My New Old Sewing Room

So I have big news - my house is under contract! This is a great thing in many ways, but the one bummer is that it means I will have to say goodbye to my lovely sewing room. I'll set up a new one wherever we move - don't worry about that - but this room is completely designed by me with the paint color and everything, so it really is my happy place. I've been planning on showing how I set it up ever since I moved back to my house in January, but I just hadn't taken the time to get pictures. The nice thing with moving back to a place you already had set up is that you technically know where everything goes. I posted a tour years ago, and it really changed a lot from that before I moved (mainly it was much more cluttered, lol). After having my Condo Sewing Room and changing a few things to accommodate that space, I made a few changes when I moved back to my original room - all for the better :) Now that I have to pack it all up again, I took pictures so we can all remember how cute and functional it was *sniff*, lol.

This is the main view of the room just after you walk in the door. The biggest and most obvious change I made from the previous set up was to put my cutting table in the middle of the room. When I first designed this room, I had the table against the wall where the ironing board is now, and it worked ok, but after having it the middle of the room at the condo I really enjoyed being able to walk completely around the table while cutting out a project. There are also new shelving units that previously weren't in this room. So let's spin around and see it all, shall we?

This is actually the view from the doorway. The plastic bag between the dresser and shelf is what I see immediately, lol. That's my scrap bag at the moment. I always have such a hard time storing scraps in a useful way (because I do use them) - any ideas there?

This angle is fairly similar to before. My étagère is in the same place and set up basically identically. I decided to move the dresser under the window instead of to the left of it like before.

This whole wall is a change and I really like it :) The only thing that was in the same place is that rack above the ironing board - which actually inspired this set up. When I moved out, I left that rack (it's an Ikea bar with hanging baskets for storage) because I never used it in my previous room. It was hard to reach since the table was there, so it mostly stayed empty or with superfluous things. Now it holds my pressing tools and it works perfectly for that. The book shelves are a carry over from my condo room and they are set up similarly.

This shelf has most of my sewing and knitting books, the rest being decoration here :) The bottom shelves have my elastics and some bins with other notions in them. I love having my little sheep and llama at easy viewing height along with some of my knitted animals. The tins and bags are all functional (the round tin by the sheep holds wonder clips, for example) and I keep some canned air to blow out my machine on occasion.

This shelf has my PDF patterns in file folders at easy reach. My sewing basket has things like bees wax and hand sewing needles - tiny things I may need to carry around. The lower shelves here hold bins with my zipper stash and bindings, etc.

And a closer look at my ironing station. I LOVE my gravity feed iron. My only niggle is that I wish I had a plug in the middle of the wall so the cord didn't drag the line down and get caught on my ironing board. Hopefully I will be changing my board soon, so maybe that won't be an issue later.

The closet (as always) holds my stash. This time around I housed my stash in Rubbermaid tubs. The idea was to go through all my fabric and only have 12 bins by the time we move again (plus the yarn bins - those are staying). We will see if that actually happens, lol. I just haven't had the gumption to go through all the fabric. I did enjoy having my fabric out on shelves better though - much easier to pull out random pieces and plan things. This way makes them much easier to move, but not so conducive for inspiration.

And a closer look at the étagère. I frequently have a movie playing in the background while working, so this little media section is essential. The boxes hold noisemakers for toys, my ~fancy~ patterns (printed/packaged Indie patterns, basically), and my watercolor supplies. I also always display some of my favorite toys I've made here :) The bottom cabinet has random things like my laminator and an old serger I've always planned on figuring out as well as my old sewing machine. The little shelf you can barely see holds a basket full of knitting needles (that I hardly ever use - maybe I will thin that out a bit) as well as printed out knitting patterns and notebooks with vintage patterns and whatnot.

The dresser holds my yarn winder, blocking pins, dpn sets, tape, ribbon and other trims, fold over elastic, animal eyes, bias tape maker machine, embroidery hoops, buttons, and much more. This thing helps lots of smaller boxes look tidy. The top drawer unit is one that I always plan on making more useful, but at the moment it mostly holds things I don't use except for hooks and eyes, lol. I've made it a goal to keep the top area neat since it always was covered with random piles before. I've kept to that pretty well in this sewing room. It does hold things like my cutting scraps and my pattern pieces while I'm in a project, but I make it a point to clean everything up after I finish each one. Much nicer :)

This area is another change that I love. This drawer unit holds so many small things: elastic, velcro, stay tape, turners, extra scissors, beads, snaps, Sizzix punches, and much much more. The teal tin on top is actually empty right now - I can't decide what to put in it! But it stabilizes the top of the drawers and keeps them from caving (they were old from a garage sale). I keep my dress form next to this area and I love that it's within easy access. Last time in this room it was in a corner and blocked by a chair, so this makes it much more useable.

