after holidays i’m going to have to crack on with some decorating!
Wow, you’ve made the £50 go such a long way! This is such a pretty room now.
Looks great Claire! Glad you shared so much – we can appreciate how much work went into it!
x Elena @ Randomly Happy
Looks great, nice and fresh! x
You can tell you have worked hard! I hope you enjoy many many fun crafty times in there 🙂 x
It looks great! I love the colours you’ve used – what a lovely space to craft in : )
Adore the colour scheme and you’ve definitely inspired me to get the spray paint out more often! X
It looks brilliant! I lost my craft room in a recent move 🙁 Back to the dining table and coffee table for me! x x x
very cute! Makes me want to re-do my crafty area!
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It looks really good, and you really made £50 go a long way!
Love the colours.
Hannah
x
http://www.daintyandivory.blogspot.com
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Wow – what a transformation! and all under £50? I am very impressed -wanna come and do a room at mine? haha x
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I recognise a certain cushion 😉 Would you believe I’ve still not finished my own?! Room looks amazing by the way – cosy, light, inspiring.
I love my cushion! I always get comments on it whenever we have visitors 🙂
Wow, what a transformation. You did so much and so thriftily too. Very inspired by your spray painting. Good work my dear!!
PS Yuck re the spiders!!!
I freaked out at the spiders!
Aw yay, I did this challenge too! A little bit stressful but so much fun 🙂 The painted baskets are beaut and I really like your chosen colour theme. Hx
I’ll come on over to your blog to check out the makeover now! x
I love room makeovers and this one is fab and full of inspiration! I am making/upcycling lots of things for the home at the moment. I’m nervous about making curtains for the first time…! Anyway your craft room looks gorgeous, great job!
These were my first pair of curtains ever! I followed the Great British Sewing Bee book instructions. 🙂
Ok I think you just cemented my decision to buy it! Even though my husband says I shouldn’t buy any more craft books until I get my own craft space sorted (I’m converting part of our study/spare room) I need to get the boys’ curtains finished before I can move onto the craft room so I think the purchase is justified! I admit I’m a bit addicted… !
It is only £10 on Amazon! Well worth it in my opinion 🙂
It looks amazing! What a great job! I like the colours too. It looks very clean and crisp!
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This looks so great. Your before picture is not very dissimilar to how my spare room looks at the moment. You have inspired me to keep on scouring ebay for a desk to transform (they always come up right at the end of the month when pennies are tight!). Thank you 🙂
What a great job you did! Your room looks very cheerful and most useful!
It looks lovely Claire. Thank you for linking at Shabbilicious Friday.
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