Originally Posted by
bearisgray
How cooperative - or not - is the rest of your family in getting rid of the "stuff" that is being stored?
Where have you been sewing now?
Have you considered having a set-up/kit like people take to retreats and bring that to your current sewing area?
And then consolidate all your sewing "stuff" in that room? Maybe use that for your cutting and pressing area?
Where is this room in relation to the rest of your home?
For years and years, my sewing machine was in the corner of our kitchen/eating area, and my ironing board was a more-or-less permanent fixture there. I actually got more done - back then when the kids were little - than I do now where all my stuff (and I do have a loooooot more stuff now than I did then) is downstairs.
The big problem with the stuff is that most of it belongs outside, or to family members who have passed on and their children live out of state. I plan on giving all of the stuff that doesn't belong to me or my parents to the appropriate people during the winter holidays (or getting permission to get rid of it as I see fit). Sometime after harvest, the plan is to tear what's left of the barn all of this stuff was from down, and put a shed back where it was. When that happens, I will have the entire room, minus a shelf unit for our home canned food that is too big to go into a closet or the pantry.
This room is across a small hallway from my bedroom, away from the other bedrooms and living areas in the house. Up until now, I have always sewn on my kitchen table, or on the desk in my bedroom. The desk is too high and there's not enough legroom for a higher chair. Sewing on the table causes a lot of family drama. Nobody can hear their television, or their computers, or their phones when I'm sewing. Somebody always gets tangled up in a cord, or I forget to plug a favorite lamp back in after putting the iron away. Someone came to the door and they were ashamed because my project was on the kitchen table and made it look cluttered for their guests. It's kind of silly, but it would bring a lot of peace to the home for me to be able to run my machine in a room that actually has a door that closes. For the sake of family harmony, I have to get off the kitchen table, and my shoulders won't take the desk much longer. I have tried to be patient, but I need to get into that room now, not six to eight months from now when all of the stuff is gone or back outside where it belongs.
I am planning on covering the last shelf unit and using it as a design wall like everyone suggested, and hanging a shoe organizer off one end for my notions. If I can, i will hang onto one more shelf for storage. I don't worry much about outgrowing the space. I have everything I need at the moment to make things at my current skill level, and it will easily fit in there, even with the small space I have now and not the space I will have next year.
I just need a table and a chair, and a way to organize my stuff where it is all at hand. Does anyone use one table for everything? I am thinking about setting up a table, putting my machine in the middle, my cutting mat to the left when I'm not sewing, and my pressing board to the right. Notions can go in a drawer unit beneath the table, and my bin of fabric will slide under one of the shelves. The cutting mat and rulers can slide on top when not in use. The ironing board already sits nicely between a few of the shelves when it is folded flat. I just won't have room to open it and have my table and chair all in that space at once.