The above area has turned into my planning display - which I plan on writing about later. It's been super useful and also cute to look at.

This is another new-to-this-room area. This wicker étagère has patterns at the bottom (and in boxes to the side) along with a few boxes of yarn, and bins with needle felting supplies and project bags. The flower hook is one I've had up for years but never figured out what to hang from it. It dawned on me to hang my rotary cutter and pattern weights and this was a fantastic idea. I love having them always easy to grab.

And my sewing desk - that poor little shelf is always filled with stuff, lol. But it's all useful stuff like my machine needles, magnetic pin plates, bobbin boxes, machine feet, and other things I need on hand while sewing. The cup on top holds all my friction pens, seam gauges, point turner, etc.

And my thread corner - the drawer unit is full of yarn. Also my trash can is nestled in there. I LOVE having my scissors at easy reach like this too - I will do that wherever I go for sure.

And back to my table. This magical table extends to double it's size. It's technically too short for me, but stacked on top of these two drawer units it becomes the perfect height for cutting. The drawers hold yarn, scales, and projects. My blocking mats and poster board for photos live between the units. And of course my rulers are on the sides.

So that's my room! It's very much a hodge-podge of things I've had forever or thrifted or customized, and I seriously love every bit of it. I love being in here. I spent a lot of time in the past week in my lovely room working because I knew it would be my last chance *sniff* and when my husband came in on Saturday, I was watching Some Like It Hot while sewing and he said, "This really is your happy place." And he was so right :) It's just the perfect hang out for me. The colors are my favorites, and I'm surrounded by things I made and love as well as all the implements for inspiration. It will really be hard to live up to this room again, but I certainly will try to get the same feel no matter where we go. Because I love being in here.

My Sewing Room - Banish the Beige!

 So, I moved last month (gasp!) which means I had to move my sewing room and start afresh. Before I delve into the big reveal though, let's all shed a quiet tear for the space I had to tear down: here. Man, I loved that room. I still love the wall color, but I digress. I'm renting my new space, so painting wasn't an option. I had to just stick with the awful beige and make the best of it. Here is what my new room looks like:

Not bad, eh? I can't help but feel happy when I go in here, and it's all mine :) I mean, I share with my dog and cat, but still. Personally I love stalking other people's sewing rooms to see how they organize things and all that, so I thought I'd do a detailed tour.

So, here's what you see when you stand in the doorway. My cutting table is in the middle of the room, and the walls are lined with shelves and other storage.

My cutting table is one of my favorite things in the space. This was my first kitchen table year ago, but when we got a bigger space we also got a bigger table, so I was quick to stake my claim on this one :) We bought this at Ikea preassembled in the As Is section (it was the display model). I haven't seen the table since so sadly I believe it may not be available anymore and I have no idea what it was called. The table is right at 1 yard square on the top, and the best part is that there are 2 hidden wings that you can pull out to extend the table on each side and double its length. This works fantastically for cutting things out and gives me all the space I need. I added some rod holders on one side to keep my medical exam paper within easy access for tracing. A friend of mine gave me 3 of these white closet organizer drawer units when she moved and they are the perfect height for me to raise up my table. I just have the table sitting on top of the units now, but it makes the table nice and tall (I'm 5'7") so it doesn't hurt my back to cut fabric anymore. The other side of the drawer units has all my rulers. I attached some mini Command hooks to the sides so all the rulers are an easy grab away. I also keep my blocking boards for knitting and my small cutting board in the space between the drawer units under the table. The drawers are also very useful - one holds my tracing paper and tacking tools, another has WIPs in bags, and another is full or crocheted stuffed animals I made a long time ago but don't have space to display while the other 3 drawers all hold yarn. The table really does so much more than a table needs to, and I love it for that.

