Oh Miss April, I would love the opportunity to have 2 rooms at my disposal. As it is, I've taken over the family room off our kitchen. The living room and den are too close to the front door and traipsing thru to the bathroom problems. Besides, I can close the gate to keep the "fur babies" out if I want to. I would love to have the basement area of our home, but that isn't possible unless we move our bedroom to the 2nd story. I'm not that hip on climbing stairs that much. As far as lighting is concerned, They make lots of different styles of lighting so I wouldn't have a problem with that. In my "family room/sew cave, I have 2 sets of windows so I currently have lots of natural lighting, but would willingly give it up for more space any day. As far as water goes, we've had water in our basement at least 5 times since we moved here. I've learned that anything you want to keep put in waterproof containers. JMHO, and hope that this helps. Hugs g/f ;)

I like the idea of 2 rooms. I would keep the upstairs for the main sewing . I am not a basement person and I like to be close to the kitchen - I can sneak in a little sewing while dinner is boiling or microwaving. The basement for storing with plastic containers and hopefully a longarm.

I can't cook and sew. Whatever I'm cooking gets burnt, bc I forget about it. Lately I've been setting a timer in the SS to help me remember about the food.

Gosh - I am so envious of y'all that actually have a room for sewing! When I bought my house ~16 years ago I bought one with one more bedroom than I really needed just for that purpose but God blessed me with the raising of my grandson so there went "my" space! I've tried arranging a sewing space throughout my fairly small house and am currently sharing my bedroom with my sewing/crafts with my stash housed in the backyard shed in plastic boxes. I'm single so that helps, dunno if a dh would care too much for the clutter which is about to drive me nuts.

I'm with the others here...use both! I sure would! You (and dh) can make some cute wood frame or pvc pipe/fabric room dividers to make your "hall". I Googled some instructions for my son one time and there were a lot of designs that popped up.

Go, go, go.........to the wide open basement.

There is always high shelving for all that fabric.......explore and enjoy

MaryJane

Before we retired my sewing room was a corner of our bedroom. After we retired I got one whole bedroom to myself (the small one). When we built my sewing room moved to the bonus room above the garage and I loved it. It felt so big. Then I lost my DH and moved closer to family. Now I have the whole basement to sew in and I love it. My DH would be down there watching TV and making jokes while I sewed if he was still here. I keep one of his pictures down there with me to remind me to smile and not take life too serious.

That's a sweet story, to be able to remember that your DH loved your quilt making, to be able to think of him always with you.

I'm with QBeth - I have my sewing room in upstairs bedroom, after much much "debating" with the "man"! Love the sunlight, coziness of being "my" room and "escape" into my quilting! but near everything. Less storage for material means using "old" and buying new!!!! Basement has grandboys' beds, TV etc, for the seldom visits they make from out of state. Works great for me!

Carol/CT

I agree wiht SewJoyce....go to the basement and invest in the plastic bins to store your fabric.

Although I have a dry basement, it does get "humid" down there when it rains. So, we have a good humidifier to deal with any dampness. To avoid emptying the bucket all the time, we mounted the humidifier on a platform about eye-high so we could run a plastic tube from the humidifier over to the set-tub we have in the laundry area. Works great!

Teeny little house that we have, I also could go down in the basement. No thank you! I want to be in the front room where I have my plastic containers, my work station and the window to look out of. If the phone rings, I am there. If I am cooking, I am there. If my husband needs me, I am there. Our basement is not fixed up or anything, it is cooler iin the winter, and cooler in the summer, but hey, I take my stuff outside and work on my quilting on the patio - sewing machine and all!!!!!!

Do the bedroom thing!!!! Edie

Hey, Oliviasgramy, I wouldn't have time to cook OR sew if I had that sweet baby with me. Mine are all grown up now.

I think I'd stay upstairs for sewing, etc. with the windows but maybe use part of the basement room for the big cutting projects and ironing etc. I'm in a crummy basement myself and would absolutely love to have the use of an extra bedroom upstairs (which we don't have) with windows. I'd say use both in some way.

Unfortunately we don't get to see her daily, usually about every two weeks. Today I put some more pictures of her up so we can look at her. I told DH that the "stuff" on the mantle will have to do so we can have some place for our babies pictures. In Aug we should have a sweet little boy.

