A Sewing Room Journey

It's time! Yep... I'm finally at the point that I can start thinking about revamping my sewing room. As you know, last April was a horrendous time for us up here in New England and for me, a sad time as my basement was flooded and I had to say goodbye to my cute little hiding place. I'd like to invite you to come along with me on a journey to reclaim this room as my little bit of heaven. Someplace that I can pretend, at any time of the year, that it is sunny and warm.

This was once my little playroom... a place where I could turn on my favorite tunes, relax and pretend like I was in Maui (my collection of sarongs to remind me) and let the creative ideas flow. It's sad to think it is no longer but what is even sadder is the fact that my little Brat cat is no longer with me to keep me company.

This is what a portion of our basement looked like while all the jack hammering was going on to install a new pump system ... they had to do this all around the inside of the basement - can you say messy!!! Well at least the flood waters cleaned the floors!

And here is where I am at today. The walls and floors have been repaired and the cabinets hug. I'm finally nearing the time to "Move back home!" I'm so happy that I've got my cork floors back - yea! (They are the best thing for an aching back) And Rob, well he is so happy that the end is in sight... he'll no longer have to look at my piles and piles of fabric in the dining room. Poor guy, you know how many times he's been dressed for work only to find bit of my left over threads hanging off his pants?!!

For the past couple of weeks my head has been spinning with a million ideas. I really miss my old sewing room but this time around I want to take full advantage of every single inch of real estate that I have in this little 11x13 room.

I have spent a couple weeks measuring, searching out various sewing room ideas and have finally come up with a room plan that I think will work for my needs. A cutting/ ironing station, plenty of drawers/storage for both my CQ fabrics and cottons, storage for all my FQ's, laces, beads, threads and trims. I even found an extra 6" of space between my desk and vintage cabinet to hide my cutting mats, large rulers and small ironing board so they are out of the way. One thing that I really wanted was enough room to set up a 4ft folding table to use when I dye laces - got it now! Now I can finally get all of my CQ goodies out of my upstairs office and in one place. I'll now use my upstairs office for my computer needs, regular quilting/art books & magazines and a work station for my Etsy shop. You can bet I'll be getting plenty of exercise over the next 2-3 weeks going up and down the stairs.

For the most part I am going to try and recyle anything that I feel I can use to make my room more CQ efficient. My only new installment (so far) has been this new wire basket storage bin which I will use to store my CQ fabrics and FQ's. This unit was a Christmas present from my darlin hubby... he even put them together for me this morning. I bought them at Ikea (LOVE that store!) ... would you believe the wire baskets only cost $2.50 each and each one holds 168 FQ's!!! I bought 3 separate units - the whole unit together only cost $111 and consists of : 3 tops, 3 frames and 18 wire baskets... I'd say that was a pretty good deal!

These cabinets units were saved (sooo happy!) and were bought at Home Depot for around $135 each. They hold tons of fabric BUT... if you buy them be sure to rebrace the shelves with brackets - ask me how I know to do this!!! Crash! All the shelves came down from the weight of the fabrics and I had to pull everything out and then reload... not fun! They are worth every penny spent as they are deep and hold a ton!

I'm still compiling a list of ideas to make it easy for me to have all my CQ goodies right at hand so if anyone has an idea to share please let me know. I have a few items that I will be making over the next week or so and will share step by steps as to how and why I am making them. My first project, once I get the rest of my shelving up. is to make a chalk board or drywall board by having hubby cut a piece of wood to fit an old wooden frame I have. Home Depot has some black paint that you can make a chalk board out of and I've just been told they also have one the make a white board... but I really don't need to do both... hmmm, wonder which one would be better? I'll be hanging this on a door that I can't block as it has our heating tank behind it... also I will be making a roll up design board to hang off of a curtain rod I already have mounted above the door..... certainly don't want to waste an inch of space!

Please stop by again to watch my progress and if you have an idea you want to share, please do. It just might be something I could use to make better use of my space.