Storage wide, the first thing you see when you come in is my big étagère in the corner. This was a big painting project of mine years back (see post here) for my other sewing room, and it fits really well in my new space as well - yay! This holds some of my favorite knitting books as well as some of my favorite knitted and crocheted animals. I love how the animals add fun pops of color. This also always holds my tv and bluray player (eventually it will hold the cable box, but my cord isn't quite long enough at the moment). The bottom cabinet holds my old sewing machine and other random tools and such. Also, you can see my yarn swift on the floor - it usually lives in the corner but I hadn't noticed that it fell over before the picture, Oops.

To the right I have a little drawer unit stack filled with tools. I got these drawers at a yard sale for $5 and they're a great size. The drawers are organized as: glues and magnets; stay tapes and fusible notions; snaps, grommets, setting tools, etc; shoulder pads, pocket lining, velcro, elastic, belting, etc; extra scissors and seam rippers; my Sizzix Paddle Punch set. My tower fan is an absolute must since I'm always hot, and the stand up lamp is just the $10 one from Ikea with 2 lights.

My dresser was another piece I painted (posted here) and it holds more notions and tools. The drawers are: knitting needle sets, crochet hook sets, clear tape, and washi tape; yarn winder, post its, ric rac, etc; button stash (shown in above photo); decorative trims and elastics, extra pins; fold over elastic, animal eyes, sewing machine feet; bias tape maker machine and tips, embroidery hoops, heat set crystals and tool. There are other random things mixed in, but that's the gist of it.

The wall above is pretty fun too :) I have my neutral colored threads, a shelf with hanging bins (that I still haven't put anything in, lol), a bulletin board, some paper flowers, a faux milk glass dish, and art work. I also hang my rotary cutter on the shelf because it's really convenient. The little art work is all meaningful to me - the pin cushion one at the top is actually a card my husband gave me, and the kitty with the diamond ring is a postcard I bought at Epcot in Japan when I was a teenager (and I still had it!). The canvas is a photo I took with my Holga back when I was obsessed with weird film photography and then I did an inkjet transfer onto this canvas. I still haven't decided where to hang it, so it's just sitting on the dresser right now. I also splurged a few months ago on a Capri Blue Volcano candle so now my sewing room smells like Anthropologie on command :) The cup on the desk holds my pencils and colored pens for tracing as well as a loop turner, chop stick, and bodkin.

The cork board was given to me by a friend and most of my pins are actual lapel pine or costume jewelry earrings I thought were neat but can't wear. The clock one is actually a button cover, but I hot glued a pin to the back :) And you can see the magnetic Crazy Cat Lady on the desk in this photo. She's fun to stack with her little cats when I want a change, lol.

This is the other side of my sewing room. My dress form hangs out in front of my book shelves, but she rolls easily. Usually my ironing board is set up in front of the book shelves as well (I put it up to look fancy, lol).

Keep going to the right and you see the other big shelf unit. There shelves were in my office at my house before I moved, but since my new place only has 2 rooms these needed a new occupation. And who doesn't need move shelving in a sewing room, I ask you?! The pink bins on the bottom of the shelf hold bins with embroidery/cross stitch supplies and thrifted sweaters I plan to unravel. The shelf above those with all the boxes have elastic, ribbon, old wooden thread spools, fat quarters, and my bead box from my pre-teen days (my friend and I used to sell beaded bracelet and I still have a fancy sticker on the box with our prices #entrepreneur). The bottom of the other shelf has by clear bag full of yarn for when I want to work on crochet or knitted animals that take multiple colors as well as my distilled water for my iron. The shelf above that holds my tatting bag (maybe I'll actually figure that out one day, lol, I had high hopes at one time) as well as some knitting projects in bags.

The top shelves I used more for decorative purposes :) I do have various craft books (sewing, knitting, crochet, embroidery, etc) as well as my Eucalan and Soak washes, a darning tool, my clothing shaver, and little bits and bobs, but I love being able to see my fox, tree, and Well Dressed Pig as I iron, lol. The two sheep are some thrift store finds that I couldn't resist. I am a knitter, after all.

