MY NEW "SEWING AREA"

As I started to put this post together I realized I took NO before pictures, so it is going to be kind of hard to visualize all the changes, lol.  Soo me.  You'd think after 5 years of blogging I would have down the way this works, but I guess not.  So guess I will just have to do my best to explain it, and you will have to use your imaginations.  I will start with where my sewing cabinet is kept.  Before mom moved into our house a couple of years ago I kept it in the spare room.  I HATED it there...lol.  There was never enough light no matter what I did, and I was confined to a pretty small area as I also kept a queen sized bed in there for company and grandkid sleep overs, and toys for them, and just extra junk, plus it's a pretty small room as well. Basically it was a room that was already full to the brim and I stuck a sewing machine cabinet in a small corner of it. When mom moved in I took EVERYTHING out (getting rid of some things and rearranging others) and the sewing cabinet got moved to our everyday eating area under the window.  There was not a lot of "extra" room in this area either, but at least I could see when I sewed now.  After mom passed away the room went back to some of it's original things, but I had no desire to put my sewing cabinet back into that dark room.  Sooo now we are to what I had.  A sewing cabinet (which broke a while back if you recall so it no longer goes up and down.  Not that I put it away much anyway, but I certainly would have when the babies were here last week if I could have) and a table and 4 chairs, a buffet (that I love) and two bar stools which also backed into the area.  It also had two chairs to the back of it which faced into our family room area.  It was a cute little room when the sewing cabinet wasn't in it, but looked odd with it in there, but hey, it is what it is.  I had put the leaf in the table making a LARGE area for me to use for cutting fabric, storing things etc. etc.  But truthfully despite my best efforts, it was frequently just a mess.  Or the table was anyway. And with the leaf in the table and all those chairs etc., there was little to no extra room to walk around etc. Oh, I forgot to mention that the whole area is ceramic tile, and I had a really pretty, round rug under the table area as well which looked nice but was usually covered in threads from sewing. I had wheeled in a couple of storage bins to hold extra gear I needed and used, and had my embroidery attachment and embroidery threads stored in plastic bins sitting on a chair.  I was beginning to feel really confined in there, and I know I have complained more then once about sitting on a hard kitchen chair to sew.  But I also knew there wasn't really room for a larger more comfortable chair like the one I had at my old house.  The dresser in my mom's old room stores all of my fabric stash, and it was full to the brim with extra stacks in the closet.  Sooo now you know all of my dilemmas.  Soo after MUCH thought I came up with a way to move things around, create MUCH more space, and spend little money!  Here is what I did....I started by moving ALL of the chairs from the kitchen table and the two bar stools, to our closets. Hubby and I pretty much NEVER sit at the table to eat anyway. We fix our plates and move to the family room to eat., or we sit in our recliner chairs in the living room.  If we have company for dinner (which isn't often) we can simply eat in the formal dining area.  And if my kids and grandkids are here I will simply move all the chairs back out there to accommodate everyone.  But truthfully 99% of the time, they are chairs serving very little purpose, so out they went.  Thankfully I have almost a room sized closet in our bedroom and a pretty big one in the other bedroom as well, so there was plenty of room to store them in.  Then, I took one of the chairs facing towards the family room (which is directly connected to the everyday eating room if you haven't figured out yet, lol) and moved it AND the rug to our living room area.  Then, I took the buffet out and moved it to where there was a book case in the family room, and took all of the books out of it (which I do want to keep and haven't totally decided what to do about that yet, but for now are also stored in boxes in our closet...I told you it's huge!) and moved it into the sewing area to hold fabric and large rulers, squares and the like where the buffet used to be....WHEW....have I lost you?  lol.   Then (now here is the exciting part!) I bought a new sewing chair! A big, rolling, comfortable, adjustable, NICE chair which should be super nice to sit in for a few hours every day and sew.  I was practically giddy.  We bought it at Ikea, and my hubby put it together for me pretty late Sat. night.  We also moved an extra lamp beside the sewing cabinet, and put higher watt bulbs in the over head light to create more light.  I have to keep the blinds partially closed, or closed all the way in the summer time in the morning time as otherwise the sun beats through way too much. The extra lighting will help alot. I rarely sew at night after hubby is home. I was able to move the table out quite a bit now and center it more in the center of the room giving me lots of chair rolling space between the table and the sewing cabinet.  The floor should be a quick sweep at the end of the day to collect threads and dust from the fabrics.  I spent this morning sifting through fabric in the dresser and closet and moved out to the book cabinet all I am most likely to use.  The rest fits easily into the dresser now, and I folded it neatly in there and shut the drawers easily.  I still have a few drawers with patterns and other things in it I still need to go through, but I am close.  Let me show you now that I have probably lost most of you with this description, lol

HERE IS MY AREA....I AM STANDING AT THE EDGE OF THE ROOM IN OUR FAMILY ROOM FOR THIS PIC.  OH, I BOUGHT A NEW TRASH CAN TOO, LOL. I WAS USING A SACK WHICH NEVER WORKED VERY WELL.  SOO MUCH TRASH WITH SEWING. THE BAR STOOLS USED TO BE ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TRASH CAN, AND THE PINK CHAIR USED TO BE FLIPPED THE OTHER WAY FACING THE FAMILY ROOM AND ON THE OTHER SIDE.  THIS GIVES ME ANOTHER SPOT TO SIT AND HAND SEW OR VISIT WITH DIANE (SHOULD SHE BE HERE TO SEW TOO, LOL)  PLUS, WHEN MY KIDS ARE HERE I WILL SIMPLY SPIN IT AROUND AND IT CREATES MORE SITTING ROOM IN THE FAMILY ROOM

ANOTHER ANGLE...I KEEP THE QUILT MY MOTHER MADE ME ON MY 50TH BIRTHDAY OVER THE PINK CHAIR.  SHE WOULD HAVE LOVED TO SIT THERE AND WATCH ME SEW, BUT I WON'T THINK ABOUT THAT RIGHT NOW...

