New Studio feedback
 

If the price comes in right, I'll be able to have my quilt studio built soon. I've drawn out a plan to the best of my abilities, and would love some feedback, as I'm sure many of you have either built your own studio or dreamed of it, and will have suggestions I won't have thought of.

I thought to put floor to ceiling shelves in the closet, about 2 feet deep, leaving me 2 feet in front of them to move around as there wouldn't be doors in front of the entire section. I thought I'd store my batting rolls on the far right side, where access is limited due to the computer workstation in that corner.

In the very lower left corner, is an amoire, and right next to it (above in the photo) is an 8' x 8' design wall. The ironing station could perhaps be a movable piece placed on the work island. I think the rest of it is self explanatory. Oh and the 2 white boxes at the bottom between the windows are to be built in book cases.

I'll put plenty of bright lighting, stationed above all the work areas, and a couple of ceiling fans. I'd like upper cabinets over the computer and sewing stations, if the budget allows.

Feedback? Any and all suggestions welcomed and appreciated!

Wow Great Layout. I think you have thought through everything very well. Congrats on your studio.

Nice layout. Perhaps some pegboard over the workstation for small items?

Pegboard would be perfect, I have a large sheet of it in my existing sewing room, thanks!

You might post this in "Mission, Organization" section and get more feedback. This is where others congregate for ideas on quilt studios. Yours looks great, by the way. Congratulations and Happy Sewing!

Oh! Maybe the mods could move it for me please?

what about a big board ironing board? a big design wall really helps too.

Oh, I'm so jealous, see the green on my face!!! That looks wonderful. :)

Love your new studio, and don't think you missed anything in your design.

That looks wonderful! I covet that closet.

I would give very careful thought to the placement of the ceiling fans relative to your lighting - I have skylights in two rooms and the flickering from the fan blades crossing or coming close to their light paths can be very annoying.(It happens even in one room where the fan doesn't directly cross the light path, but is off to one side.)

I agree that you might enjoy visiting some of the Mission Organization posts. There was a studio design a few months ago by suziehammond that had many many good ideas (here).

Alison

How long and how wide is it? I love it!

My thoughts are, why go clear to the ceiling with the storage? Personally I am not that tall, and getting a ladder, step stool, chair (horrors!!) and drag it to where I want to look that high, seems rather time wasting. To me. Maybe I am missing a thought or two/ten. I have thought of using the top of cupboards-storage shelves etc, as display area.

Care to enlighten me??
Thanx

Billie G

I like your layout, where do you plan to put your iron/ironing board? I would suggest an outlet in the floor below or the ceiling above your long arm so you don't have to worry stepping over the cords. I can't tell if you have these included, but love my design wall and my pegboard

Congratulations! Looks like you've done a lot of thinking and plannings. You've got a great start.

First I'd hang batting above doors to get them out of the working space. I've found that fabric on shelving is most accessable with 12" deep shelves. You have 96 sq ft for 24 linear ft of fabric storage. If you put the 24 linear ft shelving and movable design walls in front, you'd have double function for that space.

My arm length and range of comfortable motion is about 24", so that 8' sq table space I couldn't reach the center.
I'd make it into 2 stations, one for cutting and one for pressing.

When I'm having friends to sew and even when alone, I like to look at the design wall and what else is in the room. I especially don't want friends behind me. I love natural light but a large window allows light too bright for me to look at, so I don't want work stations facing a window, but rather the widow to the side of me. Also, sometimes I want the sewing machine station 4 ft deep so what I'm working on can rest on it

I like some things moveable so it can adapt to my needs at the time. I like storage drawers under all surfaces, my joints don't do well for getting down low to see whats in the back of cabinets.

Id put the longarm parrallel with the wall on the left and bookshelves along the wall. It only needs about 2' clearance between it and the shelves. That uses 7 ft and you've still got 17 ft to put a large cutting/work station behind it

I agree with having a nice ironing station as that is the only thing I see lacking

It looks great to me. You might want to make double sure that you have outlets everywhere you might want them. My sister had some built into the floor...not sure if you need to but she teaches workshops sometimes in her studio and several machines need to be plugged in at tables that she sets up.

I am jealous, but it looks wonderful!! Enjoy, and I hope it happens soon.

Dina

It looks wonderful!!!!!!!

Wonderfu and congrats. I would love to see a small space for a comfy chair, small end table and lamp. there is usually some hand work on my quilts, ie whipstitching the binding in place.

Two things that are a must for me would be someplace to press (good iron and board, oversized would be great) and a design wall, which I don't see in your plans. Also lighting placement is important so you're not standing in your light when you work.

My dream studio is 25 x 19 with shelving along the 25 length for fabric and room for all my books, magazines, boxes of kits etc. and my large cutting table, my sewing table with extension up, a tv and possibly a longarm. All this when my ship comes in. We can dream can't we.

Oh, I forgot to mention the design wall.

How lucky you are-studio looks great. I noticed that your closets are 4 X 24. I have very deep shelved closets in my room as well but find that the shelves are really too deep to be as great as I had thought they would be. It is hard to access items in the back and mine are not as deep as yours. Enjoy your space!