The other shelf has some white baskets I use to hold small knitting WIPs. Below that is a shelf with my PDF patterns (which I keep in file folders) as well as a yarn holder and my basket of pressing tools (the hams are in there, you just can't see them). Below that is my sewing basket with all my little tools and hand sewing needles (typical basket stuff) and my iron and spray starch. And on top of the shelves I have some pretty sewing baskets I just really like and a fancy wig box - because. And my letter M that I spray painted years ago sits here too. It used to hang on the wall, but that thing is a beast to hang (there are 2 holes on the back, but they are not level plus it's really heavy so it needs anchors, ugh). It's cute up there though, so I'm not worried about it :)

Next is my desk area. I deliberately put the desk here because I found I was a little paranoid with my back to the door all the time in my old sewing room. At least now I can greet Gordo and Daisy as they come to visit (my dog and cat). The desk used to be a boring computer desk, and was actually my first custom painting project - I even stenciled it (posted here). The desktop itself holds my sewing machine (a Singer Quantum Stylist 9960) and my Ott Lite (because I'm getting old). The little shelf in the corner keeps my bobbins (in plastic cases), extra machine needles, and manuals at easy access. On the shelf I keep a mug with pens, seam rippers, chop sticks, seam gauges, and more. My magnetic pen plate and wrist pin cushion also live here near my note pad so I can quickly take notes as I'm sewing or weighing out yarn. The milk glass lamp is the real deal and it still works! I was given a matching set and I just love them in my sewing space. Above the desk I have a magnetic strip from Ikea to hold my scissors (clearly organized by type so I don't accidentally grab my sewing scissors for paper).

And now is a good time to show some art work :) Back over by the TV is this awesome electric sewing machine ad from a ladies' magazine from 1919 I picked up at an estate sale. The frame was thrifted and I painted it white. The Simplicity posted came from Simplicity a few years ago and I just really love the design. Back over by my desk I have my Pretty Little Paris cross stitch that my sister gave me for my birthday last year. Aren't the colors fun?! And above the desk itself are my colored threads and serger threads as well as these really cool Marie Antoinette postcards from Versailles that I picked up on Yerdle (posted here) and the frame they are in is one I've had for over 10 years that I just spray painted the same coral as my desk. I also spray painted those thread racks.

Back over to the other side of the room, there's another little storage area. The shelf holds my dtraight knitting needles and circulars (inside the basket) plus my sewing machine bank (it's a bank!) and some animals. The shelves hold a basket with project bags in it (what can I say, I really like project bags, lol) and folders and magazine holders filled with knitting patterns, craftsy patterns and class materials, etc. The drawer unit is the same as the ones under my table and it is full of yarn. The mini drawer unit has things like buckles, snaps, and other random little items (I really need to go through this again and get rid of things. One drawer has feathers in it?) My other milk glass lamp is on top of these to spread the light evenly since this room has no ceiling light fixture.

I'm pretty proud of my little mini curtain above the window too. Since the place has vertical blinds, there is a matching "valance" at the top, but those are just so unbearably boring. I had this cute coral eyelet that I salvaged from an old bed skirt that a friend gave me a long time ago and it's a great match to bring the coral color to this side of the room. I just measured it out and cut it, then folded the edges over twice and top stitched around the edges. I made a little dart for the corners et voilà! I know it's a crappy picture, but it's just enough to make me happy :)

The other wall has a huge closet, but that can be kind of boring just left on its own. I had collected quite a few vintage doilies from thrift stores just because I liked them, but I ever did anything with them. They are really perfect to go above the closet! Now I can enjoy these old pieces of crochet every day. The mirror is kind of a funny story. I knew I needed a full length mirror in the room, so I deliberately left this space next to the closet empty and planned to buy a mirror when I could spare the $8 later on. That same night I was walking my dog around the complex and what did I find in the trash alcove? A perfectly fine full length mirror! It's like a little gift from the sewing gods to reward my hanging everything up that night, ha ha. 

The closet itself holds ... my fabric stash! You knew it was hiding around in here somewhere, right? A good friend of mine gave me two huge Ikea shelf units she used as a desk like a year and a half ago, and they fit perfectly in a standard closet, but this closet is more like a 1.5 length closet than a double even though it has 2 sets of doors. This measn one of the doors cuts the shelf unit in half, which can be pretty annoying. When I want to search through that side, I ususally take the doors off. Also these shelves fill the entire area, which means these shelves have another layer behind what you see (don't judge). I try to keep the shelves organized by fabric type, and I must confess I heavily neatened things up before taking this photo, lol. On top of the fabric I have buckets with yarn (I organize by type and size) as well as ... more fabric! I use the shelf in the top of the closet to hols my buckets of zippers and interfacing as well as some Craftsy boxes with yarn and fabric in them. The other side of the closet has boxes of thrifted clothing to refashion and a little more fabric, lol. It's everywhere! At least it can be nicely tucked into the closet and close the door. 