I would stay above ground. I would not want to take a chance on ruining my fabric. It comes too dearly.

i'd go to the basemant if it had good lighting to get rid of the musty smell i put small buckets of charcole arround they absorbe the oder and work much better than bakeing soda i would use charcoal for a grill that dose not have starter fluid in it good lucjk and god bless

Hi QBeth and everyone else. I have so much stuff thrown in the sewing room, I'm really depressed about it. All it is going to take is getting in there and clearing it out. I have so many neat sewing things in there and I'm having a hard time using because of the clutter. Now I'm accountable, I've exposed this ugly truth and I have to do something about it. Right? I know I really don't know any of you personally, but I've told on myself and now I really have to fix it. Once I get busy on it,I'm sure I will feel so much better and feel less guilty about the mess and can sew and use all my neat things. Maybe I'll be able to find my material and quit losing it because I've put it some where where I know I'll know where it is. I hope some one else understands this. I don't want to be the only one of me out there or I will be depressed, truly. Bethy

Hi, and welcome! This is a fun place to meet people and congregate and learn. Mercy, do you learn. And the most important thing you will learn is that there are more of you out there than you can imagine.

I found clear plastic shoe boxes and sticky tags. I have fourteen boxes (not counting the one that has large pieces of one fabric - will get to that later). I put a sticky tag on all four sides of the shoe box marked red, orange and down the line. My colors go in those designated boxes. I can look from any direction and see what color I want. I have a scrap box for the bits and pieces and I also have a box (out on the porch) for extra fabric that I just roll up, tie with a piece of selvage and it just sits there until I start another project and there's a color I need. (My Mom taught me about using the selvage to tie up extra material to keep it in place. She also ties her sashing and borders - keeps everything where you want it and you can iron and reuse the strips of selvage). Usually that box is leftover borders, sashing, backing. I have baskets all over the place - well actually three - we have a small house - three is all over the place!!!!! In those baskets go my work in progress. I have a book (journal type thing) and I keep track of the quilts I make and they go with my other books, so they are in order. I have found that when I start a project, it stays out so I know exactly where everything is. Right now I am in the process of making triangle squares - 1296 of them to be sewn onto 648 4x4's. I have my new work station here and my tools are on the table, fabric, pins and everything. It is a very neat mess!!!!!!!

But when I am done, I will have a clean quilting station, three empty baskets and a new quilt top. Yay!!!!

You don't have a true sense of the word mess, you have a well-organized project in the works. It is extremely important that this mess stays right where it is until it is done!

One thing about quilters - We can justify anything!!!!!!! Edie

PS - I lost my scissors!!!! Has anyone seen it????

Oh no!!!! I don't know how I found this thread of messages. I have the same problem. Our basement flooded last march. My Honey is waiting on me to make my mind up where I want my sewing rm. before he continues with anymore remodeling. Currently in a 14 x 14 bedrm upstairs. The basement rm has one very small window. I am a huge sunshine person and need my light & need to be able to see outside...sooo he installed 12 can lights in the ceiling to help me make up my mind. The rm is huge and already has bulit in cabinets and a closet w/ a ton of shelves. Sound perfect right? so why can't I make up my mind? I was so hoping reading this conversation would help me finally make up mind. The only draw back is no windows. Help! someone please make up my mind..lol. Did you make your choice and if yes how did you come to the final choice? Really looking forward to your next post.
dee

Space, space and more space.

"Although I have a dry basement, it does get "humid" down there when it rains. So, we have a good humidifier to deal with any dampness. To avoid emptying the bucket all the time, we mounted the humidifier on a platform about eye-high so we could run a plastic tube from the humidifier over to the set-tub we have in the laundry area. Works great!"

QBeth-sure hope you meant de-humidifier and not humidifier. Lol, if you have a humidifier down there, no wonder you have so many problems with moisture.
Smart thinking on the positionong of it.

Thanks for catching my goof! Yes, it's a DE-humidifier. Good grief. :-)

As for humidifiers, which are greatly needed during the winter months, I wish I could devise a system where our two small humidifiers could receive a constant water supply (the reverse of what we did for the de-humidifier). Will need to think more about that unless someone has a solution???

