Thanks for all the replies. We've been doing a lot of talking, and thinking and scheming the last day or so (I've been at it much longer) and I think we're getting close to a plan. Here are a few things we've talked about ...
First of all, this house is a rental, and while we plan to be here for another six to ten years, we can't do any major renovations like knocking down walls. If we could, this whole problem would be solved. LOL
DH said yesterday that he is more than willing to try out moving our bed to another room, but the more I think about it, the more I don't really like that idea. It would be much different if it was just myself and my husband here, but since my son will continue to be here for the foreseeable future (I imagine another four years while he attends college locally), I think we'll leave our bed where it is.
As soon as the spare leaves next week, I'll clear out the room he's in, paint it, clean the carpet and move my son into it. That will leave the room I'll have clear and ready to paint as well, and it will give me a better idea of what I actually have to work with. My plan is to move the desk (which will not be downsized because I have two monitors, a laptop with docking station, a desktop, a printer and a scanner on it) into the second room, and then work from there. I would also like to put my cutting table in there, and possibly use the room for storage. But before I start working on the exact storage I'm going to put in there, I'm going to assay what I actually have to store. Right now, nearly everything I have, except for frequently used small tools and fabric stash, is currently stored in my large walk in closet, but I really have no idea what's in there. So I need to go through the closet, take pictures and make lists of everything I have that I need to store, including quilting batting, fabric paints, dyes, jewelry findings, scrapbook papers, stabilizers, etc., and determine how I want to store those things.
So in short, the plan is coming together, but it's going to take a while for it to be completely finished. Add to that, I just realized that the Houston Quilt Show is just a few months away, and I would rather save my money for that ... it might take some time to get my new room together just the way I want it, but I'm pretty sure it will turn out fine.
Again, thanks for the suggestions! I'll post photos as I make progress if anyone is interested.