The only area that is not really "maximized" is the space between the étagère and the drawer unit under the window. I used to keep my patterns in a large filing cabinet at my house, but even there I couldn't fit it into my actual sewing room. So when I moved and couldn't fit it in the new room either, I wasn't too broken up about it. At the moment, my patterns are all just in paper shopping bags as they wait for a solution. There are also two boxes of yarn and a serger I need to get a part for. I'm hoping to figure out some type of shelf unit or something that they will all fit in. We shall see.

So that's my sewing room :) It's always a work in progress, but I'm pretty happy with the current iteration. If you have any questions, please leave a comment!

Sewing Room Revamp - Tour My Space

I've been toying with the idea of changing things around in my sewing room for quite a while now. I liked it before, but it was just feeling too crammed. I originally had my desk situated so that my back was to the wall - I know it seems silly, but this was so that I could monitor the door, lol. I don't like to be snuck up on. The problem became that with the table where it needed to be, I had to kind of scooch in and around the desk edge to sit down, also things tend to get piled around the desk area as I'm working on them, so i could be pretty awkward to move around. One thing I have learned about myself is that if there is any type of obstacle to me getting where I need to be, I will avoid tasks that require me to be there. I need things to be easy and carefree. I know it makes me seem lazy, but it is what it is. If there is any awkwardness or when things are too cluttered and junky, I kind of shut down and all productivity goes out the window. That would defeat the whole purpose of this room as its only purpose is to be productive, so I knew it was time for some changes.

I know these aren't great photos - I could've sworn I had a photo of the previous layout on my blog already, but it turns out this was the only one I have that isn't a close up of a specific detail. Never assume :)  And I had to use my phone today for the "after" shot and the light was really messing with the iso. Anyway, I know it's hard to convey that I made lots of changes since the "before" photo is from right after I moved in, but trust me when I say it's an incredible difference when you've experienced being in it before and after. The biggest change you can see in these photos is the orientation of the desk. I finally gave in and turned my desk around. I liked being able to see the rest of the room, but this is SO much easier to move from station to station in the room. I think of it like how they tell you to plan your kitchen - you want an unobstructed triangle of space connecting your work areas so that it's easy to go from place to place. Before I would have to sidle around the desk to get to the ironing board or the table, now it's a straight shot to either - super easy!

Another long-time-coming change is that I finally raised up my table! I always knew I wanted it higher, but I could never figure out a good looking way that would raise it up enough. This change is actually what inspired me to make all the other changes - this whole redo was pretty out of the blue, lol, I just finally felt like making it happen. I was give 3 of these white drawer units by a friend when she moved months ago. I had 2 of them already in the room (one is in the closet) and I used them to store my yarn, so yesterday I brought the third one in to raise the table. The table is expandable, so it has a 5 inch area under the top for all the mechanisms. By just setting the edge that supports the mechanisms on top of the drawers, this raised the table up 10 inches! And so far this seems like the perfect height. It hits me right above my natural waist, so I don't have to hunch way over to cut things out. The weird thing is that when I stand next to the table, I feel ridiculously tall just because the table is up so high. I'm only 5'7", so I'm not all that tall, but this seems a really good height - also since it feels so tall I doubt I would be as likely to just toss stuff on top of it like I used to. I can now stand upright and work at this table which is so awesome. I've already used it :) I did also pull the table out from the wall to clear the area under that basket of tools - it worked ok though because now I can put my wheelie cart and my cardboard cutting surface out of the way but still easily accessible. I also filled the new drawer unit, lol. The bottom is stuffed full (literally) of my finished amigurumi - shamefully they used to live in a large plastic bag under the table, so it's much better this way. The middle drawer is my sewing WIPS and the top drawer has drafting materials (like tracing kits and whatnot). I also have plans to add a removable bar in between the table legs to hold my roll of drafting paper (this is currently in the works, I just have to get the dowel rod cut). I even have space to store my cardboard for photography and my cutting mat in between the drawer units :) I seriously am thrilled with just this one change so much that it wouldn't matter if the rest of the room was changed yet.

Moving around the room, I made a little ironing board station. The ironing board has always been in this corner, but I hadn't wrangled all the other pressing tools together before (they used to be on the shelf unit by the closet across the room - no good). This metal shelf thing is something I got from another friend who moved and it was sitting empty in a different room - perfect opportunity to use it :) Now I have the iron, starch, water, hams and press cloths all contained. Now my husband doesn't have to toss my hams on my desk when he needs to iron his uniform. The basket under the board is all items that need mending and I figure this can just be a regular fixture as well to keep them all contained. 

