Creating more space in my craft room

A chance conversation with MOH started this. I partly joking said that I needed more space in my craft room as even with two desks I didn’t seem to have enough surface area - I know. He quickly surveyed the situation and the mess (or as I call them organised piles of projects) and pointed out that if I didn’t have the large storage chest then I could fit in another desk.

Clearly losing the large storage chest (which was our laundry basket in our previous house) wasn’t an option, and also clearly he had no idea of the amount of junk, or as I prefer to call them useful things and future projects, that it held.

No way was that happening José!

But it did start me thinking…

And measuring…

And I realised that I could do both, and relatively simply too. I worked out that I could still access the large storage chest, and have a desk above it.

A plan started to develop

When I bought my two sets of Bisley drawers I’d bought one with a plinth and one without. The plinth raises the drawers to a standard desk height, and my thinking was that if I needed another plinth in the future then I could buy one then. So I did.

At that time I also bought a set of four hairpin legs when to create a space to craft, and the plan was originally to sell the extra legs on - but thankfully that hadn’t happened and they were still in the box, still in their bubble wrap and in our spare bedroom. Phew - as they were about to be brought into action.

So by adding a plinth and using the legs I already had, all I needed was the desk top, and one that could be cut to size. I bought this from the same company as before but this time a larger length of marine ply was ordered. This wasn’t cheap - but all wood prices seem to have sky rocketed, just like everything else..

When it arrived MOH noticed it had taken a bit of a bash on one corner, and while the company offered to send a replacement I was keen to get my room sorted out and didn’t want to wait any longer. And what would I do with a spare desk top? Plus I’d worked out that I could put the bashed corner on the underside at the back and then it wouldn’t really show anyway. So I agreed a part-refund with the company, and MOH was in business.

I was hoping to get away without moving the large storage chest - but I wasn’t sure if I’d be lucky or not. Just in case though I decided to rearrange it, as don’t tell anyone but I’m not sure even I knew what exactly was in there. And as you do, I found some right treasures once I started sorting through it.

It’s now much better organised - the fabric is in storage baskets that I can lift in and out easily - and I mostly know where things are, which will make retrieving things much easier too. I also thought it prudent to do this before the desk top was in place as sorting through these things is never a quick job is it?!

I also took the opportunity to switch around my existing two desks to make better use of the space. So my sewing area is now closest to the window, and my overlocker machine is happy to sit in the far corner of the desk which keeps it out of the way, but close enough for it to be handy too.

I was lucky, as I hoped I would be, and the large storage chest didn’t need moving with the new desk slotting in around it. I’m putting that down to a lot of luck, as well as precise measuring! It wouldn’t have been a deal breaker if I needed to move it as I had some space at the far end of the run of desks, but if I didn’t have to move it then that would be a result.

This arrangement also gives me space on top of the large chest for my current projects, and the room looks so much larger - and I’ve even got all my junk, or tools as I prefer to call them, on the extended space too. And I checked with the desk top in place I can still get things into and out of the large storage chest - though I did knock my head the first time I tried it, but I’ll learn!

The final metre

I haven’t yet decided on the exact location for the brass 1 metre/1 yard rule as I’m working out if it will get in the way where it is or not. I think not, but I’m going to leave it unsecured for a little while to make sure it doesn’t.

I’ve also added my paper tray in the corner at the near end (which also covers the small dented end), which now acts as a handy place to stow my mini iron. One of the things I was really keen to add was a counter top extension lead - so there’s no more scrabbling under the desk for me to plug in my iron (though on the plus side at least I always knew I’d turned it off!).

As it worked out there’s also a gap between the first set of drawers and the large storage chest which is ideal for both my craft mats and the wool ironing pad - it’s almost like it was planned. And at the other end of the large storage chest, nestled between the hairpin legs (but not on show) is space for the shredder, which previously didn’t really have a useful home.

The only small issue I had by moving my sewing machine was that I kept backing into the small white round table - and that was almost looking for a new home, but in the end I moved my peacock easy chair enough of a smidgeon to stop that happening, so thankfully the table had a reprieve!

Needless to say I’m loving this small tweak and it’s getting plenty of use - and that means it isn’t always as neat as it once was - hence the black and white photo!

Shelves in the pantry

I dubbed 2024 the year of the shelves, and while we didn’t get to all the shelves I’d hoped we would there were still plenty of shelves (and don’t worry more to come for MOH this year!). We were off to a good start with the really useful shelves in the bathroom cupboard, which I’d broached with MOH after a significant period of swear-free DIY tasks following the more troublesome to put together open shelving in the pantry and utility room.

