Our 1970s house has three bedrooms – one small, two tiny. I had always intended to turn one of the tiny rooms into a craft room to do all the messy things I normally hog the dining table for. But embarrassingly, it just sort of became a junk room, a dumping ground – my Monica’s closet. Finally I decided enough was enough and with advice from my interior designer friend Nelly Reffet of Twinkle and Whistle gave it a shoestring budget makeover, using mostly pieces of furniture I already owned or secondhand items picked up from markets.

Nelly suggested painting the walls Dulux Vivid White to give the room a fresh, clean look and to move my IKEA Expedit into the craft room for storage. I swapped the blinds with white linen IKEA curtains and painted the cupboard doors in Dulux Tea Party in half-strength and washi-taped the light switch plate just for fun. The desk is an inexpensive IKEA one, the cane chair was $10 from a secondhand market, the ikat cushion from Society6, the vintage tea chest from Gumtree, the vintage sugar canister was $3 from a secondhand market and is my wastepaper bin. All the boxes, old drawers and cane baskets were picked up for a few dollars each from secondhand markets. The little bookcase was $20 from a market. The wire basket holding wrapping paper was an inexpensive buy from Target. I have gone from hating this room and being embarrassed about it to loving it! It's a small room, but perfect for a little craft room or studio space and it's a lovely part of the house to spend time in.