Keeping with the organizational theme, I had a large stack of patterns and books from all my thrifting adventures over the past few months that had no home. Once I moved the table out from the wall, I had the perfect amount of room for this little bookcase. I got 2 of these cheapy bookshelves on the side of the road (my neighbor threw them out!) back when we moved - one is holding my cookbooks in our den, but this one has been holding random things in the garage while I decided on its in-house use. It worked perfect here! The pink bins were also free (given to me by a friend), and one has all my embroidery floss and supplies while the other has a few sweaters that are waiting to be unraveled. The shelf top is also perfect for holding other organizers. The middle pic is on the other side of the room next to the ironing board. The steam press is on what used to be a shoe rack - I took the cloth dividers out and I will add wood to make real shelves - and the basket inside it is things I want to alter. The plastic drawer units were a yard sale score - all of them for $2 months ago. I had to clean them and they are older so they are made of slightly harder plastic then is used now, but they are a great size for holding all my sewing tools and notions. I have the drawers all divided and organized so I can go right to what I need. I hope to find nice labels soon to make it even easier :) And the final shot is a close up of the ironing station. I used the lower shelves to hold things I had no place for - like my yarn winder and my box of animal eyes. The shelves are also the perfect width to hold 2 of my WIP project baskets. I snagged these in the dollar spot at Target a while back and they are a great size to keep all my in progress animals together - no more misplacing body parts :)

I couldn't get a good head-on pic of my desk due to the window back lighting, but here is a shot to give you an idea. I thought of a different lamp to use while I was writing this post, so it will change soon, lol, but you get the idea. To the left of the desk is the trash can so I can just swipe threads off at random, and next to that is a tower fan - the ceiling fan groans something awful in this room so I never turn it on. Maybe I'll finally try to fix that...

And with all my organizational changes I decided to finally hang up a few things I've had waiting. My mom got me that mirrored scroll square for Christmas (!) and I only just hung it up - you can't rush, lol. And the little frame is a really cute postcard I bought at Epcot in the Japan store when I was probably 15 - again, you can't rush. I think it looks perfect here, so I'm glad I saved it :) I also re-distributed my books on that little shelf unit. I rearranged/de-junked my étagère. I pulled out Norman, The Giant Squid for a little time in the sunlight. He is still one of my favorite animals, so I'm happy to see him now. And Soepkip is chilling next to The Stylish Nadine and her wig collection, lol. My amigurumi books have spilled over onto the top shelf and the black floral boxes have rattles, squeakers and jinglers (the small one) as well as my fancy/more expensive sewing patterns like Colette and Sewaholic (the bigger one). Also, I finally hung up my inkjet transfer above my thread racks. I made this back when I did experimental photography big time and I just always liked how it came out. It's a photo of a flowering plant taken with a Holga camera, then inkjet transferred onto canvas. The transferring blurred the lines even more than they already were from the original shot, but something about the color combo and composition I have just always liked. I guess since it's "art" I don't have to be able to say why I like it, lol, I just do. Now i get to see it everyday :)

Here's a close up of the Japanese post card - isn't it cute?! I came across it in a box of stuff I've had since I was a kid and the colors worked perfect for this room. I even had this empty frame that it fit in - talk about meant to be :) So now I have a little nod to my day job in my room that still "goes".

Well, I hope you've enjoyed this little tour of my sewing room :) I will admit that there is another wall you haven't seen at all - it's still pretty junked up, lol. I have a large stack of boxes in front of the closet with random supplies and fabric that I haven't found homes for yet. I'm working on it though. I have so much fabric that I will be doing a bit of a purge soon - I'll post here with the link in case anyone would be interested whenever that happens.

I am ridiculously happy with how this room is coming out, and I've already made more plans for its future. One of these days I will make valance boxes over the windows, finish painting the dresser and mirror (it will hold fabric), and hang some shelves and more artwork. It's coming right along though :) And happily I've had most everything I need on hand for the changes I've made, so I don't even have to spend any money. Even with all the things that still need to be done, this is still the most finished room in our house - what does that say about my priorities, lol. I just know I love being in here now, and I really can't wait to really test the configuration and get sewing!

