My New Sewing Room!
May. 22nd, 2014 02:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elizabeth_mnFinally, my new sewing room is finished!
Shelves were hung up a couple days ago, and then it was just a matter of putting all the stuff back in!
Here's some of the step-by-step.
First things first, I moved everything out. I have an adjacent room to expand into when needed, and everything got dumped in there for the re-do process. This was tough because the library is a walk-through room and it was pretty cramped!
After a little waffling, I decided to scrape my popcorn ceiling. I don't regret that decision for a second! It is SO much nicer now.
After that, I painted the walls, then started moving stuff back in. Then my HB and I tackled the shelf brackets and cutting table. The two cube units are bolted together, then the table top is attached with L brackets. My HB masterminded this whole deal and did most of the labor, bless him.
I waited for a couple weeks for the paint to cure on the shelves (this felt like a hundred years) then they finally went up a couple days ago.
Here's the Before: my sewing room a year or two after we moved in here.
And a few years after that I upgraded my table and some storage, but kept everything else pretty much the same.
And now!
It's true my little room feels a bit smaller now, but it is so much more efficient, it's worth some loss of space. My little room has come a long way since we first moved into this house 8 years ago!
And now here are some details of the finished room!
Rule number one of small space organizing: Go Up. How did I ever live without shelves? And little spice shelves? The labels in the boxes I am still not sure about. I like them but they kind of annoy me, too.
Of course I had to have a fabric garland! It's hung up with Command hooks, thank you 3M.
I really wanted more photos of costume adventures in there to inspire me and remind me why I sew. Clockwise from top left: Dallas picnic 2011, Costume College 2013, regency party in Dallas 2014, and my wedding, 2006 (my backyard).
Here's the worktable for hand and machine sewing. The colorful rolling cart replaced my old white unit, which was cracked and taped back together in several places. The drawers on the old unit were also just too big to be useful for notions.
Everything for cutting fabric and making patterns right at my fingertips.
The dressform is tucked next to the filing cabinet and the bookshelf is just on the other side of the doorway. Now that books have moved out into the adjacent room, I don't have to worry about new books taking up notion space. Books are one area I will probably not downsize right now, nor am I on a sewing book diet. I have plenty of book space!
Two new task lamps were part of the scheme, one at the cutting table, one to the left of the work table. They are simple fixtures from Ikea that mount with either a clamp or a screwed down bar. Since I moved the machine to the south wall a few years ago, I have struggled with the loss of light. My body shadows both the light from the north window and the overhead fixture. So glad to have more light!
The wall-mounted speakers have been there for a while, but as part of this project I rewired one of the connections which came loose a few months ago. They connect to the main stereo in the living room. I love being able to hear music as I work.
The cubes are storing yarn, stuffing, and other bulky stuff. The bolts and tubes have interfacing, mock-up fabric, and basic fabrics like plain linens and white cotton.
Command hooks again! I have always been at a loss trying to store cutting mats and this is just ideal. You can also see the L-bracket setup on the cutting table.
Overall, I wanted a space that was functional, but pleasant to be in. I could have made it much more cutesy, like your stereotypical adorable Pinterest sewing room, with charming vintage cabinets and lots of handmade decor, but that's just a little too busy for me. I have enough decorative elements here for my taste, and the room still feels "blank" enough to create in.
It's so neat in here now that you can hardly tell how much stuff there is. I have so much storage space now, I don't even know what to do with it. I have actually brought craft stuff from closets elsewhere in the house back into the sewing room. It's definitely a goal to continue reducing the stuff in here. Possibly eliminate the big plastic 4-drawer unit eventually. Definitely eliminate one fabric tub.
There will probably be things I tweak here and there as I get used to the new setup; it’s hard to know the flow of a space until you have lived in it for a while. Right now, though, I think it's pretty wonderful! I have been spending a lot of time idly standing in my fresh new room, soaking in all the details, and just enjoying how nice it feels to be in there.
Shelves were hung up a couple days ago, and then it was just a matter of putting all the stuff back in!
Here's some of the step-by-step.
First things first, I moved everything out. I have an adjacent room to expand into when needed, and everything got dumped in there for the re-do process. This was tough because the library is a walk-through room and it was pretty cramped!
After a little waffling, I decided to scrape my popcorn ceiling. I don't regret that decision for a second! It is SO much nicer now.
After that, I painted the walls, then started moving stuff back in. Then my HB and I tackled the shelf brackets and cutting table. The two cube units are bolted together, then the table top is attached with L brackets. My HB masterminded this whole deal and did most of the labor, bless him.
I waited for a couple weeks for the paint to cure on the shelves (this felt like a hundred years) then they finally went up a couple days ago.
Here's the Before: my sewing room a year or two after we moved in here.
And a few years after that I upgraded my table and some storage, but kept everything else pretty much the same.
And now!
It's true my little room feels a bit smaller now, but it is so much more efficient, it's worth some loss of space. My little room has come a long way since we first moved into this house 8 years ago!
And now here are some details of the finished room!
Rule number one of small space organizing: Go Up. How did I ever live without shelves? And little spice shelves? The labels in the boxes I am still not sure about. I like them but they kind of annoy me, too.
Of course I had to have a fabric garland! It's hung up with Command hooks, thank you 3M.
I really wanted more photos of costume adventures in there to inspire me and remind me why I sew. Clockwise from top left: Dallas picnic 2011, Costume College 2013, regency party in Dallas 2014, and my wedding, 2006 (my backyard).
Here's the worktable for hand and machine sewing. The colorful rolling cart replaced my old white unit, which was cracked and taped back together in several places. The drawers on the old unit were also just too big to be useful for notions.
Everything for cutting fabric and making patterns right at my fingertips.
The dressform is tucked next to the filing cabinet and the bookshelf is just on the other side of the doorway. Now that books have moved out into the adjacent room, I don't have to worry about new books taking up notion space. Books are one area I will probably not downsize right now, nor am I on a sewing book diet. I have plenty of book space!
Two new task lamps were part of the scheme, one at the cutting table, one to the left of the work table. They are simple fixtures from Ikea that mount with either a clamp or a screwed down bar. Since I moved the machine to the south wall a few years ago, I have struggled with the loss of light. My body shadows both the light from the north window and the overhead fixture. So glad to have more light!
The wall-mounted speakers have been there for a while, but as part of this project I rewired one of the connections which came loose a few months ago. They connect to the main stereo in the living room. I love being able to hear music as I work.
The cubes are storing yarn, stuffing, and other bulky stuff. The bolts and tubes have interfacing, mock-up fabric, and basic fabrics like plain linens and white cotton.
Command hooks again! I have always been at a loss trying to store cutting mats and this is just ideal. You can also see the L-bracket setup on the cutting table.
Overall, I wanted a space that was functional, but pleasant to be in. I could have made it much more cutesy, like your stereotypical adorable Pinterest sewing room, with charming vintage cabinets and lots of handmade decor, but that's just a little too busy for me. I have enough decorative elements here for my taste, and the room still feels "blank" enough to create in.
It's so neat in here now that you can hardly tell how much stuff there is. I have so much storage space now, I don't even know what to do with it. I have actually brought craft stuff from closets elsewhere in the house back into the sewing room. It's definitely a goal to continue reducing the stuff in here. Possibly eliminate the big plastic 4-drawer unit eventually. Definitely eliminate one fabric tub.
There will probably be things I tweak here and there as I get used to the new setup; it’s hard to know the flow of a space until you have lived in it for a while. Right now, though, I think it's pretty wonderful! I have been spending a lot of time idly standing in my fresh new room, soaking in all the details, and just enjoying how nice it feels to be in there.