As to which space to use: I have to have lots of good light. I have S.A.D.D. and light is very important during any time of the year. I had the basement at out old home and found I was hardly ever down there even tho the lighting was really good it was florescent(sp).
Here, I have a lovely picture window that looks out to the chickens, barn, and woods. I placed my machine so my back is to the window. I tend to do too much daydreaming, bird-watching, and critter-watching when looking out the window.

I don't like people walking through my area when I am working, so it is in the corner of the Great room. Make a path for DH to follow going to his shop. Can any odors, dust, or anything else not wanted on/in/near your fabrics come out of his shop? ie: paint, thinner, wood shavings, etc.

Unless the walls were primed with a primer that has a mildew / moisture / odor resistant barrier, you may still have the problem's.

Running back and forth from upstairs to downstairs could get really old.

As to the plastic bins in the basement, just take a small drill bit in the drill and drill a bunch of tiny holes in the top and a few around the upper sides. That way the fabric can breath. My DD has two bins we used for something else like this for some of her fabric.

Since your floor is concrete, it will be cold and hold moisture, too. Prime it before putting anything down.

Good luck.

Bigger room sounds great but sometimes get a little antsy being in a basement for long periods of time, I need a window. May in Jersey

I too suffer from S.A.D.D. and thats my main concern about moving downstairs and probably why I haven't. I keep trying to convince myself I can over come that for more rm but not so sure and darn thats ALOT of work moving/reorganizing everything to find out I just can't work down there in a windowless world and my Honey wouldn't be happy if I got all moved then changed my mind....hmmm think I am answering my own problem here...see i just needed all of you to chat it out with...thanks so much for letting me go on & on.
dee
p.s. I have my machine in front of front windows, I can see the birds at the feeder, cars driving by, neighbors wave if they see me seating at the machine....ya i would miss all that...besides for some reason my cats won't go downstairs....gosh that should have been my first clue...lol
This pic is a old one, just wanted to show my front window, I traded places w/ the fabric stash-moved the sewing table in front of the window[under the yellow table cloth are rubbermaid drawers just for solid fabrics]

Stairs, knees, up and down, getting older. I'd stay up stairs. Sunshine! For me larger means more clutter and I have enough But that's just me. I like the idea of having a cutting table downstairs. My JAs table fold down so out of site until I need them.

Just a suggestion. It's you space. You do want you want.

I so agree!

Hi April, well it's totally your decision.

For me I'd have to claim BOTH spaces. I like being upstairs where I can see what's going on in the house. I like being about to jump up and check out something going on outside. I like the sunshine. I like being close to the bathroom and the kitchen for fixing dinner, etc.

I wouldn't want to go through another loss in the basement. If you put anything down there I would make sure it's up off the floor and put in containers on shelves above the last water level.

I would stay in the bedroom since you're back there now and then expand to the basement when more room was needed. Didn't the insurance claim include enough to cover the LA? lol Something to save room for in the basement.

You might be willing to share part of the basement with DH so he can have a small man cave area for a new tv room, right in line where you can watch when you do want to be in the basement. Two spaces, two sewing setups sounds like a plan to me. (lol)

Pam M

It would depend on which room you enjoy the most when sewing. More room is great as long as you are happy with the lighting, the color of the room and the amount of visitors you get in your sewing room. I would prefer a small bright room that has a happy color on the walls to a bigger, darker room that does not have a happy color on the walls. Also, does one room make you feel isolated from everyone more than another room. Do you want to have that isolated feeling?
Those are the questions I would be asking myself.

I would not want to be alone - isolated - from the rest of the family - husband and dog - I have teal striped wallpaper with a white background and wood trim. I have teal carpeting, I look out an east window. It all makes me happy and within the family circle. My area is all of 6-1/2' by 11'. Sure I am a little cramped here, but I know where everything is and I couldn't be happier where I am. I believe you are right - it depends on which room you enjoy most for sewing. Edie

Exactly what I would do! Put one tote of fabric on a shelf and wait to see if there are problems before unloading the rest.

Lucky you!

I would take over the basement, providing that there is sufficient lighting, good ventilation, and good heat/AC. I used to having my sewing area in the basement when I lived in CO. It was great because I could really spread out. Now I am in a spare bedroom just slightly larger than yours, and I wish I had more room. Please post pictures of your space once you decide and are set-up.

definitely to the larger area.just keep things on shelves and up high-just in case