Dedicated Craft Room

J

jerometl

New member
Anyone here who has a dedicated craft room in their homes? My wife wants to convert our den to a dedicated craft room and hoping to get some ideas. How did you design it? Built in cabinets? Open shelving? Built in tables (we've seen quite a few of these - L shape types), granite counter tops? So far I haven't seen any models around that have craft rooms.
 
I don't but Saviero @ OH will have one model home with craft room if they stick to their current decorating plan.  Looks like they will have two wall to wall cabinets and/or work desk on two opposite walls and craft table in the middle. 
 
The problem with ours is we only have 1 full wall. The other 2 sides have windows. Originally my wife wanted cabinets on one side, beside the windows, and low cabinets like a wrap around, and a big work table in the middle of the room. But considering her ton of stuff, she thinks it's not going to be enough space. Having just 1 wall of cabinets, I couldn't picture it. Crafters are like hoarders. The amount of paper, stamps whatever tool she has is unbelievable.

IHO, with her stuff, i'm doubting a single purpose room will even be enough...she needs cabinet space for her stuff, work table to spread her stuff out, and dreaming of space to fit workshop tables. The room is only 10'x12'. Any ideas on how to make it dual purpose I will be more than happy to entertain. We need a table for when we both work from home too!

We've met with cabinet makers and so far none of them came up with good designs. It was more like what do you like vs. here's what we suggest.
 
You can do cabinets and maybe table/desk along the one wall and then when she needs the space, use folding 6ft tables that you can take out and put away.

You can put the tables in the middle of the room or against the windows. Not sure if she needs permanent table space but that might allow more flexibility for you. Do the windows go down to the ground? You can put benches with storage space under the windows and they can double as seats when you put the folding tables out.

10x12 is actually a large space if configured correctly.
 
Depending upon the placements of the windows, wall, and entry, you have lots of options:

- Full-length cabinets/drawers under one or both of the window walls, can be broken up with a desk niche in the middle of each wall or in the corner between the two if they are adjacent to each other.
- Fold-out (Murphy bed style) table in the middle of a wall of cabinets on the full wall. You can each use a side of the table to utilize as a work space, or she can sprawl out further if the project becomes more involved and you're not using the space.

-IrvineRealtor
 
GH said:
Anyone here who has a dedicated craft room in their homes? My wife wants to convert our den to a dedicated craft room and hoping to get some ideas. How did you design it? Built in cabinets? Open shelving? Built in tables (we've seen quite a few of these - L shape types), granite counter tops? So far I haven't seen any models around that have craft rooms.
Click to expand...

Oh heck, yeah. As soon as my 4th bedroom is no longer a "Minecraft sanctuary", I will be turning that puppy into a craft room or a wrapping room at the very least! Martha Stewart has an entire line of crafting furniture!!! It is dreamy.
drool.gif
I give you...


The Marta Stewart Living Craft Space Collection by Home Decorators. Also available through Home Depot! I've even seen some of the pieces at Staples.
 
lnc said:
Check out this craft room/play room/multipurpose room.  I really like that counter height table at the center.  Try to copy the pic here but unable to do so.
http://www.houzz.com/photos/646773/Ellen-Grasso-Inc-transitional-kids-dallas
Click to expand...

Ideally yes, she loves to have this kind of a room. But the configuration of our room might be a challenge because of the windows. But yes, for that center table she's thinking of getting the IKEA build your own table so she can have at least 6FT wide x 4FT deep.
I think she watches too much HGTV and drools over those homes with an entire basement that can be used as craft space that a 10x12 room doesn't look big enough for her
 
Here's the initial drawing she had Cabinets Plus do. They forgot to draw the 3 windows to the right side. That long cabinet storage is low, because the windows drop low. I think max is 1 shelf for storage so not much space to store anything. And she doesn't want to keep bending all the time looking for stuff (papers, punches and what not). The opposite wall I told her to leave it alone because I don't like people seeing a mess as soon as they enter the front door. It will be the first thing anybody sees and I don't think it'll be pretty. She's organized but you should see the multitude of her stuff!!!

furioussugar, she agrees. She likes to leave her stuff on the table so she can continue again and everything is still left in place. I suggested the murphy types and she looked at me like I was not from this world. She is not a sewer, but I would like a place for the sewing machine to be up permanently. She's a scrapbooker, cardmaker and also short asian at 5'2" so floor to ceiling will be pretty hard for her.

