Well Hello, Sunshine!: Craft Room Redo, Step One

The craft room is that one room in our house where everything goes when it doesn't have a home. The door remains shut 99% of the time because there is always so ~~much random stuff~~ many wonderful projects on the floor and the tables. I decided that giving the craft room a face-lift would be invigorating. It might even encourage met to keep the door open once in a while, and keep me from making it the house dumping ground.

I thought I had a nice *before* picture for you, but I seem to be terrible about taking those. Just went through my entire iPhoto collection... and you know what? I haven't really taken any pictures of the rooms in our new house (and we have lived here for two years!) I am sure I will find one around here somewhere... Anywho...

The to-do list looked a little like this:

1. Purge the stash of random things that "might be a fun project one day"
2. Empty and organize closet (also full of "potential" projects)
3. Paint bookcases
4. Paint cabinet
5. Make curtains
6. Make art piece for wall

So, I began the purge. It felt SO good.

I used the tried-and-true technique of laundry baskets labeled:

Recycle
Trash
Donate
Move Elsewhere

It went much faster than I anticipated. It helped that J-Boy was napping- so I had a deadline. That and Lady GaGa. She makes every project go faster! It even felt good to let go of some of those "projects" because it meant that I was making room for *new* projects!

Total count:

Three bags to the recycling bin
Two for donation
One to the trash
Two baskets full of things for other rooms in our house (how did THAT get in here?).

Then, it was time to tackle the bookcases. My new design included simple white bookcases. Like these:

But at $155 a piece, I didn't really want to invest in new bookcases. Plus, I had purchased pine ones from a friend who was closing her craft shop a few years ago. They are great shelves- tall, not too deep, lightweight but sturdy. They have lived in my craft room for years, but I never did anything to them... until now! Off to the paint store!

I really didn't want to use an oil based primer, but since they were sealed and knotty (and I didn't want to sand three bookcases and fifteen shelves- the boy only naps once a day!) I went with Zinsser primer.

This stuff sticks to almost anything and gives you a nice primed surface to paint. Even though it is an oil-based primer, you can paint it with latex once it is nice and dry. I warn you, though, it is stinky! Be sure to paint in a well-ventilated space! I tried to paint these in the craft room, but it was not enough ventilation! Eventually I moved the whole operation to the garage, and I even wore a mask that I usually wear for spray painting because I started getting a little woozy!

Check out the sun fading on these bad boys!

I gave the bookcases two coats of primer to be sure the knots were nice and covered. I also primed the shelves twice. Bookcases are sneaky pieces to paint. At only 7'x3' you would think they would paint up quickly, until you remember your 5th grade math class and how fast surface area calculations can grow... and grow... and grow. So, a whole lotta square feet of priming later (and one accidental painting mark on the garage floor-sorry honey!) they were ready for paint!

After one coat of primer.

After two coats of primer.

Doh! Don't rush...

This is where the two coats of primer really paid off. I had a very smooth and happy surface to work with. I ended up using a foam roller for these so that the finished product was as smooth as possible. This would have been a great project for a paint sprayer, but I don't have one of those yet :)

The cases and shelves went white, but I wanted the back to really "pop" off the walls. So I went with a bright raspberry paint (Behr, Strawberry Daiquiri) for the backboard. Even though the backboard is particle board and it tore a little when I pried it off the back, it was worth removing it to paint. Trying to paint it while attached would have meant a lot of tape and more patience than I was willing to commit to such a project.

The whole operation.

Paint. Paint. Paint. Paint. Done!

After drying in the garage for a few days, I moved them back into the craft room. I was anxious to put everything back on them right away, but I knew that the longer curing time they had, the better. Finally, it was time to add all of my supplies back on to the shelves.