Weekend Update: Organization

I've been slowly but surely buying more organization tools for around the house, but didn't get a chance to do anything with them until this past weekend. We went to Ikea on my birthday specifically to get another Kilby Bookcase for our office. It's the cheapest one they have, but we already had 3 so we just decided to go with it and get another of the same. Finally I could make that side of the room match the other! 

This wasn't just a put-it-together-and-put-it-in-its-place type job. After building the bookcase, I screwed it to the one we already had (it's on the other side so it's not so visible) - I had to do this with the others since they were leaning away from each other over time. Also, since they are on a carpeted floor (unlike the tile that they were on in our old condo), so they really like to lean forward away from the wall. To fix this, I mounted little L brackets at the top and bottom and screwed them into the wall. These babies ain't goin' no where :) I'm really pleased with how they came out now that they are all attached - it gives the look of a built in shelf. And look at how much more book storage space we get!

Another thing I've been meaning to do for months is to change out the plugs in the room. The whole house has almond colored sockets and face plates which not only look old and dirty, but also the color really doesn't match our general color scheme. So we have been changing them out little by little. We changed a few a while back that big furniture would be covering (our big shelf unit and bookcases on the other side of the room), but before I could mount these new bookcases to this side I needed to change out that socket you see by the floor. It's still usable even with that bookcase and doesn't it look nice?! It didn't have a face plate before, so it really looks good now :) I guess you have to have lived with them looking nasty to really appreciate this change. So once I got the socket changed and the bookcase in, I decided to keep my momentum going and change out all the sockets in the sewing room too! Here's an example of what they looked like before:

Yuck, right? So I went around the room and changed out all 4 plugs and 2 switches - all by myself! I watched my husband to the others we did before and I knew I would be able to do it. It's surprising how easy they are to change out if you have the right tools. One of the switches was even hard wired so I had to actual cut the wire and re-strip it to change it out. Seriously, you should never pay an electrician to do this. It was very easy. I was able to complete all 6 in the sewing room in about an hour. There is still an ugly old phone jack, but I didn't have a white replacement yet. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I tackle that one too :) I didn't take any close up pictures of the finished sockets, but you can see them in the pictures coming up.

While I was in the sewing room, I installed a few more organization items. We picked up another fun item at Ikea the other day - the Fintorp Magnetic Knife Rack. I knew it would be handy for my sewing scissors. I mounted it just behind my desk so they are always within easy access and I don't have to open my sewing box to get them like I did before.

Take a closer look! lol I did a little embellishing with a few things that have been sitting around. The owl magnets at the ends were actually from the birthday card my husband gave me. The other two items are actually buttons! The little round owl is from FreshStitches and then the other is my favorite Grumpy Cat meme - Le Miserable. lol. I found that in this Etsy shop - these are handmade custom buttons and they are seriously so fun :) I just had to buy the Grumpy Cat one when I saw it. Now it's decorating my room!

The card from my husband has 3 owl magnets, so for now the littlest one is on my letter M. And look at that nice light switch!

And I hung up my newest ruler :) And the other light switch!

After all my DIY-ing, I had to go to Hobby Lobby to get some things for my teaching foray tomorrow (I'll report on that in a few days), and of course I can't go into that store without getting something for myself. Among the other items I bought (it may or may not be more yarn - no comment), I was struck with genius when I saw these little containers.

These embroidery thread organizers were only $1.99 each. With all the sewing machine feet I already had plus the ones I just got for my birthday, I needed something to organize them better. They have been in a baggy since I got the machine and I had to pour out the whole bag and sift through to find the one I need. Now, they are all separated and I can see them at a glance :) I even kept like feet together (i.e. zipper feet in the same slot, etc.) I think I will eventually label them too so I don't have to consult the manual to identify which one is which all the time. It may seem silly, but I just love to look at how organized it is now!

Also, I found a use for the little pink box I painted :) It now holds my animal eyes! They too have been sitting in a bag and I had to dump them all out to find the right size - now they are organized by the size so I can get to them easier.

I also designated a box for all my new noise maker toy inserts - yes, those are cat toys! lol I plan on trying them in an animal soon to see how they work out. The others are all the ones Justin got me for my birthday.

And just for the heck of it, here is a picture of where my new butterfly hangs out in my sewing room :) 

It's definitely coming along! I love each new thing that goes up on the wall and I no joke just sit and look around the room sometimes :) I'm a big nerd.