A Place of Rest--Part 1

If you looked at the mess I had for a craft area a month ago, you’d say it was a far cry from rest. (I call it an “area” because we have our finished attic divided with bookshelves rather than walls apart from the guest room and bath—so one side of my craft area is open for everyone to see.) Not only had I never gotten things truly organized, it got out of control during the process of making and finishing the guest room wall. 

 

The first step in attacking the chaos was finishing my new craft area table.  We bought 2 of the 19.99 Euro EXPEDIT bookcases from IKEA that matched a bigger piece we’d bought a few years back for the “legs” of the table. We used a cheap MDF door for the table top. My husband originally thought I’d paint it, but I liked the MDF color. I would need to put a coat of polyurethane to help it be cleanable. To give it a creative edge literally, I chose some of my favorite scrapbook paper to cover the edge of the door.

 

After cutting the pieces to size, I tore one edge of each paper so the pieces might flow together a little easier. I used decoupage glue (because I had it on hand) to attach the pieces to the door edge. Next, I painted 3-4 layers of polyurethane on the top of the “table” and over the papered edge. Several things I learned:

1. The glue discolored/kept the polyurethane from “coloring”the table top where I accidently dropped some. You can see this with my first coat of polyurethane, left lower corner of the table…live and learn.

2. I painted the polyurethane in different directions for each coat to attempt to not have the striped look you see above.

3. Hot glue takes the coating off. That happens with lots of surfaces though right? My fault for not being more careful!

4. The sun from my roof window is fading patterns on the top now from whatever sits on it.  Not sure what I could do differently for that—get a window shade?

5. The door on top of the bookshelves made the table a little too tall for the chair I had been using. Thankfully we found a cheap matching office chair that raised a bit higher.

 

Despite all this I’m really pleased with the table and the cleaner look of my craft area.  I’ve spent my time since getting the wall decorated and organizing the other sides you don’t see. I’ll save the details for part 2 next week!

I’m sharing this at the following parties:

Just Something I Whipped Up at The Girl Creative

Anti-Procrastination Tuesdays at New Nostalgia

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

Make it Yours Day at My Backyard Eden

Miss Mustard Seed’s Furniture Feature Friday

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Weekend Wrap-Up Party at Tatertots and Jello