Hello everyone, I’m just so glad it’s Friday!  Announcing the winner of last week’s Shutterfly Giveaway, here are the four winners:  #6 Barbara Brooks;  and #421 Sarah Davenport.  This past Monday evening, I was honored to attend a very cool event in New York City sponsored by Lowe’s, showcasing their line of Hi-Def paints in Valspar’s signature colors. The evening’s event began in this very cool downtown modern all white loft space brightened with splashes of Valspar paint samples all over the walls. We were invited to mix and mingle with the other 30 bloggers invited, and greeting us were new quarts of fresh paint and paintbrushes for the upcoming challenges.  To me, paint always represents new beginnings and the ability to reveal hidden potential in just about anything. The always inspirational Nate Berkus was our host, together with Lowe’s.  He spoke about the power of color, and how paint is simply the easiest way for anyone to transform their space into one they will love (so true!).

Nate spoke about the fact that whenever he seeks color inspiration, he turns to three sources: nature, fashion, and the exotic places he’s traveled.  Color inspiration is everywhere, if we open our eyes to witness it, study it, and use that inspiration in our own homes. Nate took a minute to chat, and snap a pic with me and blog buddy Melissa. Working with Valspar paints was great fun ~ give me a gallon of colorful paint and I’m a happy girl!  I’m a fan of Valspar having recently used this paint in my little boy’s room, and their Hi-Def is one of the few brands that covers in one coat. Melissa and I played along in one of the Lowe’s challenges, but we started early.  We were given 30 minutes to use the Valspar paints to turn a piece into something cool, so I opted for a two color chevron pattern.  While the others nibbled on the crudité, we sneaked over to the challenge and started on the first coat of paint! I painted the top and the door first, waited for it to dry, then taped the top off with painter’s tape and used a tip from this article for painting perfect stripes to get that exact chevron pattern on top by painting over the tape with the first color. 

Due to the time crunch, I didn’t think about painting the hinges, (duh) but both Melissa and Nate agreed the hinges definitely needed to be painted, so to save face, I had to go back and paint them *hanging head in shame*  The little cabinet turned out a little more funky than planned but at least I got that pattern straight!  Nate played judge and we won the ‘Creative Use of Color’ challenge! As a result, both Melissa and I snagged a $250 Gift Card to Lowe’s, and we’re passing it on to one of YOU!  Yep, I’m giving away my $250 gift card to Lowe’s and let me tell ya, it sure is burning a hole in my handbag. Eligibility to win the $250 Lowe’s Gift Card: 1) Leave a comment telling me what you’d do with a $250 gift card from Lowe’s. 2) For a second chance to win, link to this giveaway on either Facebook or Twitter, and leave a second comment telling where you linked (FB or Twitter). One winner, US and Canada only.  Giveaway ends Monday May 16th at 10 p.m. PST

Want another chance to win? Hop on over to the The Inspired Room to enter Melissa’s giveaway too! The event was fantastic opportunity to sample Valspar’s paints in their signature colors, and I’m so very grateful for the invitation! Thanks so much to Lowe’s for sponsoring this very fun gathering and to Nate, for always being such an inspirational designer and speaker! Good luck to you in the gift card giveaway . . . Wishing you a fantastic weekend!blackout curtains campervanI have been squirreled away down in my basement for several days, opening up boxes, purging junk, and finding new homes for all my craft/sewing stuff.  curtains and blinds clonmelI haven’t been able to find my interfacing for weeks, or my white felt, or ugggh…..my serger thread.  campbells curtains alva

So, I finally forced myself to actually open up and clean out the 11 or so boxes that were just sitting in my craft room.  They had all been opened and I was able to find a few things as I needed them………but I’ve felt suffocated in my craft room since we moved into our new home (well, rental home), 3 months ago. However, YAY, it’s all cleaned out. But something that I didn’t have…..but really wanted, was a craft table.  No, not just a regular ol’ table to sit at.  curtains and blinds leytonstoneI wanted something tall that I could walk around and not hunch over while cutting/gluing/designing.  magenta blackout curtainsAnd I wanted some storage.  waverly curtains lowesAnd a white surface.  lime green dupioni silk drapes

Oh, and by the way, I didn’t want to have to spend very much.  So, I looked online.  What I found (that filled all those requirements) was going to cost me between $500-$800.  Yeah, not in the budget.  However, I was willing to spend a little bit to make it work. So, I bought 2 cube shelves, a plain table top, and some legs.  And lucky me, they all fit together (almost) perfectly!!!!  (The table top is about 1/4 inch wider than the shelves…..but you can’t even tell.) And now I have my own little makeshift Craft Table. **The finished table ends up measuring about 38 inches tall and the table top space measures about 31 x 47 inches. It’s nice to have a tall/large place to cut fabric on, spread patterns out, or make paper crafts, etc. I can either walk around it while working on things, or pull up my counter height stool and have a seat.  **In case you’re wondering, I bought the chair here, and just re-covered the seat with a punch of yellow fabric. 

It’s the perfect height for my 38 inch high craft table.  Also, the baskets are from Ikea (I couldn’t find them online though). Want to know the price?  And where I got all the parts to my new craft table?  Considering I could only find something similar for about 3 times that total price.Here’s the tabletop, the shelves, and the legs.  The baskets are from Ikea too….but not online.  And remember, the legs are optional……and only necessary if you wanted to add a little height to the table. ***The link for the tabletop says $80 but that includes the frame. I’m pretty sure I paid $50 for the table top without the frame….but they don’t list that option online.  But you can for sure buy it separately at the store.  Also, the legs come in size 4 inch, 6 inch, and 8 inch.  I purchased 6 inch and they’re perfect. HOWEVER, if you don’t have an Ikea nearby……here’s something similar you could buy at Home Depot…..(or another home improvement type store in your area).

How about purchasing 2 of these cube storage shelves ($45 each) and this hollow door ($37).  And then just spray paint the door white if you want everything white.  By the way, this door is 36 inches wide and so are the shelves.  However, the door is 80 inches tall so your table will be bigger then the one I made above……but if you have more room for a larger table, this would be great.  Oh, and the table would end up being 37 inches tall…..so you wouldn’t need legs in case you were wanting them. Okay, first of all, remember, I’m 5’11”.  So I wanted my Craft Table extra tall….so I screwed some legs right into the bottom.  And that added another 6 inches.  But you shorty-pants can leave them off if you need to.  (And I only say “shorty pants” out of love…..because sometime I wish I could whack a good 6 inches off my height! ;) ) I also spray painted some baskets and slid those into each of those slots……but you could also do without and stack fabric in those slots, line up threads, pile up scrapbook paper, etc. 

OR, you could make your very own fabric baskets, using the tutorial here. Oh, and because we tend to move around (yeah, we’re still renting), I didn’t want to glue the table top on and then not be able to get this sucker apart and move it wherever we go from here.  So I made my table top removable. And that’s because I added sticky dots to the underside of the table top and matched them up with the top side of each shelf.  They are super sticky and haven’t given me any trouble.  I lean up against this table, move things around, bump the base, etc……and haven’t had any problems at all with shifting.  The table top never moves……unless I pull it straight up to separate the velcro.  Plus, it sure makes transporting this thing a lot easier. However, if you aren’t worried about transporting a craft table, glue it together.  With some super strong epoxy glue. Now, I have a little Craft Table in my craft room. So happy I didn’t fork over a fortune for some crummy one online.