It all started with a sewing machine.

My sewing machine use to live next door at my friend Christina's house.  She had one of those rare luxuries - an extra room.  One of those magical places for books and crafts and anything else your heart could dream of.  My sewing machine was happy there.  It had it's own space and I visited often. But then Christina did the unthinkable, she moved, 7 hours away!  How dare she.  How could she just separate our happy family like this?  What about the crafts?  What about all the unfinished projects?  She boxed up her material and I took my sewing machine home. 

We walked into my crowed apartment and it begged not to go back in the closet.  But where could I put it?  The kids have the largest room, but we know it couldn't live in there, think of the destruction it would have seen.  I scanned the rest of the apartment.  I started rearranging rooms in my head. And then I saw it.  The dining room.  The room we hardly used for dining.  More like the "I'll deal with it later" room.

BEFORE

I set to work.  Pinterest had prepared me for this very task.  I was going to remake this room and I was going to do it with little money. 




AFTER

Doesn't it look great?  My first rule of DIY is "use what you already have".  I pushed the table against the wall and put the bench on top to act as a shelf.  Those boxes on top of the bench are projects that I'm still working on and craft materials that I want to keep on hand.  Can you see my handy Dremel Drill Press in the corner?  That was my xmas present this year.  *big smile*

I bought the shelf at Target, but the candy jar was left over from our wedding.  I put my extra yarn in it and they look delicious!






This bird and the other two jars above are from Michaels.  All three together cost around $10.  Not bad right? 

And the buttons in the middle jar are left over from my button table. 
While the fabric in the jar on the left are scraps from other projects.

I had this box of ribbons and colorful duct tape just collecting dust in a cabinet.  So I hung them on a trouser hanger and then hung that from an extra curtain rod hook.  So pretty!

Having them out reminded me of some duct tape crafts I want to do.  Plus now that I have them organized I can see I have room for more *wink* That's how that works right?  I still have room so I guess I'll have to buy some more?  Let's just agree that that's how it goes.

The last part was a bit tricky.  I needed a comfy place to sit.  This short bench was also part of my dining set but it was in no way comfortable.  After trying a few things on it like patio cushions and throw pillows, I noticed that it was the same size as my king sized pillow.  So that's exactly what it got.  A new pillow and pillow case to sit on and two throw pillows for my back and ta-da, a comfy crafting chair.






The whole remodel only took a few hours and about $50 to throw this project together.  The room is so much more functional and I still have a surface for the boys to do their homework.  I think all the room needs is some artwork on the wall.  And now my sewing machine is happy... The End.