Spare Bedroom

My aim for this room is to make a comfortable spare bedroom for guests and a useful space the rest of the time with plenty of bookshelves and storage. I planned to make it bright and cheerful by using my retro 1960s and 1970s fabrics and ceramics to add some colour. I want to keep the costs low and reuse and recycle items rather than buying new ones. 

The walls were painted lilac and looked very tatty, with many holes from shelving and even more from taking the curtain pole down. I filled all the holes and painted the room white. I bought one tub of paint, which wasn't quite enough but thanks to an old tin in the garage I managed to get the second coat finished. It is now a lovely bright clean room, and the white works well with the dark wood work.

As well as being the spare bedroom this room provides a home for a lot of my books. I have reused some bookcases we already had that I was planning on getting rid of. They are cheap pine bookcases that all match, I didn't like the pine so have painted them in white gloss paint. I am very plased with the results. I have arranged all the paperbacks on the shelves in almost rainbow colour order. The room looks really cheerful now. I got the inspiration for this from the recent copy of Elle Decoration (white shelves with brightly coloured books and objects) and the Laundromat Cafe in Copenhagen (see picture below). I am very happy that the bookcases fitted so well as it has saved a lot of money and saved me the trouble of having to get rid of the bookcases. 

For more interest I have put some brightly coloured collectables on the top shelves, colour co-ordinated with the books of course! These are mainly pieces of 1960s and 1970s pottery from makers such as Midwinter, Carlton Ware, and Portmerion. I also have lots of retro fabrics, mostly charity shop purchases of bedding that can be cut up and made into other things. I have made two large fabric frames to show off some of the fabric, these are hanging above the bed.

I have made some curtains to fit inside the window opening. They dont take up any extra wallspace, but allow for privacy. I have some bedding that I wont cut up that can be used on the bed, at some point I will make a patchwork quilt from scraps. 

To save more money have borrowed a bed from my parents. It is high enough that I can put storage boxes underneath to keep spare bedding and other lesser used items. We already have lots of things stored in plastic crates, these crates fit under the bed very nicely. 

I have been able to fit my basket chair just inside the door and my plastic cabinet by the bed. We have a fantastic coat rack that will eventually go on the wall and provide a hanging space for guests.

I love this room, I am so pleased with how it has turned out, especially as I did it all myself.

Penguin Donkey

For my 30th Birthday my husband has given me a very special present. It is a Penguin Donkey, this little bookcase combines my love of mid-century design and books.


A Penguin Donkey is a small bookcase that was first designed to hold the new paperback books in 1939. My one is the second version designed in 1963 by Ernest Race. In contrast to the original design this bookcase is white and features a flat top so it can be used as a table as well. The bookcase became known as the Penguin Donkey because it has panniers and four legs.

The bookcases were and still are, made by Isokon. Mine is an original example, but reproductions are available. 

I will enjoy finding vintage Penguin books to fill it up, although I do have quite a few already. It is also a good excuse to collect other Penguin books related items.

References

http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/furniture/stories/donkey/index.html

http://www.twentytwentyone.com/displayProduct.asp?ProductID=363&x=190

Super Organised Craft Room

I have been trying to organise my craft supplies and craft room in general for a while now. It is difficult because my craft room is also the dining room. Trying to balance the two so we can actually use the dining room is difficult, especially as I have a habit of leaving things on the table and I am not very tidy. 

I had most materials in boxes of similar items, such as threads, buttons, lace and ribbon etc. I found this kept getting very messy and it was difficult to find exactly what I wanted, when I wanted it. A new plan was needed.

I tend to work by colour when I am making things and particularly when I am starting a new project. I was inspired by seeing the workspace of designers in Sew Hip and decided to try storing my supplies by colour rather than purpose. If I was going to do this I reasoned that I should really use storage that was clear so I could see all the lovely colours. I tested this out with some glass pasta jars, they looked lovely, but the jars were a little small and heavy. I then had a thought, there is an old fashioned sweet shop in town with big plastic jars to hold the sweets, perhaps they might have some old jars they no longer wanted. I asked and they were really helpful saying they would save them for me until I had as many as I wanted. So far I have used 10 jars.

I now have all my supplies, excluding fabric and yarn, in these jars. It hasn't cost me anything and I have been able to reuse something that would have been thrown away. I am really pleased with the finished result, being able to see these jars full of lovely colours is a bit like being in a sweet shop, but better for your teeth!

I am getting another bookcase soon, one my parents no longer need (recycling again), then I will be able to spread these jars across the two top shelves, making it easy to get at them. This has really set a standard for my storage now and I will have to make sure my fabric, felt and yarn is also stored in such a pretty and useful way. 

It was not possible to get the labels off all the jars so at some point when I have some free time I will cover the labels with some pretty paper in the relevant colours. I may also do something with the lids to make them look more interesting, perhaps covering them with some fabric. 

The other things I like most about my craft room are my craft books. I have filled a whole shelf now, it is great having them all in one place. I have a collection of modern craft books as well as older ones going back as far as the 1950s, I can always find something to inspire me.