A trip to the center of the craft armoire

Several of you have asked so here it is. A quick trip to the center of the craft armoire. Yes, a view inside the oh so long awaited craft armoire. You will notice, not much has happened in here as of yet, but  it will get there. The plan is to add a peg board to the left side door and possibly magnetic board on the right side. It'll happen as needed.

It has proven to be quite easy to use and organized for the projects I have engaged in, like making Valentine's cards and ornaments. A place for everything and everything in it's place. Well, not everything has a place yet cause I still have some boxes to unpack in the garage. They bare such labels as scrapbooking and crafts and yet another is labeled stamps. Scrapbooking, crafts and stamps, oh my! Scrapbooks, and crafts and stamps, oh my! Get it?...Wizard of Oz? Get it? Anyhwo, I can't remember what was stored in these boxes, and I certainly don't miss whatever is in them. I'm afraid to open the unknown. Maybe if I never open them, I'll never know...and I'll never miss whatever is in there. What to do? What to do? But that's a project for another day.

Note: For those of you who attempted to read the original post...I'm sorry....so sorry :( It's been revised. Really, it has. I'm just silly like that, naturally. AND I've had seven (7) hours of sleep. Yes, you read that right ladies and gentlemen, SEVEN! And, I've had my cup of joe. So top fo the morning to ya. Make it a great one!

Update on Craft Armoire knobs!!

When I presented the Shabby Chic knobs on the Craft Armoire in this post, I mentioned the two bottom knobs were slightly different. They sure were! They are handcut crystal so of course, there will always be a difference. But they were also slightly different in color, one being more pinkish. Both these minor natural flaws made them look quite different to me and they were bugging me. So on a trip to the mall with my boys, I took them with me to exchange one for another one to match the second one. Have I confused you yet? Anywho, I only needed to find one at the store that matched one of the ones I purchased to have two semi-identical knobs.

My bf and sons went with me. Once in front of the beatifully rotating displays full of gorgeous artsy knobs, my bf said to me "How about adding some color, like these?" Wow, I thought. I love it! So I purchased them. Here they are.

Cloisonne Chrystanthemum Knob

Not showing them on the armoire yet because one of them is broken, ugh!! So these two I put on the top doors (yes, voiding the clear crystal knobs I previously loved...he, he, he...) and these I put on the bottom doors.

Ceramic Melon Knob

While I love the Cloisonne Chryanthemum knobs, and I do love the ceramic melon knobs too, I just don't think they go together, and I like the cloisonne chrysanthemum knobs better. I almost feel as if I should have known they wouldn't look good together before I brought them home. So, yet another trip to Anthropologie is planned because at this point I only have one good knob since the one Cloisonne Chrysanthemum knob is broken.

And I haven't even begun the inside organization of the Craft Armoire project!!

Shabby Chic Black Frame Decals

Tar-jay {sophisticated for Target) carries the most darnest things sometimes. It takes a lot of will power to walk in there and purchase only what's on my list. Never a small bill, for sure. So when I saw this Shabby Chick Black Frame Decal set on clearance for $4.32, I just had to pick it up {insert happy dance}.


I debated what to do with it...exactly where to place it for the best impact. And not being able to figure it out, and having guests over, I slid it under the bed to be forgotten for months. Until the craft armoire project that is. That's when I took everything out of the armoire and under the bed, nooks and crannies in my bedroom to work on it. So that's when I saw it. It's like finding a $20 bill in a coat that's been put away for the summer and suddenly taken back out for the fall. I couldn't deal with it at the time, craft armoire project on hand, so I left it there to be found again once I cleaned the mess back up and into the armoire.

And so, I found it again. First I thought I'd use it as a headboard in my bedroom, since I don't currently have one. Here it is as I contemplated putting the shabby chic frame decals, similar to these, up as a headboard.

 I thought it might actually work. But something in the pit of my stomach tells me, maybe not so much. These have been taped on the wall for about two weeks now, winking at me and waiting for the ultimate approval...the final sealing process. But that hasn't quite happened. My walls scream of apartment rental (white). Bedspread and sheet sets are light khaki and white (in this picture you see one set. The pillows shown in the picture will go once I decide on a final color pallette. I'm thinking gray (to go with the craft armoire I just painted gray and is in the same room), and turquoise for a splash of color, along with the neutrals khaki and white. That swing lamp (new project!) will have it's brown hardware painted white, and the lampshade will be covered in a cool, modern fabric, preferably gray...I'm thinking a light gray zebra stripe I saw online, like this one.

But anyway. Back to the shabby chic frame decals. What ya'll think? These can be rearranged into different positions, and I can add cool little wall hangings in each frame..just another thought. For example, 3D bird, a key, deer head, just funky things ya know.

The biggest problem is that the actual frames will be bright black once the liner is removed. I'm afraid this will be too stark for the room given the rest of the colors I'm working with.

Update 2/11/11 8:30pm:
Or..............maybe it would be best in the dining room. The black will definitely work in here. Here is a night time picture, cause I'm usually at work during the day.

Again, please keep in mind these will look jet black once the liner is removed.

Your vote?

