Ok....if I manage to wade my way through the WIPs I have going for gifts this holiday season my gift to myself....and from DH is to finally turn our smaller spare bedroom into a sweing/craft room. My whining and complaining finally convinced hubby that I needed my own space. Actually I think it was the late night pins in the foot from me sewing in our bedrrom that did the trick!! Regardless of the reason....I will actually have my own place to work now. Since I am on a limited buget I more concerned with function then decorating at this time. My biggest problem ....like everyone....is storage for my stash!! But any hints on "must haves" and "definately don't dos" would be great. I am so excited I have to force myself to work on things that need doing now rather then planning and arranging that room!! :-P

My budget is limited and those plastic drawers......the ones with 3 or 4 narrow drawers at the top and 3 to4 large drawers at the bottom are serving me well.....I have three of them. I store stash in the big drawers and notions in the narrow drawers......everything is at my fingertips and they are on rollers...

I got them at Walmart......about $15 to $20.

I prefer shelves myself. I have some tubs, but the one I want is always under another one. I would like shelves to put my tubs on.

I have a couple of bookcases (yep, cheapies from WalMart) to put some tubs on and to just stack fabrics on. I always keep my eyes open when I'm in a store like WalMart, K-Mart or Target for roll around storage or other pieces of furniture that would make good fabric storage. you can also get "cubes" at Home Depot or Lowes to stack that make good storage units

I have a bookcase with a countertop on it hooked to the wall, the bookcase serves double duty it holds my stash and holds up one end of the countertop. Check your local lumber company's bargain barn for bar tops, usually they are much cheaper there. I just set up my new room and it is so great to have a space of my own. Enjoy!

Someone on this board recently posted about her cutting table - It is a wooden door attached to the top of a dresser. So drawers for storage and a great cutting table too.

Make sure you don't scrimp on lighting tho.

i didn't do this and i still may. i'd like to get two (or as many as will fit) cheapo unfinished narrow matching dressers with drawers at the right height, and put my door-sized cutting board/ironing board right on the top. the dressers would support the board and provide tons of storage for things that i could actually find. maybe. or not. it would not be for large stash.
but it would hold patterns, embroidery thread, plastic zip lock bags, etc.
this time i would like them to match each other.

I keep my stash on a 5 shelf bookshelf and in the plastic drawers too. Now I'm overflowing onto the floor with piles of fabric everywhere and need to do some reorganizing myself. Just don't want to spend the time not quilting.

I had some of my stash on bookshelves, but had to give them up for the books. lol
Now I have some dressers and an armoir that my fabric is in.
One word to save you money...ok, 2 words. THRIFT STORE!!!
One of my dressers came from there. Is a nice sturdy 4 drawer and it was $20. You can also find book cases there for little money also. I would check those places out before going to Walmart, KMart or the like.

My husband built me ceiling to floor shelves on one wall. I bought plastic tubs from Wal-mart to keep projects in and put them on shelves. I also have built in cupboards to store fabric in but like the shelves better. Eaiser to see what I have and keep track of what I am working on because I never just work on one thing at a time.

that is a great idea to go to the thrift stores! I guess what I would say to think mobile. the rolling totes are great. I like those wardrobes you can buy, you can stash alot of material in there. Of course I prefer the antique ones. My sewing room is full of built in cabinets and counters from the previous owner who was a quilter. I would love to take the cabinets down and rearrange the room to my satisfaction, but dh would stoke out, still trying to get organized in there. When you built it yourself, you can really enjoy the process! What a wonderful new year project!

I have some plastic boxes from Walmart. They are clear so that you don't have to open them all each time you want something, and the size that I get is just about $5.50. You can stack them, and they each hold quite a bit of fabric. I also have several under the bed with things other than fabric. Gives me more space.

I have a hard plastic storage shelves/rack which I got at an estate auction for $5! So be sure to check out any auctions near you!

And Congratulations on your new room!!! :D :D

I appreciate everyone's suggestions.....I am so excited I can hardly wait until the New Year to get started. But I have several projects in the works that need to be done for the holidays so I am trying to stay focused!! I like the thrift shop idea and I think I will start looking there. I figure if I have everything gathered together as much as possible before I start it will make things that much easier. It's sorting through my stash that is going to be the biggest part of this. But I am looking forward to having everything in one place where I can just sit and work when I have the time rather then wasting it seaching and setting up.