Re-Doing Sewing Room
 

We are taking the desks out of the sewing room and my Dh is putting up countertops for me on 2 walls. Anyway my question is this, What kind of storage do you recommend, I would like to put it under the counter tops except where our computers are and we will be sitting. The countertops will be L shaped, I will be putting my embroidery machine and cricket and one day a serger on it. I have my sewing machine in a table that I am keeping. I would like some drawers and some shelves just don't know what to get. Oh yes also has to be cheap!

Verna2197

A lot of people have used Ikea for storage...shelves - cabinets - just look thru their site...you can get ideas...also look on craigslist when you know what you want.

I would look at all the pictures posted in the Mission organization section on here. There are some great sewing rooms...also look on pinterest!

Ikea has some inexpensive drawer units in both metal and wood. Wish I had an Ikea close to me. I bought some wooden drawers at a little store called Alco and they're okay. Not as nice as Ikea stuff.

once again, IKEA comes to the rescue!! If you collect fat quarters as I do, look at IKEA's cd storage towers - perfect size!! Also, check out their kitchen and office space online. You will go crazy with ideas!! I hope you have a store close by as they have some pretty hefty shipping charges!!

OR thrift stores!

Here, the Habitat for Humanity often has matched dressers from hotels that are changing over their furniture. I've often seen some that would be make perfect for sewing room re-do's, whether against a wall, or in the centre put together for an island.

Just be sure you get your counter top at the right height for the different usages you want.

I have a countertop in my sewing room and we bought unfinished pieces with 3 drawers each and I painted those to match the cupboards I have above the countertop. We bought the drawer cabinets at a cheaper furniture outlet.

awesome Ideals everyone, no Ikea store close by, I go to the goodwill everytime I go into town. Have looked at unfinished kitchen cabinets but for some reason they just are not grabbing at my. That just doesn't seem to be the way I want to go. I am going to try to get to Habitat for Humanity. joysewer what kind of unfinished pieces did you get. That is what I am wanting is drawers and shelves.

I think everyone has there personal favorite kind of storage. My favorite is simple free standing book cases. They make the stash very easy to see and I don't make such a mess when I am choosing fabric. If you have free walls they take up a relatively small space but give a lot of storage.

Mission Organization has tons of great ideas for you. Check out Target for their Closet Maid options. Do some armchair shopping and measure your space to make sure whatever you purchae fits. L-shape is a great layout.

sandy

what I am looking for is going up under the countertops, I have about 14 feet of space I can put something under.

File cabinets. Make sure they are 28-29" high.

"Cubbie" bookcases. I love my Closet Maid fabric drawers.

Kitchen cabinets. Pick out your color, door, hardware, finish. They are not that expensive and you could put a corner unit in the layout. Look for "seconds", check with Habitat restore. With or without a "lazy susan" in the corner cabinet. Furniture is not "cheap" but if it functions for you.....priceless! Anyone re-doing their kitchen?


Work with a designer at home Depot, etc. For no charge, they will draw up your layout, price the cabinets and counter top. Let them know that you are looking for the least expensive options.

The Container Store is awesome but pricey. My dream!

Sandy

getting ready to head out to Habitat for Humanity pretty soon, then goodwill and actually we have a used office store here. Pretty expensive though.

Have you ever looked in the Good Wood stores? They had a sale going on a few wks ago and everything is real wood, not pressed. So it can take the weight w/o the wood bowing. It may be worth a few extra dollars and if no sale, ask them to call you when they have one. Also, evaluate what you will be storing. If it is for machines, die cutters, etc, you may need a cupboard. When you get done, share some pics for us. Have fun.

maria have never heard of the Good Wood stores? I will google them and see what I can find. I would much rather have real wood. Want something that will last.

I have a set (designed by me) of upper kitchen cabinets and a set of base kitchen cabinets. I have on the only long wall in my new sewing room. The base cabinets hold a 90" countertop. It is long enough to hold most quilt tops to measure for borders. I have my desk on a short wall. It didn't take long to fill them up. I have two large closets opposite of the cabinets to hold my stash and, batting and containers full of scraps, etc. The countertop is perfect height for me, I'm 5'-7". I just bought a roll around cutting table from Joanns. I can scoot it next to the base cabinets. The thickness of the table fits between the bottom of the countertop and upper edges of the drawers and keeps the table totally secure for cutting. I also use the rolling table to sandwich my quilts. We bought the cabinets at a home center. They are oak cabinets with factory finish. Very nice looking and not expensive.
Sewing rooms and how to set them up is a very personal decision. Mine is now perfect for me and how I use it. I'm sure anyone else would not find it perfect for them and how they would use it.

