Crafty Cottage Update! A Year After Building My Craft Room

It's been more than a year since we renovated a small prebuilt shed and turned it into a craft room so I could quilt and film videos without interruption. A year later, I can say the Crafty Cottage was one of the best investments I've ever made in my life! Here's a little update video so you can see how this crafty space is working now:

How We Heated the Cottage

One of the main questions I've received about the craft room is how we heated and cooled the shed during the winter and summer. The first thing to understand is we live in North Carolina, which definitely gets muggy, but isn't known for wild extremes in temperature. In the winter we may have a day or two that gets down to 18 degrees F, and in the summer it will reach 99 degrees F.

So I didn't have to plan for extreme temperatures for my shed, but I did want to keep the space comfortable. In the winter I used a small electric space heater which I would roll out in the middle of the open space and turn on for about an hour. Because we super insulated the shed while we were renovating it, it heats up REALLY fast!

I found this winter that even on the coldest days I only need to click on the heater for around 45 minutes. After that, the space would actually become uncomfortably hot and stuffy and I'd have to open the window.

I also used a dehumidifier, which pulls water out of the air. The nice thing about the dehumidifier is it also seemed to heat the space by pulling the cooler, wet air out of the shed. I would often set the dehumidifier to click on whenever the humidity reached 45%, it would run automatically overnight and the next morning the shed would still be warm and cozy.

Cooling the Craft Room in the Summer

We do tend to get some muggy, humid weather in the summer and that does make the Crafty Cottage uncomfortable. We have an air conditioning unit installed in the wall and I'll often turn it on for an hour before heading out to film.

Again, it's easy to over do the temperature change and often I'll walk into the cottage wishing I had a coat. It gets really cold really fast, but unlike the winter, it doesn't seem to maintain that temperature for very long. Within an hour or two, I'll need to turn the AC back on and cool the room again.

Was the Investment Worth It?

Absolutely! Having this space to work quietly without interruption has been absolutely worth the investment. We've been able to film more videos, create new quilting workshops, and be all around more productive and happy now that I have this special space of my own.

Learn more about the Crafty Cottage and see every step of the construction process: