Closet Makeover

One of the things which has not really had a home in our homes since we lived in Dayton (more than ten years ago) is all of my craft/sewing/scrapbooking stuff.  It generally lives in badly organized, deteriorating cardboard boxes in the basement, and if I want to do a project, I have to dig through all of the boxes, pull out what I think I might need, lug it upstairs, take over valuable real estate on the kitchen table, make a mess and then, when it's supper time, either put everything away - including the unfinished project - or leave it all out to hinder the rest of our lives.  Now that I am not homeschooling or working outside the home, I would like to get back into those activities a little more, but the current arrangement is not ideal.

But even in our larger house, every inch of space is used already!

Time to think creatively.

This closet sits under the stairs in our living room.  It is too far away from the front door to be a useful coat closet, so we decided to use it for board games.  And then, of course, it became a handy catch-all for various homeless items, like candles and violins and fireplace tools.

Sadly, our kids almost never play board or card games, so I decided to pull out the few games they do occasionally play, and pitch the rest. 

Can you see where this is going?

I forgot to take the before picture of the full-to-bursting closet, but here it is cleaned out, or nearly so, and ready to be made fabulous.

Here is one of three stacks I pulled out of there.

(The games we kept have found a new home in the storage ottoman in the living room.)

Once I pulled everything out, I grabbed some drawer units which were frittering away their time in the basement, and all my craft stuff, and started filling it up again.

I decided not to paint it.  The white paint is fairly new and does make the tiny space a little brighter.  

I did do one painting project, though.  I have had a can of chalkboard paint hanging around for just forever, but had never found the "perfect" project for it.  Until now.  The inside of the closet door was the perfect space to try my hand at one of Pinterest's biggest customers. 

I sanded first (and ended up pulling off the most recent layer of paint) and taped the space I wanted to fill.  

I then painted two coats of chalkboard paint, following the directions on the can for drying times, etc.

Unfortunately, when I went to pull the tape off, the door paint and the chalkboard paint came off with it!

Not a very pretty edge.  So, I touched up the edges with a smaller brush, going free hand.

I decided to just live with the small amount of white paint that came off the rest of the door.  It only shows on close inspection and I'm able to live with imperfection.  Clearly.

Here is the chalkboard, done and ready for chalk.

First, though, here is the inside of my new craft closet!  It is a tiny work space, so I will still need to use other spaces for my larger projects, but it is something, and it is mine. Mine, I say!

Actually, I can't even say that as my kids have already utilized the space for homework. 

Oh, well.  It serves the purpose of corraling my craft stuff, so I'll be happy with that.

And here is the chalkboard, treated and decorated.

Not a hugely crafty make-over, but a very useful one, with a little bit of "pretty" thrown in for fun.

Linked up to: Nancherrow's Friday's Unfolded