True to my word the next shelving project was also in the pantry, though I didn’t expect it to be many months later until we started this - but hey ho, that’s what happened. It’s taken me a few more months to share it here, but while these shelves might be small, they are mighty!

They have completed the storage in this area and it’s so much better to see things on a shelf rather than a basket on the floor. Even MOH agrees, as he could never find any of our herbs and spices before - and didn’t help matters by putting them back into random spots, which made cooking “fun”.

But anyway, they are up - and are in use - and everything is still in the same place, (I hesitated to write that as i) I didn’t want to tempt fate and ii) I don’t want MOH to see it as some kind of challenge. Hmmn) and it’s the perfect use for a not very big, but potentially useful space behind the door.

I was pleased that the Proof of Concept passed muster…

Though I admit in my mind’s eye I had something a little more permanent and sturdy in mind…

I needn’t have worried, that was also a test, apparently, and after that the shelves flew up.

You might be wondering if the part-SMOL box is significant - it is. That was the very practical ‘spacer’ ensuring that the shelves (all bar the bottom one) were the same distance apart. It’s advantage was it was freestanding, thus freeing up MOH’s hands and avoiding the need for me to be there holding it, no doubt in the wrong place.

Don’t they look great?

What you can’t see here though is the detail on the front edge. Clearly growing back into his shelf game MOH routed the edges so they matched the edges on the open shelving which are (as you look) on the right of these. A small touch, but one that really elevates them, or I think so, he’s a clever wood worker isn’t he?

Then it was over to me to load them up - actually a more daunting task than you’d think.

I’ve grouped similar types of spices together, for example on the bottom shelf there’s all the spicier spices - which as luck would have it all turned out to be in similar coloured jars. The ‘shop’ tin on that shelf is just the right size for some stock cubes, and the one two shelves above is home to our home grown, home dried bay leaves - much prettier than an old take away box!

The top shelf, which I can reach without steps - another requirement! - holds those which are used less often. And while there’s spaces I think I’ve got all that I need and even threw out a few more jars in the process. But if there’s a new addition, then there’s plenty of space for that too.

The pantry isn’t the biggest space - but it’s plenty big enough - so it’s hard to get all of the new shelves in one shot. The final, and larger spaced shelf, has more stock cubes and more basics like salt and pepper refills. If needed, it can also hold bottles (as we know from the Proof of Concept) but I can’t see that we’ll need it for that anytime soon.

Living in the space (the house, not the pantry) really did help shape how we shelved this space. My first instinct was to have shelves top to bottom and be in shelf heaven. But I rethought that after hosting our first Christmas here in 2023 and adding some extra and much needed space with the fold-up table, previously my sewing machine table. It was so useful that since it moved here it’s never left, even though I’ve only used it a couple of times since.

And it’s found itself the perfect home, hasn’t it?

Four black and white pictures

I’d been at a loss for some artwork for our bedroom wall. We had one picture on the wall in our previous house, and that wasn’t right for here so I needed to come up with something else. And I really wasn’t sure.

In the end I took inspiration from an existing picture we had - remember back in March 2020 I shared a photo of mine that finally got on the wall with some help from Photowall?

But I wasn’t sure if where I had in mind would work, so I mocked it up.

And so for the next few weeks or so, I tweaked their positions - up a bit, down a bit, together a bit more and so on. Finally I was happy and then my attention turned to choosing the images.

We had the rocks from our holiday in Cornwall back in 2014, and I knew I had a picture of storks nesting from a holiday in Portugal. But what else? The good news is I found some.

And I used Photowall again, this time paying for my additional three images to be framed.

The service was still good, and it was easy to upload my images and create my artwork, though I hadn’t realised that they’d changed their frames so the three new frames are a slightly different finish to the one I already had. I was disappointed that the frames and pictures came separately though, and I had to assemble them myself once they arrived - not a huge thing, but a definite difference to my previous experience.

That said, I’m still very happy with the end result. Of course when they arrived I spent more than intended on their layout - thankfully for MOH on the carpet rather than the wall (as there was also a difference in the positioning of the sawtooth picture hanger).

I decided on this layout.

And don’t they look great on the wall?

MOH did a great job, under extreme pressure to get the gaps right!!

And as you’re wondering what the images are, they’re (clockwise from top left):

• A view towards Greenwich from the Thames Path

• Storks nesting on telegraph poles in the Alentejo in Portugal

• A flooded field in Elston, one of the villages close to our new home

• A rock formation from our trip to Cornwall back in 2014.

And all are photos we’ve taken ourselves, and there’s nothing better to have on our walls - our memories captured by us - at some point I’ll do a post about each of the four photos we chose and why.