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Hello all,

It feels like such a long time since I’ve been here and I guess in reality it has been over two months that I have been away. I have missed my little space on the Internet but rest assured I have been doing lots of upcycling and I am excited to share my new projects with you.

As you are well aware the name of this blog is Upcycle Design Lab and while I do have an actual crafting room, the “Lab” usually spreads out over the entire house, much to my hubby’s dismay, I might add. One of the problems with my craft room was that it never got refinished after a remodeling job we did in our basement and it still has the same carpet and wallpaper that it had when we moved in some 20 plus years ago. Subsequently, it turned into a storage space rather than a working space.

But I am happy to report that all of that is changing. During the last several weeks I have been working on many different projects to transform this space into an actual functioning craft room. Of course, the projects are made with, what else but recycled materials. Now, I can truly call it my “Upcycled Design Lab.” So, welcome to the first installment of my new series.

I have decided to call it, “Extreme Upcycling – Craft Room Makeover.”

During the next several weeks I will be sharing all the tutorials and tips to make the upcycled projects I used to transform my junkie craft room into a workspace that I love.

The first project, and the one that started it all is this ugly unfinished wall.

When I began this project I had no idea that I would be inspired to remodel the whole room. To be honest I thought this first project was going to be too time-consuming but once I gave myself permission to not post a project every week I decided to give it a try. Before I knew it, I started getting more and more ideas on how to convert my old room into a whole new space and ideas for more projects just kept streaming in and encouraging me to give myself the time I needed to make the things I wanted to make.

Before we get started on today’s project I am also resuming my book review of “The Artist Way” by Julia Cameron. Her book is about how to be more creative and she writes about the blocks we face in our creative lives and how to overcome them. It is full of ideas exercises and assignments to help enhance your own creative life. This week is Chapter 11 and next week will be the final chapter review. If you are struggling with the desire to be more creative or feel the desire to let yourself create but just haven’t figured out how to do it, I highly recommend picking up a copy of this book. Also if you would like to catch up on my mini review of each Chapter I will add links to the bottom of this post.

This weeks chapter title is Recovering a Sense of Autonomy. As with all of the Chapters Julia packs in a lot of information. For my purposes here, I have been selecting one small thing from each of the Chapters to focus my energy on. The quote that stood out for me from this chapter is.

“I need to create what wants to be created. I can not plan a career to unfold in a sensible direction dictated by cash flow and marketing strategies. “

This quote jumped out at me because it helps to validate my choice to take 10 weeks away from posting. If I had known when I skipped my first couple of weeks that I was actually going to give myself 10 weeks I think it would have terrified me. I have questioned my choice to take this time off fearing that I would lose the little bit of traction that my youtube channel and blog have been gaining. Every bit of advice about blogging includes the recommendation, dare I say it is almost a commandment, that you must post regularly and frequently if you want to grow your audience and subsequently your income.

None of the gurus of web fame who instruct others on how to grow a blog would recommend a ten-week hiatus. But somehow I knew that I couldn’t keep up my weekly posting schedule without some kind of break. I hope I will be back and stay on track now with regular weekly posts but only time will tell.

There is a simple truth about creativity, and that is, it makes its own time. There are things we can and should do to encourage and express our creativity but we can not force it into a rigid time table, and while I wish that I had been able to continue crafting and posting regularly over the past ten weeks I know that if I had, I would have been forcing it. I truly believe that I have better and more interesting projects to share with you because of my time away.

I guess you could say that in a way I was able to claim my autonomy from all those who say this is what you must do to be successful. They may be correct from a financial point, but for me, there is no point if I am not creating what I need to be creating. If I am forced into the drudgery of deadlines and schedules and producing mediocre work how can I call that success?

I realize that my creations are not mainstream home and garden projects and that they will have a very limited range of appeal. This fact actually makes it all the more important that they are a true reflection of me. We are all creative and our creativity with any luck will enrich the world in some small way but first, it must enrich our own lives.

