How To Create A {Budget} Craft Room

And I don't mean "budget" like they do on magazine covers and TV shows or even (say it ain't so!) design blogs. That budget word is thrown around way too much. I realize it literally means that you only have so much money to spend, but by that definition, isn't everybody on a budget? Who has UNLIMITED resources? Even somebody who has $10,000 to spend is still working with a "budget," no?
But I digress.
Suffice it to say, that's not the situation here.
Nope.
I'm looking at an empty space that I wanna turn into a place to play/use/store my junk, but I don't have any money to do it with. I guess that means technically I have NO budget. Crap. So I can either:
* wait years until I save up enough money to "do it right" with cabinets and countertops and the perfect lighting sconces and cute matching storage bins
OR
* go through my stuff and figure out what I could live without
*actually list said stuff online instead of just letting it sit in a pile. For three weeks.
*take that money ($75 when all was said and done - I'M RICH!) and check Craigslist all summer until I had what I needed.....or close enough
*take that close enough stuff and make it work
Guess which option I chose.

Black paint from the garage = Free

Dresser = $25

There was obviously doors in front of these little drawers at some point, and even after a coat of paint, they still looked a little odd. Not odd like interesting, more like,"Hey, shouldn't there be doors there?" So to make them hold their own (get it? drawer? hold? furniture humor...) they each got a number.

Pie safe thing: $25

A coat of paint evens out the mismatched shelves, and now my oppressed hall closet is freed from random pieces of fabric.

Drawer from the alley = Free

Desk = $20 Just a little cream paint and then a bit o' distressing on the bottom. I left the top alone - sanded marks, gouges and all - so I don't have to worry about messing it up. Neat and careful aren't my thing. El Lampo = $5

White Board from the kids room = Free

This guy's finish was so old (dry erase markers + scratchy surface = no bueno) that aside from being a great magnetic board, he didn't have anything else going for him. Nothing that some primer and two coats of chalkboard paint can't fix.

(Constant recognition - is this a need of all middle children or just mine?)

And I can still hang up things that I love.

Old crate from work turned ribbon storage= Free

A piece of something from the thrift store that nobody wanted (because what the heck is it?)= $2.42

I just flipped that top crossbar thing to the back, screwed it into the wall,

and now it's sturdy enough to corral wrapping paper.

Here's what we got when we moved in.

Here it is now.