YOU CAN SEE THE LIGHT THAT FLOODS THE ROOM WHEN I OPEN THE BLINDS HERE, BUT MEANWHILE THE LIGHTING IS GOOD WITH THESE LAMPS TOO.  I HAVE RIGGED UP AN IRONING AREA NEXT TO MY MACHINE SO I DON'T HAVE TO GET UP AND DOWN FOR EVERY LITTLE SEAM THAT NEEDS PRESSING.  BUT WHEN I NEED TO REALLY IRON SOMETHING I SIT UP THE IRONING BOARD OF COURSE WHICH IS IN THE UTILITY ROOM

VIEW FROM THE KITCHEN LOOKING IN.  EVENTUALLY I WANT TO REPLACE THE BOOKCASE AND THE ROLLING DRAWERS WITH A BIGGER, MUCH NICER STORAGE CONTAINER, BUT FOR NOW THIS HOLDS MY THINGS AND SERVES IT''S PURPOSE.  THE FAN THERE ON THE ROLLING CONTAINERS HITS ME RIGHT IN THE HEAD WHEN I SEW, LOL.  I AM ALWAYS HOT.  AS I LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, I AM NOT REALLY HAPPY WITH THIS LOOK.  I HAVE ANOTHER IDEA OF WHAT I CAN DO TO CHANGE THIS UP WHICH REQUIRES NO MONEY EITHER, BUT DOES REQUIRE HUBBY TO MOVE SOME MORE FURNITURE...I WILL RUN IT BY HIM TONIGHT AND SEE WHAT HE THINKS.  SO STAYED TUNED, THIS LITTLE PART "MAY" CHANGE AGAIN, LOL

A SMALL PORTION OF MY STASH...PROBABLY A WAY TO DISPLAY IT NICER, BUT FOR NOW I AM EXCITED I CAN EVEN SEE IT.  

ALL OF THESE LITTLE SEWING MICE FIGURINES BELONGED TO MY MOM WHO COLLECTED THEM.  THEY ARE PERFECT HERE AND I AM GLAD I FINALLY HAVE A SPOT FOR THEM!

MY WONDEROUS NEW CHAIR!!  ISN'T IT PRETTY?  AND SOO COMFY TOO. AND SEE HOW I CAN SPIN FROM SEWING CABINET TO TABLE WITHOUT EVEN GETTING UP NOW? HAVEN'T USED IT YET, BUT I KNOW I AM GOING TO LOVE IT!

YOU CAN KIND OF SEE BEHIND EACH OF THESE DOORS OF THIS CABINET I HAVE MORE ROLLING BINS THAT HOLD MY PATTERNS, EMBROIDERY ATTACHMENTS, EMBROIDERY THREADS AND CONTAINERS OF STABILIZERS ETC.  AND THEN THE DOOR HOLDS SEVERAL SELECTIONS OF REGULAR THREADS.  I USE A NEUTRAL COLOR FOR MOST EVERYTHING I SEW, BUT I DO USE THESE OCCASIONALLY.  

OUR HUGE ENTERTAINMENT CABINET IS THE PIECE BEHIND THE PINK CHAIR THERE

AND HERE'S THE NEW SPOT FOR THE BUFFET.  IT USUALLY HOLDS WINE FOR HUBBY, BUT IT IS EMPTY RIGHT NOW, LOL  THE OTHER SIDE HOLDS GLASSES. ETC.  THIS NOW FACES OUR FAMILY ROOM, AND THE KITCHEN IS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WALL. 

AND HERE IS THE NEW LOOK IN THE LIVING ROOM.  THE FLOWER ROCKER OVER IN THE CORNER IS THE CHAIR I MOVED OUT.  AND THEN I SLID THE COUCH DOWN CLOSER TO THE FIRE PLACE AND MOVED THE OTHER RECLINER UP TO THE TOP.  THE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS MY "PERCH" (AS MY KIDS CALL IT) AS THAT IS WHERE I SIT TO BLOG (I AM IN IT RIGHT NOW!) AND DO MY BIBLE STUDY, READ, CHAT ON THE PHONE, AND VISIT WITH HUBBY OR FAMILY OR FRIENDS.  GUESS IT IS "MY" PERCH, LOL.  THE RUG GOES IN HERE PERFECTLY WITH MY COLORS AND I LIKE THE HOMEY WAY IT LOOKS.  THERE IS A HUGE RECTANGULAR ONE IN THE FAMILY ROOM WHICH MATCHES, BUT THAT ROOM HAS CERAMIC TILE, NOT CARPET.

ANOTHER ANGLE.  3 BIG WINDOWS ACROSS THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE AND ROOM LET IN SOO MUCH LIGHT, AND THIS COUCH MAKES INTO A QUEEN SIZED BED FOR COMPANY OR GRANDKIDS AS WELL

AND THE VIEW FROM MY PERCH.  EVEN THOUGH I HAD TO MOVE THE PIANO DOWN SOME TO ACCOMMODATE THE ROCKER, I WAS ABLE TO MOVE A LAMP AND TWIST IT A CERTAIN WAY WHICH ELIMINATED HAVING TO CHANGE THE PICTURES OVER THE PIANO.  WE HAD TO CHANGE THEM SOME OVER THE BUFFET.

Well there you have it.  Many changes, LOTS more room, and all for the price of a new sewing chair, oh, and lots of muscle work from my wonderful hubby!  Hope you are all having a good week!  Blessings, Debbie   I am anxious to sew today!