When we decided that we were finally going to undertake our loft conversion early last year, and that there was going to be a little room re-jugging within the Freeman household (us in the new loft room, S to have our old room), I couldn’t help but get excited about what we might do with Sasha’s old space, the classic, ‘small 3rd bedroom’ in a house. 

Adam and I wondered whether to make it into a little guest bedroom-come-work-space, but whilst there would be room for a single bed, there wouldn’t be that much room for much else. We do have people to stay sometimes, and give them our room whilst we sleep on a double blow up bed, but to be honest we don’t have many people crash at ours on their own, so the propect of having a single bed would actually be a little wasted. A day bed could have been an idea, a place to come and sit and read and relax, but we tend to either do that in bed or in the living room, especially whilst the children are young and seem to want and need us a lot more. 

What I was really hankering after, as wanky and pretentious as it might sound, was a ‘creative space’. Somewhere for me (or Adam if he’s at home) to work without distraction (Fridge, I’m looking at YOU), and a place to house all of our photos, grown up craft materials i.e sewing machine (when I say ‘our’, I obviously mean ‘mine’ when it comes to the latter 🙂 ), paperwork, stationery and photo props. A little oasis that is purely for grown ups, in a house that is fighting a constant battle with small children’s toys/craft bits/clothes/scraps of paper. 

First off, once the main loft room was completed, we had a friend of ours in to paint over Sasha’s old wallpaper in pure white, and give the floorboards a fresh coat of paint (these were already white). I knew I wanted a large, white desk, with plenty of room to use my laptop on and really spread out, as well as somewhere that had plenty of space for craft activities. So we hotfooted it to our local Ikea, who as usual, didn’t disappoint. 

For our desk, we chose an ALEX desk, as I liked the size, the simple design, and the fact there are two decent sized drawers underneath. Here I store my address book, paper and envelopes, washi tape (for now), blue tack, and a few other bits and bobs. 

To go next to the desk, we decided on an Ikea ALEX Drawer Unit with 9 drawers. Here, I house the following: Greetings cards and invitations, Christmas cards and stationery, wrapping tape/bows/ribbon, photos that need framing or putting in albums, tissue paper, party bits and bobs i.e. decorations, photo props, and finally, sewing materials. 

(PS how cute is the pin tin above? It’s actually a vintage 1950s ‘Hollands Toffee’ tin, and was my late nan’s, and is a proper vintage treasure- goodness knows how old it is. I love it!)

The yellow, Eames-inspired chair is from a brilliant Ebay store, and a bargain at £25.99! I mentioned previously that I’d possibly like to buy more of these for the kitchen later this year, as they are surprisingly comfy (I thought I might need a cushion on top, but the desk height works well with it). 

So far, I have a lot to do decor-wise, but I think I know what I want. Bright prints and picture are on the cards for the walls, and I’m considering running a little shelf around the room, just below the picture rail, in order to display the vintage crockery that I sell in my little store. 

I’ve added a plant that was actually in our living room previously…

…and I love these battery powered multi-coloured lights from TIGER, that do give a little much-needed pop of colour among the white. 

The large, sturdy paper bag holds on my rolls of wrapping paper (something I’ve always found is a pain to store, and I think this is the ideal solution!). I bought this from another Etsy store ‘Tellkiddo’, and I’m already eyeing up other things they have! 

I also have 9 glass bottles that my friend lent me for our wedding on the window sil, complete with candles in, but I’m not sure if these will stay long term.

To store our gift bags, I decided to use one of the personalised crates that we had at our wedding, and it fits them all perfectly. Sasha has the other one in her room, and stores books in it.

So, there we have it, the beginning of a creative space and home office.

I’ve decided that since I do use this room so much now, it really is my priority to get it finished, and I can’t wait to crack on and show you the end result! 

What do you think? Do you have a favourite spot in your home for work/crafts/blogging?