Transformation

I am going to start this whole story tonight and will probably have to finish it later.  For those of you who know me or have been to my house, You know that I have pretty much allowed my scrapbooking and crafting habit to take over about 40% of all available space in my house.  Both spare bedrooms have been craft rooms for years and for some reason, I still have to work on large projects in either the kitchen or on another folding table that I place in front of the tv.  It is ridiculous... I agree... yet I work a certain way... apparently in creative chaos.  :)

On a separate note, Justin has agreed to move in with me at the end of the summer.  (Thank you Arctic Blast 2008 for causing a water pipe explosion and convincing him that I am not that bad to live with... and that he really isn't THAT allergic to cats after all :)  Although Justin doesn't have too much stuff along the lines of furniture and other large objects, he does need an office.  And a studio to paint in.  To most people, this space wouldn't be too hard to find... but to me... it meant A LOT of shifting, purging, and reorganizing.  SO... the day after school got out in June, the race was on.  I removed all of the stuff out of my current "scrapbooking room" and re did it.  From painting the ceiling and woodwork to learning how to use a mitering saw and refitting all of the floor moulding, it was quite the chore.  The only thing that didn't get redone was the carpet... and frankly, I just couldn't spend the extra time with the room empty, nor did I want to spend the money.  Here is a before photo of the scrapbooking room as it was for many years.

Yes, the closet is bright green.  When I bought the house the choice to paint it such a horrible color was my rebellion to the life of apartment living where everything is always white.  Looking back, maybe lime green was the wrong choice.  :)  Anyways, here is what it looked like before, but really the wood around the door was gross wood colored, stained maybe 6 times over the years.  In this picture I had already started painting the woodwork.  This room was the original scrapbook room, but the other room had most of my newer stuff, the goal was the combine the two.  The sheer amount of stuff that I unloaded from both rooms literally took over the ENTIRE house.  The photos are actually too embarrassing to post... it was horrible.  The fact that I didn't seriously injure myself is actually amazing.  

Well, after I finished this room, and bought an amazing desk from IKEA that I insisted I put together alone (not a wise choice), I started reloading everything.  The next picture is from the day I started reloading.  It looks different now (more stuff) but it looks amazing and I 

can't believe that it all fits!  In one room! 

So now, it's time to redo what used to be the "frame room" and turn it into Justin's office.  I am so excited to get the paint back out and get another room organized and finished.  I bought the house four years ago (I think?) and it seems like there are things I thought I would do before I even unpacked that are still undone.  It's always something isn't it? 

So, that is what I did in June.  I will take more pictures soon, now that it is all here and organized and post again soon.  Looking at this picture is deceiving because since then I have hung stuff on the walls floor to ceiling and it looks much different, but you get the idea.  It feels so good to have an organized space to be creative.  I will update later on the next room and how it looks once I get it finished.  To be continued...