Looks like you may have some space left to use as the ideas hit you. Looks like you have a great plan. I hope you can get it built very soon.

A suggestion for that wonderful closet of yours ( I have one too), I covered each door with flannel so I have 6 mini design walls in addition to the large one behind my work station. This allows me to display works in progress and frees up the wall behind me for what I happen to be working on at the time. Have fun with your room :).

If you made the workstation movable (rollers?) and instead of an 8x8 make it two 4x8, it might give you more versatility. Also storage - 2' deep shelves/drawers on both sides. I can't reach anything 4' away - I'm vertically challenged - so a 4' wide table is about all I can work with.

Looks fabulous!

WOW - when finished you will have an amazing sewing/quilting room. If only I had room for a long arm and that huge work table, but alas I do not, since we downsized to an apartment. Enjoy, Enjoy and happy sewing/quilting.

Wow! That definitely looks like a dream room. I agree with others on the outlet comments, put in plenty because it is cheaper when you're working with stud walls or floors and ceilings. DH has ceiling outlets in his workshop so he isn't tripping over cords coming from walls. That wall-o-closets is a nice touch. It seems there is never enough storage and the fact that you are allowing moving room for you is great.
I hope your dream happens for you soon. Can't wait to see pictures of the process and finished room!
kathyd

i love this sewing room layout it,s a quilters dream room find her name so you can see it called,{ atmysewingroom} is her board name from quilting board

It looks wonderful and carefully thought out. Be sure to allow as much space as possible for fabric and thread storage. Those items always "expand" over time somehow. I put open shelving all down one wall of a 25 foot room and have filled it up entirely over the years. Can't wait to see your pictures of the finished room. And, by the way, I think your planning will pay off. Sooo much easier than trying to organize after the fact.

Great layout. I have a suggestion! Adopt me! lol

Have you considered shelves above the counter area? Where are you keeping your thread?
My work station is similar to your plan but a bit smaller. I have 4 inch wheels on plywood with kitchen cabinets back to back with space between the backs for rolls of batting, really wide fabric on rolls, vinyl on rolls, and whatever else is long. Then there is plywood on top with a very large cutting mat. At one end, I have a smallish pressing station...about 20 x 24. I have my old fold up ironing board and a separate large ironing surface which fits on top. When not needed, these can be put in a closet. This has worked out well for me. My thread is on thread holders attached behind my machines. I have a lot of thread and it is readily available to see to match colors. The thread is divided according to type...cotton, rayon, poly for sewing and embroidery machine. Also a small area for decorative threads. Then there are shelves above with fabric in bins of various sizes which are marked as to what the project is. The fabric for the project is in a bin so I don't forget and use it for something else. Also have a place where I can note what I need to buy when I go out to shop next. My area is very small but I have 3 sewing or emb. machines and a serger, a computer and printer on my counter space. I have lights under the shelves above my machines and ceiling lights as well as a couple movable lights. There is only one small window and it is blocked by a window a/c.
I have a 5 x 8 design wall and a 15 x 9 removable design wall. I was lucky enough to see a movable pegboard in a store going out of business. For under $10, it is a wonder. It too, is on wheels and is about 5 feet tall with the pegboard in an x shape so different segments are devoted to different type of needs such as cutters (rotary, scissors, pinking scissors, etc) on one and the other 3 are devoted to 3 other "categories" of stuff. I have a wall mounted pegboard to the right of my Bernina (quilting mainly) where I have pliers, screwdrivers and other misc. tools for working on my machine. I also keep patterns that are in current use or my graft drawing of what I want so I can easily refer to it right there next to my Bernina.
My space is really small but there is a plan for expansion (someday). Envision a right triangle with the hypotenuse on the right side measuring 16 feet at the base and then chop off the tip and make that top flat and 6 feet wide. That is my space (or lack of space) but I manage to get all this stuff into it and I can still walk from one end to the other. I believe that my work station (cutting, pressing ) is 5x5 so you have lots more space and I can only utilize 3 sides of mine most of the time.
With my thread mounted on the wall behind my machines, it makes life so easy when I trly to match thread colors.
You have a wonderful space...enjoy it, as I do my mini version.
Donna

Very nice. You live about 1-2 hrs from me so I will come over and help you use it when done.

I think I would have the pocket doors face each other. Making the opening very wide. If a third one could be added I would think about that too. Good luck and have fun.

Wow I love how you have thought of all the important things like closet/storage, the chairs, room for the long arm, etc. Wow!

I want to come and play at your house!

Your studio plans are wonderful! Love the idea of a large work station where you can spread out a large project or any number of smaller projects at the same time. You mentioned using a movable ironing board to use on top of the work station. Just wondering...have you taken ergonomics into consideration? How tall is the work station and will it work with the height you need for ironing, for example? I do have a neat studio 15 by 24 feet. Since I am rather short, I use layers of interlocking floor mats where I need to stand for midarm quilting, ironing and using the work station. Love it! Enjoy your studio and I hope you will share pictures with us when your studio is finished.

Looks great but you may not know for sure until you have worked in it and then you might find places to move things that make it more convenient. However I sure wish it could be mine!

Looks good to me. Congratulations!