We’re experiencing a little bit of an upside down empty nest over here. My parents have just moved out of the man cave they’ve called home {aka. “the love shack”} for almost two years. We miss them horribly already and it’s only been two weeks. It’s quite pathetic, really.
But because my husband is awesome, and because God knows I desperately need a distraction to cope with their exit {due to the fact that assuming the fetal position and leaving my children to eat cheerios and nutella for days on end is frowned upon in these parts}, I get to claim the man cave as office space.
Dude, I know!
Sure, there’s a king-sized bed in there for guests, but I now have a space of my very own!
Just like a 13 year old girl with a backstage pass at a Bieber concert, I am {yeow!}
I am utterly intoxicated by the thought of being able to retrieve my rarely-used crafty belongings from the nooks and crannies they’ve been stuffed in throughout the house…and organize them in one, glorious, fantastical location.
My little design business is officially 6 years old and this little desk in the family room just isn’t cutting it. Having room to grow and space to bloom as my little man goes off to preschool this Fall, and as I gain formal “office hours”, makes my little heart go pitter-patter.
See ya “Love Shack”…hello “Bloom Room”.
I’ve been gathering goodies at thrift stores and on clearance shelves to fill, hold, decorate and display. I now have a drawer for paint (acrylic, fabric and spray), a drawer for the variety of adhesives I’ve been hoarding, a “scissors, slicers & punches” drawer, and a whole drawer filled with wire, beads, felt for flowers and other jewelry making supplies. There are shelves upon shelves of baskets and jars filled with (finally) organized supplies.
I.am.in.heaven, people!
Can’t wait to show you photos once everything is all moved it. Until then, I wanted to share a couple of things I’ve attacked with spray paint and fabric glue…
I knew I wanted to use pops of turquoise, teal, avocado green, yellow and pink, and somehow bring in this fabulous brocade fabric I’d found at a garage sale a few years ago. 1 yard for 50c.
I covered two ugly cardboard magazine holders with it by simply measuring, cutting it to size, spraying the cardboard with spray adhesive and literally wrapping it in fabric. I tucked the frayed edges inside and lined it with cardstock, which I glued in place. I am absolutely terrible at taking ‘before’ photos and tracking my progress. Not to mention creating tutorials. It has something to do with faulty impulse control and impatience. I’ll work on it.
I then stumbled upon a glued pillow tutorial on Pinterest and just had to try it! I had a cute pillow that needed a little updating, so I measured it, cut 2 pieces of fabric to fit (with an inch to spare around the border – along with a little extra on one of the pieces to create an overlapped opening in the back), glued them design-side-in and left it to dry overnight. Virginia has all the directions right on her blog, so I won’t reinvent the wheel. It worked perfectly and looks just fabulous on the $15 chair I found at Salvation Army. I found the little turquoise vase for 25c and filled it with blooms I had laying around in my craft supplies.
Yeah, I’ve been a thrifting machine!
I found two cute vintage frames for 10c at our local thrift store and sprayed them a most glorious shade of teal (it’s called Lagoon). Rustoleum 2x rocks my world.
Then I found an old wooden cake stand {above, next to the potted plant} for $2 while gallivanting around Lansing after the Color Run last Saturday. That also got hit up with teal. And lastly, the large 24 x 36 frame in the background was dug out of storage and hit with a lovely shade of aqua. I’d had it sitting empty for 5 years after being given it by a bride who used it to hold the wedding seating chart I had designed for her. I’ll share more of this fabric-covered magnetic board once it finds its home on my office wall.
See that cool turquoise lamp base and yellow shade above? I found those at Goodwill, still brand new from Target. The base simply needed the top screwed back in – it retails for $40…I got it for $4. The shade was $6.
Booyah!
And those cute printables? Why, you’ll find those right here…
Download the two 5×7 quotes in one printable by clicking above or right here.
Until next time…thrift on, craft on, rock on!
*As always, please note that this is exclusively for personal use and is NOT to be reprinted for resale purposes. Feel free to share the link, pin it, or head over to Facebook and visit Simply Bloom.
