.....but it works - I built my new work area for £28!
My original plan was to refit and decorate my scraproom. There are holes in the walls from re-wiring and new pipe work for the central heating and I have no flooring, just a painted concrete floor. I planned to empty the whole lot to storage while the room was replastered and decorated with tiles on the floor. I wanted Ikea white furniture with organiser drawers. Total cost - about £1000 to £1500.
We have some major work still to do and then we may move to a bigger house with more land. In which case this room would have to be converted back to a dining room for viewing and all of the new fittings would have to be taken out. Until I know what's happening I am stuck.
I am lucky to have this space and I never notice the shabby walls when I come in, I just appreciate the fact that I have a home for my stash and a table to work on where I don't have to tidy away every day.
So I needed some more storage and a work top for my computer and tools. I went through the Ikea catalogue for cheap options but even petrol money for the 90 mile round trip is expensive. So I planned to buy a kitchen worktop and those steel legs from B&Q (only 7 miles away) and a wall cupboard from Ikea. Those legs are £20 each and I needed 6 of them! Worktops were priced from £40. Still too expensive, especially as it is only a temporary fix until we have decided what to do.
Enter a very kind B&Q employee with loads of knowledge and a very helpful nature, he was brilliant. He showed me some trestle legs at £9.98 a set and a piece of MDF for £13.98. He cut it to size and then asked if I wanted the cut off piece, I declined, knowing we have so much building stuff around the house we didn't need more clutter. He asked me if I wanted him to cut it up to make pieces for a shelf. He worked out the size, cut the pieces and told me how to make it. I bought some no nails glue for £4 and stuck it all together. I was going to screw it but it is so sturdy I don't need to. Alex had some cheap shelving in his old room and I was going to throw it away but luckily left it until the gales had passed, I cut them in half and put them underneath to store boxes full of finished work, stuff to alter and my sewing machine. The edge of the MDF was making my wrists sore when I typed so I glued a strip of plastic pipe to the edge for comfort! I will buy a roll of fablon for the work surface to make it so that I can wipe it clean.
The green storage is from Dunelm Mill, £15 for a 4 drawer unit and it takes 12" paper! The little spice jars were 49p each from Dunelm, they are great for embellishments. I still have a 6' table to scrap on but now it has nothing on it at all - just loads of space to create
Still loads of sorting to do but I am very pleased with my budget workspace:)
LOL at your computer desktop/wallpaper! :D
How cool to have 6' of space to work on and everything shelved around it. And hurrah for B&Q employees who are helpful and know what they're talking about. :)
Posted by: Heather | January 20, 2007 at 01:23 PM
Love it girlie
CJx
Posted by: Cheryl Johnson | January 20, 2007 at 02:20 PM
It turned out marvelous! you did a great job putting it together...and I love your MAC!
Posted by: Traci | January 20, 2007 at 11:06 PM
Well Done! It looks fab - I love the challenge and sometimes think it really gets your creative brain going trying to work out how you get everything you want on a limited budget etc... That is what I had to do with the Craft Cabin! You should feel very proud of yourself. PS you could paint your surface in emulsion and then varnish over the top to make a washable surface; if you have any lying around that is!
Posted by: Traci C | January 20, 2007 at 11:43 PM
looks stunning!! looking forward to seeing what you create with this new space :)
Posted by: anam_kihaku | January 20, 2007 at 11:57 PM