'Sew' Spoiled!

Let me just start this post by saying: my husband rocks!  For my birthday, (which was actually about six weeks ago, but the summer has gotten away from me) he spoiled me rotten by making me a sewing/craft table.  Not just any ho-hum little table.  A real project table like I have been coveting from Pottery Barn  and some of other lovely DIY blogs and websites that I stalk.  I have been dreaming of using my fabric stash for sewing and quilting projects for some time now.  Unfortunately, the reality of having to set everything up each time I get a creative moment and spending hours with an aching back from bending over a folding table left me doing a whole lot of dreaming and not quite as much doing. 

I found several tutorials online using a hollow door and two cheap bookshelves.  That didn't seem too hard.  So my wonderful husband agreed to put one together for my birthday.  He figured it wouldn't take more than a weekend right?  :) 

Before:
We have a large guest room downstairs that never gets used, so it has become the craft room.  Have no fear friends and family, we still have plenty of room for you if you come to visit! 

During:
We already had one Closet Maid cubeical, so we decided to just get a second one to use for the base.  I picked out a lovely shade of cream called 'artist canvas' (Behr paint) and we were good to go.  I'm sure my husband would have preferred for me to opt for plain white paint and white shelves (or go for a two-tone table as our original cubeical was dark).  But, I could picture it in my mind already, and 'artist canvas' was going to go on all of it.  Sorry dear.  Needless to say it took more than a weekend.  ;)

Here is the table top in painting progress (and the original color of our cube storage).

And here is the finished product:

We added wainscoting to the back for more stability (and because it just looks better).  The original cubes came with impractical pieces of cardboard that don't even cover the whole back.  It took a lot (a LOT!) of sanding and priming time to get the paint to adhere to the cubeicals.  Not a huge surprise being that we were working with the fake stuff, but something to be aware of if you ever try something similar.

It is a counter height table, which saves my back from having to hunch over my cutting mat every time I need to cut out a new project.  I'm now on the lookout for some bar height chairs so the kids and I can do other projects together here.  I'm still working on filling all those cubes with my sewing and craft items.  I certainly have plenty to fill it with, but I'm trying to find creative ways to organize it all.

I really need to give a big THANK YOU to my husband for this amazing gift.  I would normally have done a lot of the painting on a project like this since my husband hates - and I mean HATES - to paint!  But I was on  'light duty' at the time due to doctor's orders so he graciously sacrificed several weekends to get this done for me.  I feel so blessed...and maybe a little spoiled too! 

I'll be posting about baby again soon, so follow my blog to stay tuned.  Just a couple more weeks until we know if we're having a boy or a girl!