No too shabby crystal knobs...before & after

I finally had the time to go out and purchase knobs for my armoire. I skipped the usual Lowe's and Home Depot home improvement stores for something more unique. I stopped by Kirkland's hoping that they might have something that would fit with my decor because they're soooo inexpensive. But as usually is the case when I'm decorating for myself, I walked out empty-handed. No luck.

I'm very fortunate that just around the corner from good 'ol Kirkland's is an Anthropologie store. Now if you want unique, hip and quirky clothing and home decor items, this is a good place to stop. Never your run of the mill stuff, but never inexpensive. Now if I was looking for a bedspread, I would have to avoid Anthropologie like Chuck E. Cheese's, because my  pocketbook can't handle it not because of the chaos. But because all I'm looking for is a touch of whimsy I'm thinking I might just get away with this. Plus I had already done some homework online at http://www.anthropologie.com/, and found that this was looking promising.

I'm so excited I found my knobs. Check out the cuties up close.

Anthropologie Crystal Faceted Knobs

There was a plethora of beautiful, unique knob designs gorgeously displayed sitting atop small black pebbles in spinning displays. It was definitely difficult to choose just the right ones. I finally selected the one design I thought would look beautiful on my new craft armoire, picked up a total of 4 and proceeded to the checkout. There the sales girl goes to ring me up and says "all the same?" Oh my!! What a question. Well, yes. They're all the same I think to myself.  But I guess they don't have to be!! Aaaahhhh. I'm screaming inside to myself. Yet, another opportunity to get creative, whimsy and unique. "Yes", I reply to her. "But, I guess it would be nice to mix it up". And off I go to pick a different knob. At this point I'm thinking I need two for the top {taller} doors, and two for the bottom {shorter} doors. So while the knobs I already had at the register are tall, sort of an oblong-like shape, they would be perfect for the taller doors. But the shorter doors would now get a design that's more suited and in proportion to themselves. Kind of like when I'm shopping for clothes for myself, somewhat on the shorter end of the scale. And so after carefully spinning the displays around a few more times, I concluded that these round crystal knobs would be the right ones for shorter doors, yet complementing the longer knobs.

Anthropologie Crystal Faceted Knobs for Taller doors

Anthropologie Crystal Knobs for Shorter doors
Do you see anything, oh I don't know....different?

What a sense of excitement  and accomplishment I felt at that moment. So I paid for my selection and quickly made my way back home to "try them on". How I hoped these would be perfect for my armoire...and they were. A little classy, a little shabby...but, not too shabby, huh?

And now for the before and after..........drum roll, please............... tada!

The inside is also getting a makeover. Organization, bins, containers, pegs, etc. More on that when I get around to it. Stay tuned.

Note: As you can see from the knob picture above, there is a very slight difference between the two round knobs I picked up. One might even be a little pinkish. So I'll take these back for two more identical knobs when I get the time.

Craft armoire...and the shelves (and stuff) are in

So I haven't exactly be on hiatus over the weekend from my creative endeavors. Trust me, this armoire project is looming over my head and I just want to get 'er done. I had my niece and nephew over for the weekend in addition to my two kids (help!). And although I had all good intentions of making an arts & crafts hour (or two) to make Valentine's cards with them, that never quite happened. This is where having a nicely organized craft armoire where all my arts & crafts supplies are neatly organized into perfectly labeled containers <<insert girlie squeal here>> comes in. This weekend my precious tools were scattered around in my bedroom trying to hide behind my reading chair, under my bed and in every kinda concealed corner I could find. And then of course, there's the box that just couldn't be hidden, sitting right in front of my reading chair just waiting (for a year now) for a permanent home. No way, no now, could there be a successful, organized arts & crafts session with the kiddos. I really wanted them to take something away from their weekend with me and what better than their own homemade Valentine's cards.

The kids went home Sunday morning. And after working out for 2 1/2 hours, cooking mom's amazing tostadas (click here for recipe) and hanging out at my girlfriend's for 3 hours in the afternoon, I came home to "relax". And then I walked into my bedroom, where the beast, I mean the armoire, awaited empty and lonely to be covered up from it's nakedness (missing doors) and filled in with all things nice and pretty (arts & crafts supplies). And there I went again. I added the hinges, doors, shelves and put in place the art supplies in the bedroom. Aahhh. What a relief.

Take a look at 'er now.

Speaking of 'er...what shall I name 'er?

But, I'm not quite done yet. Still need to purchase new door knobs, extra plastic bins, and get all the supplies boxed up in the garage out to be sorted and stored into the armoire. I'm thinking vintage style glass drawer knobs like these to add a touch of whimsy. Or, I may just make a trip to Anthropologie to get a few of these cutie knobs, What do you think?

Then and only then, will this project be completely done. You can view the BEFORE picture and the painting process here.

Craft Armoire Inspiration Board

I've posted the paint chip I've selected to paint "the armoire" here.  But I wanted to share with you my inspiration. Do you see how much more practical this will be once I pimp my armoire with all these nooks and crannies, shelves and baskets, pegs and containers??? It will be so organized! And being that I'm a little on the OCD side, it's just what my little heart flutters for.
Check it out.

Craft Armoire Inspiration Board