The Creative Corner

This is no how-to.  This is a how-I-done-it.  I am not very good at starting from the beginning, planning it out, and then doing it.  I am more of a - this is my final vision, let's get there kind of gal.  I take step 8 and make it step 2 and only then realize it really should have been step 8 all along.  I see the end product but I just don't get there in a normal way.  So, don't follow this as a way for you to get the same results - although you could - it just would be ass-backwards.  If you like that kind of thing, then please, follow my steps and hopefully your end product will receive some applause and a hug or two (mine did from my favorite two people in the world).  No matter how many steps it takes, or how out of order they may be in the end,  really it is all the same.  And if I do say so myself, it turned out AWESOME.

This is what I started with.  It is a closet.  But, it is a closet with a huge window.  And it is superfluous because there is a larger closet right next to it.  This is the house that likes 2 of everything, placed right next to each other.  It basically renders one of them useless since they are so close.  If you walk farther down this same hallway there are two bathrooms thisclose to each other.  A bit strange, but when renting, you can't be choosy.  And you also can't expect the room to be empty or clean when you move in.

So, I started by cleaning the room and washing down the walls. I couldn't paint that dirt into the room.

That is some black dirt.

 When I was finally ready to start, I had a semi-clean empty room with all of my old nail/support holes filled.

Quite boring, right?

I had chosen my paint about a week before I started.  I did a lot of research on colors that were good for sparking creativity.  I kept coming up with Orange.  So I thought I would pick the brightest Orange I could find.  It is a small room and can take a bit of color...Ok, a lot of color.  I started with my brush and cut into the spots that needed it...

And then proceeded to roll on 4 coats of thick paint.  Yep.  4 coats.  Have I mentioned that even when you buy top of the line Sherwin-Williams paint, it is still not the same quality as what you are used to in the U.S.  But it turned out a pretty color and that is all that matters.

Painting done.  Now I needed to assemble the furniture I had gotten.  Two little desks with chairs and a standing shelving unit.  Not too bad, but since the directions were in Spanish it did take me a little longer than usual.  Just gave the paint more time to dry.  I am notorious for putting things back on walls before the paint is really dry.  I just don't have the patience.

Furniture assembled I now had to do the hardest part of the whole thing.  I needed to hang the Kitchen Organizers I was using for hanging baskets, a paper towel holder and clips.  I had three of them - one for over each desk so the girls couldn't fight over whose was whose.  The third was for holding their finished artwork.  It took some measuring to make sure they were centered over the desks, some leveling because I cannot stand crooked, and a lot of strength to drill in concrete.

But they went up quickly and since that was the extent of the hanging for now, it was time to bring in the desks, the rug, the supplies and organize the clutter that used to share space in my linen closet.  And ta-da....the girls had their own Creative Corner...

 

Pipe cleaners, strings and puff balls, oh my!

So many great containers for supplies

I really wanted to open all the supplies and start glittering everything!

Write on/Wipe off board stickers for the walls and door!

I told the girls that I had a surprise for them and told them to get some shoes on.  We walked over to the new house (now our house) and told them to try to find their surprise.  They were stymied for a bit since this was a couple of days before we officially were moving in.  The house was empty.  Every room they checked echoed.  They opened closets and bathrooms and could not figure it out.  And finally, just when I thought I would have to tell them or have some very cranky little girls on my hands, they found it.  MadHatter opened the door and gasped.  She loved the Orange.  She loved the colors.  She finally realized what had happened to all of her markers and coloring pages.  She couldn't stop opening drawers and looking in bins.  She got so excited when I told her that it was all hers and Stinkerbell's and that adults weren't allowed, she jumped up and hugged me so hard she almost knocked us both over.

We have now been in the house about 10 days.  If I can't find either of my kids and it is super quiet in my house, I know just where to look first.  The second place is their new playroom, which will get a separate post since I am just as excited about it (no more toys in the living room.  Who wouldn't be excited?)   The Creative Corner has already brought about some interesting craft ideas.  I can't wait to see what they cook up next.