As I write this I have a long way to go before the room is complete but I have finished several projects and have enough of a vision for the rest to feel confident that this will be some of my strongest work. I am already enjoying spending time in this space and as I look around at what I have finished so far I am pleased with the results.

I hope you enjoy my zany trashaholic room tour. So let’s get on with the cardboard wall. As I said before one of the walls in this room was missing the drywall. I honestly don’t know why my brain connects the things it does but, bear with me now because I am veering out on a tangent, or it would seem anyway.

We recently got two new puppies, bringing our dog total to 4 and our pet total to 6. We can debate the sanity of that choice at a later date. For the purposes of this post, the point is that due to this influx of four-legged furriness we also had an influx of more stuff ie; new kennels, puppy gates, more dog food, and even an additional TV, all of which came in very large cardboard boxes.

At some point and here is where I will lose most average people, but since you are here I assume you have at least a minimal interest in Upcycling, anyway as I was saying somewhere in the midst of all that cardboard I thought to myself. “Hey, I could finish my craft room wall with that.“

Of course, having lived with social norms for 50+ years I did at first question my idea. It’s one thing to make a holiday decoration out of toilet paper tubes and entirely another to finish a permanent wall in your home with what most would consider trash. But the idea persisted and no other quick and easy toilet paper tube craft projects presented themselves so I threw caution to the wind took what has turned into a much longer break than I ever intended and got to work making a wall out of cardboard.

Here are a the cliff notes. You can see the whole project in the video below.

The first step was to measure the wall and sketch out a basic design. I wanted to add some storage space rather than just having a solid wall so I added some shelves and some space for tin cans.

The next step was to cut all the cardboard pieces and test fit them to the wall. I used thumbtacks to hold them temporarily in place.

After all the pieces were cut came the tedious job of covering them with paper mache.

Once all the pieces were covered I used some roofing nails to attach them to the wall.

Here is what the wall looked like once all the pieces were nailed in place.

To finish off the wall I went back over the nail-heads and seams with more paper mache.

And the final step was to put the tin cans in place and stash some of my craft supplies in them.

Here is a look at the finished wall. Be sure to check back next week when I finish off this wall with more cardboard baseboard, door trim and switch plates.

Complete list of tools and supplies

• Corrugated Cardboard
• Book Paper
• Used Coffee Grounds
• Mod Podge
• Small Paint Brush
• Scissors
• Ruler
• Pencil/Pen
• Cutting Knife (or grapefruit knife)
• 1 1/4 inch Roofing Nails
• Hammer
• Hot Glue
• Gorilla Glue
• Thumbtacks
• Safety Can Opener
• Tin Cans
• Cardboard Cereal / Cracker Box

Here is the full video tutorial.

If you would like to get caught up on “The Artist Way” re-cap you can check out the following links below.

• Week One – Recovering a sense of Safety – (With upcycled pie tins made into a twisted valentine tree)
• Week Two – Recovering a sense of Identity – (With upcycled found objects candlesticks)
• Week Three – Recovering a sense of Power – (With my trashy St Patrick’s Day House Tour)
• Week Four – Recovering a sense of Integrity – (With St Patrick’s Day Plastic Bag Bouquet)
• Week Five – Recovering a sense of Possibility – (With St Patrick’s Day Mantel Display Part 1)
• Week Six – Recovering a sense of Abundance – (With St Patrick’s Day Mantel Nick Nack Crafts Part 2)
• Week Seven – Recovering a sense of Connection – (With Easter Bunny Garland and Paper Mache Eggs)
• Week Eight – Recovering a sense of Strength – (With Upcycled Easter Basket and Plastic Bag Chicks)
• Week Nine –Recovering a sense of Compassion – (With Upcycled Eggshell Easter Bunny Art)
• Week 10 – Recovering a sense of Self Protection – (With Upcycled Fence Post Easter Sign)

Thanks so much for stopping by and

Happy Upcycling,

Advertising Disclosure: Upcycle Design Lab may be compensated in exchange for featured placement of certain sponsored products and services, or your clicking on links posted on this website.