Looking for advice on organizing/packing up a sewing room before showing house
 

Hi fellow quilters,
We are planning to put our house on the market in April. My DH is mostly retired now and has been packing things up and sorting through things. I know my room will need to be show-able, which it definitely isn't right now. Should I bite the bullet and just start packing stuff? I really, really would prefer to be able to sew but I haven't had much time to at all (last year of teaching,too, and have a few challenges at work and a classroom to go through by midJune).I do enjoy handwork and knitting and have been knitting a lot which is very relaxing. I'm starting to think that I should just start bite the bullet and pack up while I'm not under the gun. DH is very organized and a planner. I tend to be more last minute.
Any helpful advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
lots2do

To make a house more appealing is to make it look as roomy as possible. If it were me, I'd bite the bullet and pack everything neatly in marked boxes and put into storage. Remove any clutter and make it very bright and roomy for a better sale. Maybe keep some hand work aside like your knitting and keep in a tidy spot. Good luck on selling your home. Something I wish I could do. Downsizing has been on my mind but with Dh being a fly fisherman who makes his own flys etc., it is out of the question for now.

April seems like a long way off, but it isn't. Packing up takes a lot of time. Are you going to down-size? If you are, then now is the time to start packing and purging. Especially if you are going to be packing up a classroom that's a lot of stress too. My daughter had to pack up her classroom to move to another school - it took hours (days) with the 2 of us working on it.

It is great that you like hand work and knitting to fill the void. But I doubt there will be much void once you start the process. Also, it won't hurt to leave open a machine to do some work if you become so inclined. Not knowing your sewing room, it took me a couple weeks to go thru my stash and put it on comic book boards and then organize the fabric.

If you start now you won't be totally stressed and can make decisions a bit easier.

I might suggest putting together a quilt kit. The fabric and tools for a simple quilt can go into a box or bin and leave out your sewing machine like quiltingcandy suggested. One sewing machine and one box won't look cluttered.

I left my room "as is" until it needed to be packed. I knew I was not leaving one single sewing item behind so I didn't have any purging to do.

My realtor thought it looked like a hobby room and said that potential buyers would recognize it as that also. It was messy as usual but I was able to be in there until the very last day which helped with my stress levels. Buyers could see enough of the room to see its walls, floor, closet, windows, etc..

So, if you have a dedicated hobby room I wouldn't worry too much about clutter. If the rest of your house is "show ready" then a lived in hobby room should be fine.

I think I would go ahead and pack everything but one project. Keep your hand work and knitting out. That way if you get the heebie jeebies you can go in and sew for a bit

this is what i did w our last job change move. we were going to be living in an apartment while i house hunted. so i packed a small box of quilt, knitting etc, had one of his job freebies, a big leather satchel woth lots of pockets that i put all my tools in --cutters, rulers, graph paper etc. it worked perfectly --when i wasn't out on the road looking at property :o

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. I do need to sort and purge somewhat since the room has become a dumping zone. I will be downsizing and snow birding between two places that will each have a dedicated sewing/storage place for my stuff so I can divide my things but that will happen over the summer. I've decided to switch my immediate efforts to the small loft in our upstairs hallway. There's a long bookcase there that would be very helpful while I sort and pack. Plus it will look a lot better which will help DH know that progress is being made. He is supposed to visit our son this coming weekend so I'll have time to work on it.
I hope my realtor is as understanding about hobby rooms. We will wait and see! I am going to need to budget my time to get both spaces ship shape. No one is taking my teaching position since we'll be going from three classes next year to two but I'll still need to box things up.
Thanks again! If anyone thinks of anything else, please do chime in!

I would pack it up. Packing always seems to take longer than you think. It's a great time to purge out any fabrics and craft items you won't use. It will also make your house look bigger to have items cleared away. Good luck with your selling of your house.