Here’s to a NEW YEAR, a clean slate

and a clean desk!!!

I love the feeling of renewal that the new year brings.  I love dreaming of the possibilities that lie ahead of me in 2012.  I love goal setting and resolutions.  Even if I don’t abide by them perfectly, I’m still trying to improve, and that feels good.

One of my goals for this year is to get my craft room under control!!!  It has been through different phases of messy: from cluttered, to my husband telling me he’s turning me into the show, Hoarders.

I’d been using this armoire for about 10 years.  It was perfect when I had to keep my craft things in the family room and I could quickly close up shop and hide the mess.  But now (yay) I have a room for my craft stuff and I can just close the door to hide the mess.  Yes, my friends know that this door stays closed and when I have to invite someone in, I feel shame and embarrassment.  I wanted a desk with more workspace and an more open feel.  The armoire doors were taking up valuable space now.

So I caught my man in a generous moment, (right after he bought his new road bike) and asked him to make this simple West Elm inspired desk with plans from anawhite.com.  Somehow I got distracted from this project and it sat in the garage unpainted, for months.  Then I painted it and it sat in the garage for a while longer until I moved out my old desk and painted the walls of my craft room.

*I wanted a light color on the walls and white furniture so that my room would look clean and nice.  (I used Martha Stewart Brand paint “tidewater” at 25% opacity.  I knew I liked that color but I wanted it lighter so I sort of made up my own little shade of light turquoise/blue).
*I want to add more color with accessories though.  Which colors, I’m not sure yet.
*We made custom shelves in this room but this time I didn’t need a custom size and I knew it would take a while for my handy man to get to it.  So these IKEA shelves did the trick this time.  They aren’t near as sturdy, but they will do.

I did change a few of the dimensions from the original plan.  I wanted the workspace to be a bit wider and I adjusted the side shelves to be a bit bigger so they are more in proportion.

So now it’s time to start organizing my supplies on this new clean slate.  Its kind of all just thrown in the room right now and I can’t wait to make it look pretty!  I’m ready to make this project a priority and I’m pretty sure that it will make all of my other projects a little easier to navigate as well!

For now, I’m just reveling in the fabulousness of this new day and this clean desk!
(Did I mention it was bad before?  Like, REALLY BAD…  like HAZARDOUS BAD!  Trust me, this is a new year’s miracle)