I love my house. My kitchen has tons of cupboard and counter space. My master bedroom has two walk in closets and the bath has double sinks and a separate room for the shower and toilet. But there’s an awkwardness to our entryway. It’s a very large entryway for the size of the rest of the downstairs. And it has an 18 foot ceiling. None of the rest of the downstairs has that kind of height. And it has a fun light fixture that we have no way of reaching thanks to it being in the center of that 18 foot ceiling. It’s a boob light with no way of getting to the bulbs. When we moved in, one bulb was burned out already. And six months later when the other burned out, we just plugged in a lamp instead.
(Right after we got the keys 5 years ago. The window above the front door looks into the entry way.)
For years my husband has said that we should just close off the space and make another bedroom. For years I didn’t think there was any way we could afford it… plus, wouldn’t we rather just get a new home? But then the housing market went down. And houses in our neighborhood were foreclosed on and we watched our value sink and sink and sink. What we thought would be a 5-10 year home quickly became a much longer-term housing situation.
I’m happy to stay in this house. I like my neighborhood, I like my neighbors (for the most part!), I like my yard, and I really do like my home. But while our bedrooms are great, the main living space in this house is already maxed out. And as we grow our family someday, all my craft and sewing items will have no place to go (and there is A LOT of it!). While we dreamed of being able to someday add on to our house, the reality of it seemed distant. Nolan’s a civil engineer and his firm specializes in housing development. Which means business has been bad for three years now. I’ve seriously had my heart skip a beat every time he contacted me during the day for three years because I was afraid he’d lost his job. We saved. And saved. And saved in order to build an emergency fund. Because it’s not like there were many other options for him to look into should he lose his job.
For three years he’s watched job listings in the area and even out of state. He’s applied for so many positions because we figured it was better to be proactive than to wait until he was laid off. And with every position he applied for, there was always someone more qualified going for the same spot. It got discouraging, but we always were thankful he at least still had a job.
And then his dream position opened up in our town for the city. He applied. Interviewed. We dreamed. We were confident. And then he didn’t get it. Someone else was more qualified. I was so disappointed. So many dreams were wrapped up in this job—trying for another baby, becoming a stay-at-home mom, adding onto our house, security, better benefits, a little bit more financial flexibility. We both struggled to understand why we were being disappointed once again.
But then he got a call—the other guy’s background check fell through and was Nolan still interested in the position? We couldn’t believe it!!! As of today, he’s been given the official job offer. We won’t need the emergency fund to be what it is and can use it, and even then, we’ll have the ability to save faster to replenish it. So once again we’re dreaming, but this time those dreams are being put on paper, err… computer screen in Auto Cad.
(I love that my husband can draw pretty pictures like this one!)
The new room will be a craft room/guest room. I’m so thankful for a husband who sees crafting space for me as a priority! I want to paint the walls a pale turquoise (lighter than in the picture above) and have red accents.
And have a long desk where I can set up my sewing machine, serger, printer and silhouette.
I’d love to find a vintage swivel desk chair, paint it white and have a red cushion like this one on it.
And have a counter height island for a cutting/crafting table. I love that Nolan could make this one for me. I’d also want to add casters to the bottom so when the space is used as a guest room we can roll it against a wall.
We’ll be paying cash for everything, so I’m sure there will be some “frills” that will have to come further down the road, but a girl can dream for now, right?
Do you dream of a special space just for sewing and crafting? What are some of the must haves for that space? Do you have a wonderful craft room? What do you love about it and what would you change? I would love your feedback as I start to plan how I’d set this room up!
Thanks for stopping by!