Btw, CP quoted almost $6k for this layout and California Closets at $10k!!! And that's leaving 1 full wall bare! I don't understand this hobby at all!
 

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SoCal said:
GH said:
Anyone here who has a dedicated craft room in their homes? My wife wants to convert our den to a dedicated craft room and hoping to get some ideas. How did you design it? Built in cabinets? Open shelving? Built in tables (we've seen quite a few of these - L shape types), granite counter tops? So far I haven't seen any models around that have craft rooms.
Click to expand...

Oh heck, yeah. As soon as my 4th bedroom is no longer a "Minecraft sanctuary", I will be turning that puppy into a craft room or a wrapping room at the very least! Martha Stewart has an entire line of crafting furniture!!! It is dreamy.
drool.gif
I give you...


The Marta Stewart Living Craft Space Collection by Home Decorators. Also available through Home Depot! I've even seen some of the pieces at Staples.
Click to expand...

What kind of crafting are you into SoCal? For some reason my wife is not a big Martha Stewart fan. I remember the last Martha Stewart item she bought went back to the store. And those closets at Home Depot are out of the question. Somehow I don't think table on wheels is what she'll want but thanks for this reference.
 
furioussugar said:
Take a look at the BESTA cabinets at Ikea http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S89005184/#/S99005174-  they are a good depth for the type of crafting your wife does.  We have 2 sets of this config. along one wall for crafting and it works very well.  We purchased ours several years ago and at that time the glass doors came with a removable panel behind the glass,  which you could slip art between.  Add the IKEA art lights across the tophttp://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10143485/and you now have an art gallery space.  I would fill your entire right wall with these- going as high as possible to the ceiling, use top cabinets for long term storage items.  They have a variety of cabinet doors to choose from.  You can also outfit this with drawers, although last time I checked they were not offering full extension drawers and I think for crafting,  it is better organized on shelves.  The Container store has great storage boxes http://www.containerstore.com/shop/dorm/storage/storageBoxes?productId=10000166.  The Men's shoe box fits on the Besta shelves nicely.  Label each box using a label machine for better organization.  Your wife can pull out the boxes she needs for the project she is working on.

Although a table in the center of the room is ideal--  if you want a large work surface,  I would consider pushing it up to the window wall.  You can add book cases to the side of the table like this one from Pottery Barnhttp://www.potterybarn.com/products/bedford-project-table-set(though I think you could mock this layout up for much less $$$'s).  I would avoid a clear glass top table  (looks great,  but the lighting goes right through it.  A piece of glass on top of a solid surface works great.  You may want to consider a corian top over a granite one,  as it is much warmer to the touch.  Granite can remain very cold even in a warm room and your hands can get tired working on it for an extended period of time.

Another critical thing is lighting.  You want to add some direct light over your work surface in addition to the can lights that I assume are already there.  It can be as simple as an Ottlitehttp://www.ottlite.com/p-130-vero-table-lamp-brushed-nickel.aspxsitting on the table,  or a pendant hanging overhead.  If you go with the overhead, you may find that a lamp with a diffuser is more comfortable on the eyes  (Light won't bounce off the work surface)

I think you can build a beautiful, functioning craft room for less than $2000,  including all the fun accessories.  PM me if you want photos of my set up. :)

(Apologies to readers for the long post here,  probably better for PM ;) )
Click to expand...

thank you.  very informative .. I will pass on to my wife.
 
@furioussugar:

Don't apologize... your post helps this thread and the OP... I even looked at every link.

Interestingly enough, Costco had a darker wood version of that project table for way less than $1000.
 
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