I get to set up my new sewing room very soon!
I've been having trouble deciding whether to get all new, fancy sewing room furniture (Arrow, Horn of American, Koala, Kangaroo, and a couple of other companies offer some pretty elaborate setups). I couldn't find anything that really looked like I would use all the features (they are bulky, and they are VERY expensive). I almost wanted kitchen cabinets instead. I've seen some people use Ikea kitchen base cabinets for storage. I even have cabinets from the kitchen remodel that I could use. The shape of the room reminds me of Martha Stewart's sewing room, even down to the dormer windows. And I am a big fan of the green.
You can tour the room on this page:
MARTHA'S CRAFTS ROOM
And, you can even buy furniture like what is shown, in that wonderful green!
But, I don't do the kind of crafting that requires drawer after drawer of paper, glitter, or other little objects. The only thing I feel I am lacking is an extended flat sewing surface, and I think we can engineer a regular table so that my machine can be dropped in (I'll lift it out when I want to access the free arm).
My most important consideration is to keep my fabric hoard clutter out of my sight, because all that fabric makes me feel guilty (I haven't had much of a sewing life for about 8 years, and it's funny, the less time I had to sew, the more fabric I collected...gave me a sense that I would come through, somehow). I used to have 3 commercial/re-purposed sets of chests of drawers with 4 drawers each. The thing is, I have so much fabric that the drawers became very heavy, and they were probably not made for that much weight. They collapsed downward, leaving me only access to the top ones unless I wanted to haul out, unpack, and repack every time I wanted to find something. So, I did the thing that I dreaded...I transferred everything to 16 big plastic tubs. Sigh. I was able to keep them out of sight in my long basement cedar closet, but like I said, no sewing life for a few years anyway. As I saw the light at the end of the tunnel, my hoarding tapered off.
Hubs decided that the thing to do was to finish off a space under the eaves, and give me two access doors (because the space is long and narrow), lights and everything! The whole thing is finished with plywood which is spray painted white. So it's kind of like a dedicated fabric attic. It's a brilliant solution that has my friends busy hiring handy men to do the same thing...thanks hubby!
Yesterday was the big moving day, so my antique sewing machine (gg grandmother Elsie Hill's) and a few other items that I hadn't moved previously made it to their new room. I have my old library table with its single drawer, where I keep my bobbins, tape measure, shears, seam ripper, etc. There's a shelf on the bottom where my pattern pieces can rest while I still need to consult them. The machine goes on top. My office desk goes in there, too, as does a reclining chair that I will use for knitting and hand sewing. The big cutting table that I thought I wanted for the center of the room....I don't know. I really want something I can access from at least three sides, if not four, so I'm considering a movable top (maybe two pieces of plywood) that can rest with the desk on one end and the library table on the other. I do also have a drop leaf table. That way I wouldn't have to have a permanent big hulking piece of furniture...unless I decide to become a quilter of course!
