i am so guilty of it…i pin a million and one things i see on pinterest with the hopes that one day i’ll have enough time/resources/energy/patience to try and get to all of the super cute ideas. well, the culmination of the great basement project of 2009 – 2013 required me to go back into my pinterest archives (check out my personal “handmade” pin board here) and actually do some of the ideas i’ve been pinning for the “one day my craft space will be done” time. (because thanks to mr. re-nest, that time is here!)

where to start? well, the craft space was planned as a shared space for me + my little mr. re-nests. we needed some cute and easy ways to show off, err, i mean, display our work and creativeness. so i had been planning away for the following fun little ways to display my little guys’ artistic work and some of the fun stuff i do too:

1. from ikea, the dignitet curtain wire system. no joke, i bought two sets of these with the clips about two years ago. i was walking through one of our many, many, many random family ikea trips and saw they had this displayed to show artwork. in the words of gru from “despicable me” (because this is the movie du jour in our house right now), “lightbulb!” these were p-e-r-f-e-c-t for our future crafting/art spaces. i could see it then…one hanging over the boys’ activity/art table, and one hanging in my craft space. so i bought them (for a pretty decent $12.99 a piece) and here’s the kicker: i actually kept track of them for the past two years. i didn’t lose them (which is a minor miracle).

2. easy-peasy framed cork board. i wanted something a bit more than just a cork board i could buy at target or hobby lobby (you know what i’m talking about…the ones that are in the standard brown wooden frame). enter ikea again. i found a nice-sized, simple white wood frame, measuring 19-1/2″-by-19-1/2″…the norrlida frame. (note: the one on the website is larger than the one we got). this plus a roll of cork from hobby lobby, which i cut down to the size of the glass from the frame. (hint here: i actually cut the cork about 1/8″ shorter than the size of the glass to make sure that it wouldn’t “buckle” in the frame and end up wavy.

ikea’s norrlida frame + cork roll

ta-da! the cork board frame!

3. fabric-covered magnetic board. here’s the tough one. so, i found this one on pinterest which said to use a cookie sheet. well, there were two roadblocks here: one, dekalb didn’t seem to have any cookie sheets that were bigger than 9″ x 12″ (and i was wanting something much larger), and two, the cookie sheets weren’t magnetic. so, we tried again. we ventured to lowes and menards to see about getting a couple of pieces of sheet metal that i could cover in fabric…which we found, but the price was oh, so ridiculous! so, plan c is to get back to ikea (yes, again) and pick up two of these. and cover them in the fabric that we picked up from hobby lobby. (this one isn’t finished yet…must…get…to…ikea…to…finish) *photos to come once this one is finished!

i love my new area and how its taking shape. this space has been another one of my babies a long time in the making. i so cannot wait to get creating in my new space!cheers!
ashley