Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday passed with many of my Facebook and Twitter friends wishing me a “Happy Birthday!”  Thanks to everyone for their wishes, my birthday was, indeed, happy.

Of course I didn’t spend it relaxing or pampering myself, though I did get my hair cut and colored in preparation for I_Blog- which is next weekend!

Nope, what I did was create something new in an old space.  I did this a few weeks ago in my kitchen; this time I took on a larger space – the huge closet in our “office”, technically the house’s 4th bedroom.

It looked like any closet; white walls, a wire shelf/hanging area.  We had it stuffed with office supplies, filing cabinets, a book shelf and random crap.  Lots of random crap.

Here’s what it looked like after we emptied it, got rid of the stuff we didn’t need to keep and organized the other stuff to designated locations out of the closet:

Behold: the Empty Closet

Doug took down the shelving (which is being relocated to the attic space above the garage), filled the holes and sanded.  I picked out the paint- which, I think, may have been a tougher job.  I ended up choosing a green by Bher called “asparagus”.  I taped the walls and helped edge, though Doug did most of the painting.

It’s a bright, happy color without being overwhelming.  I really like it. Now, as for what we put in it.  I was vacillating between two ideas: creating a full library or turning the entire space into a craft room.  I “split the difference” and did both.

The Finished Product

Now here’s the fun part: out of pocket cost for this room.  Under $22.  Yep, you read that right.  The only thing we paid for was the paint.  We had the bookshelves in our office space- moving them created more space in the room- and the craft components were my birthday gift from my family (on sale at Michael’s for 30% off).  I already had the white drawer storage and the long shelf (both in the far right photo).

So I spent most of Saturday and part of today organizing and reorganizing the new craft/library room, the office and portions of the storage room.  And I had fun.  Yes, it’s a sickness.  I hate to clean but I love to organize.  Anyway, I am happy with the results and can’t wait to use my room.

Speaking of craft rooms, I am watching this contest over at Eat, Scrap, Love.  She is looking for suggestions for a saying to put on her wall ála Uppercase Living.  I don’t have any ideas but if you do, and yours is chosen, you could win scrapbooking supplies!