Originally Posted by jljack
My close friend is a professional long armer, and her living room is now her quilting studio. She and hubby and daughter only use the family room, and she ran out of room in the small bedroom she was using for her sewing room. That room is now her fabric storage and cutting room, and her domestic machine is also in there.
Another guild member I know uses her dining room for her long arm studio. They have an open floor plan, and she has a large eat-in kitchen, so didn't need two dining tables.
I also ran out of room in the small bedroom and have expanded into the living room/dining room (not quite sure what the room was originally intended to be). I am hoping to install pocket doors so that I can close off any mess and, maybe, install shutters over the windows. We only really use the eating nook in the kitchen so the space was pretty much going to waste in our case also.
In our old neighborhood, a lot of people had converted the living room to a music room come study area.
It makes far more sense to use the formal living room as a quilting area than have it sit empty most of the year. Maybe, you can find a good deal on some sewing furniture so that you can hide most of the mess when necessary. I also like the screen idea someone suggested for the entrance, or to screen off your sewing area, depending on where you are able to position your machine(s) etc.