I went to Lowe's and bought some of the Closet Maid shelves and drawer units to put under my countertops. Of course after I did that, I went to Wal-Mart and found 3-drawer dressers and 3 shelf bookcases that would have worked just great for about 1/2 the price.

You can find kitchen cabinets for sale really cheap or even free on Craigslist. Those make wonderful storage for quilters. We took our old cabinets out of the kitchen when we remodeled, and I painted those & DH installed them for me. Bought a long laminate counter from Home Depot, which went on top. Perfect height for me, to cut on, iron on (I have both a regular ironing board & a small one I use on the counter sometimes), and work on projects. DH put mini floodlights on the cabinetry we installed above, so I have tons of light. I love my quilt room and DH really pulled out the stops in making it work for me.....we're coming up to our 40th anniv & I'm very blessed! You can come up with great storage area for very little with some creativity.

We are going home for Christmas and there is a Salvage Yard there that when they tear down houses this Salvage goes in and strips it first. This yard has just about everything there that you can think of. Anyway we are going there while we are in Indy and see what I can find. Already discussed with Dh that I would love a corner base cabinet, couple of drawer units and then a couple of regular cabinets with shelves. They have awesome prices, so hopefully I can find something.
When we closed our back porch in and make it a Sunroom we went there and got our windows. They are 9" long and we put in 3 of them. Awesome price we paid for them too.

That sounds great! I hope you find exactly what you want/need!

Let us know how you made out. Did you find what you needed?

If you get cabinets, you might want to think about removing the inner half shelf that isn't very useful, except to make you lose items. And then buy the largest plastic multi-drawer unit that will fit inside the opening of the cabinet (I'm thinking there's usually a center bar, so this makes the unit you'd buy pretty narrow and small . Add this inside and you now have drawers, which are far more user friendly than leaning over, sliding out of your sewing chair and tipping yourself upside down to see inside the cabinet. I recently had two of my cabinets on either side of my stove modified from cabinets to 3 large drawers. I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to pull out the drawer and see what's inside and easily retrieve it.

wow I have been trying to post this for 3 days now, hope it works this time. Really made out at the Salvage yard I am in drawer heaven. I do beleive that all of these came out of a bank, on account of the labels that were on the drawers. These cabinets are all solid wood, very very heavy is what DH says. Now just to get them all in where I want them and Dh is even going to get me some new coutertops.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]453571[/ATTACH]love this fits in my little cubby perfectly

[ATTACH=CONFIG]453572[/ATTACH] all the rest of the drawers and cabinets we got

[ATTACH=CONFIG]453573[/ATTACH]Dh has started cleaning them, the top one is clean and the bottom is what they looked like when we got them.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]453576[/ATTACH]I saw on HGTV where they used OSB as a countertop, so I talked DH into doing this for me, he put a decorative cut on the very front then put about 3 layers of Shellac on it. It is smooth and nice and shiney but where he used the router no matter how much he sanded it, it still has some rough spots on it, so I am getting new countertops too. Awesome. Can't wait to post pics.

that's great! i'd love to see fotos when it's done!!!!! :) congrats on the great finds!

Trash to treasure!!

If you are considering lower cabinets for any part of the re- do, I would suggest using upper cabinets. They aren't as deep and you will have more open floor space. The shallower cabinets also offer better organization because things can't get lost in the back. Machines will fit and so will fabric folds and just about everything else you might want to store out of site. Good luck with your re- do.
peace

still waiting on getting new countertops. just wanted to give you all an update.

verna

It sounds like I have the same set up you have. Heres what we did For the support under the counter top we used unfinished cabinets. OneOne end the cabinets is all drawers, other end has one drawer with a cabinet underneath and then in the corner where they meet have a corner cabinet (no lazy susan) just a shelf in it.

My cutting table with either have shelves under it or be an old dresser. (we haven't gotten that far yet) :)
Be sure and post pic when you get it all set up please.

LaQuita please post pictures would love to see them.

cutting table idea
 

My husband bought a hollow core door that was primed put a nice book shelf on each end it is just the perfect height for cutting. My neighbor liked mine so much she made one for herself.

we used upper cabinets as base cabinets in part of the kitchen remodel in 2007. Perfect depth for tupperware etc. Great for those challenging ares where floor space is at a premium.

Sandy