New quilting Studio
 

I have been quilting in a dark, damp, buggy (dead due to exterminator, but still gross) basement for the last nine years ever since we moved and downsized. NO natural light whatsoever! very confined space!:(
Now, in just a couple of months, we will be breaking ground on a room addition. (My hubby really loves me:D) It will be 20 by 30 feet and nearly 2/3 of it will be my new studio. It will have so much natural light it is almost a sin!:o It will have a 4ft by 16ft closet for storage on one side. the other side will have a 16ft run of lower cabinets below a bank of windows looking out on my gardens, the farm fields, and the woods. I am very excited.
so here is where you guys all come in. i want lots of advice on how to configure my space. especially regarding cabinets. My hubby wants to start buying cabinets so they are already here when they are ready to install them. I bet you all have tons of ideas about what i should do about that!!!
I can't wait to hear all of them. Dream big along with me.
So here are the first two before photos. 1 my son in law and grandson are on the patio next to a garden. This patio and garden will be traded for the room addition. this pic was taken last spring. last fall i spent a lot of time digging up most of the plants and moving them somewhere else. 2 another view of the garden at the edge of the patio was just taken yesterday. i obviously missed some of the bulbs. those will have to be dug up soon. because very soon there will be a room here!

How exciting!!!!!!

Creating your Perfect Quilting Space Studio Planner by Lois L. Hallock is what I got. A little pricey, IMHO, but it might just be the thing to help you. Amazon has it. OR, buy some graph paper, make cut outs of your tables, machines, etc. and you can design exactly what you want. Good lighting built in is a MUST. Oh how I wish I had that space! ENJOY IT!!

LESLIE

here's a better picture of the space we will soon be excavating. [ATTACH=CONFIG]320986[/ATTACH]

Sounds like lots of fun ahead! Darling little guy in your life!!!

oh lucky you-keep us posted

Congratulations! I'm so happy for you and specially to have all the natural light. Make sure you have a lot of electrical plugs throughout the room. For some reason almost everything we use is connected with electricity! I'm a bargain shopper I look for the best price and where I can save. After all, the money saved is money that can be spent on something else! Have fun shopping, creating, and organizing. I'm sure it will be a beautiful place to sew Please keep us posted.

What a fun project! Do think about where you'd like to put your machines, and do you need cut-outs in the top of the cabinet/table-? Where will your cutting area be? Where will you iron? Do you need room for plastic storage tubs as well? Do you need some cabinets that have roll-out shelves? Do you need lots of drawers?
Also, what kind of flooring will you have? What about overhead lighting? Daylight bulbs?
Just a few things to think about~~ v :)

Lighting, Display or Disign wall. Shelves and Baskets or containers. I store my projects with fafrics and patterns in their own basket till done. Great news. Happy planning.

What a wonderful adventure you are about to begin. You will love the room when it's finished - I just know it. How exciting for you. Keep us up to date on your progress.

A chair on wheels was one of my best investments. And while I know all the arguments for getting up and walking to an ironing board, there are times when I LOVE being able to spin to the left and have cutting board then spin to the right and iron then back to center to sew. Think paper piecing! Second must have is my design wall- and I wish it ws bigger! Mine is 4x8 foot piece of insulation foam covered in craft felt and I wish it was double the size. And save some space for pretty stuff - it's good inspiration. I designed the room on graph paper as mentioned above and wasn't happy until I had reached my third or fourth design. Have Fun - keep us posted!

Lucky girl. Please let us know how it progresses

Lucky you. After what you have been working in, it is very well deserved. You have a winner in your DH.

Think also about the position of your computer and the light from outside. You'll want to make sure the sun isn't shining on your computer screen effectively blocking out your view of the screen. The rest of the ideas are excellent. Also where will your thread go? On the wall? on a cabinet? In a cabinet? If you have quilt inspectors, make sure they have a dedicated spot. What about an easy chair or love seat. My DH is fascinated with what I create, so many times he'll come into my room and we'll chat. He has his own chair out of my way & I enjoy having him around. (Mind you, he knows when things aren't going to plan, he best leave. And he does. LOL)
Good luck & share pictures along the way.

One of the things I love about my very small sewing room is the central cutting table. I can walk all around it. I like having access to all four sides of the table. Right now it's just a table, but when I re-do the room we plan on making a table with built in shelfs/drawers under it to store "stuff".

Also if you can ... try to plan for a design wall that can accomodate the largest quilt you can make. Mine is small (WOF by 6' tall) and I'm always wanting more. When I re-do my room I'm hoping to plan it so that one whole wall is a design wall.

Thanks for all the thoughtful tips. Chair on wheels Check! I have two – one with arms – one without. The older one is actually more comfortable than the newer one and maybe it will get a pretty new cover. I do have a portable design wall that I made from three 4x8 sheets of pink insulation covered in flannel, dark one side, light on other, and hinged for ease of storage. I am hoping that the sliding doors to the big long closet can be designed to hold a design wall that slides to reveal the storage behind. Then I will have to find a new home for the old one. I will post pics of progress when we break ground. The architect is pulling the permits this week.

OMG: where to put computer? I never thought about that, that’s one thing I have rethink! So glad you mentioned it. Thread? Not sure. I want to display some of my quilts, and my antiques, as well. May not have wall space to do thread that way. There is going to be lots of windows on two of the four walls. In the past I just threw it in baskets on shelves. I use those little tiny plastic bags from Hobby Lobby so they don’t collect dust or get all tangled. I am so totally naïve about what you mean by “Quilt inspectors”
We are planning an office space for hubby and a sitting area that connect to the studio through a large arch (no doors) I could try to fix it so when he is at his computer he can see me at my machine. I’ll have to think about the angles so I am glad you brought that up.

I am with you on the table you can walk around. In my OLD basement studio I have to push the table from one side to the other to get at stuff on the shelves. I should have plenty of room in the new room to walk all the way around. yay! I bought a beautiful old table with very interesting legs, which I hope to renovate and add storage to. Big project! design wall? Yeah others have mentioned the design wall and I hope it will go on the sliding closet doors. If so I’ll find a new home for my old one.

Good things to think about. I would love to have my Bernina facing out so I can see outside as I sew. That means it goes on the cabinetry/counter top wall some how. How? I am still perplexed about that. Hopefully I can find a way to configure the counter top to have a lower area with a cut out knee area I would like a ironing table that folds out so I have it right next to me as I sew. I am tired of walking the length of the basement! Or holding a makeshift board on my LAP LOL. , mmmmm so much to think of, and so many friends to help me plan. THANKS, to everyone!

I have been wondering what does everyone prefer in their cabinets -- drawers or shelves with or without doors. Not that I am getting a new quilting room in the next life time. Too many other thing that we need.

I have been thinking about that a lot lately, but with a 16 foot run of lower cabinets I hope I can have all of the above, LOL.

Light!!! Heat, air-conditioning, maybe dehumidifier? Lots of electrical is right! Chichi out habitat for humanity shops! They have all kinds of cool stuff u can use! Good luck, have fun show u's your progress so I can live vicariously thru u! I'm sewing in a tiny bedroom when dd comes home must clean and rearrange so they can sleep! Thank goodness for aerobeds!!
What about space with cpl comfortable chairs for relaxing while doing hand work or chatting with gf??

Think about how you store or want to store your : fabric, thread, notions, rulers, rotary cutters, books, magazines, patterns, stabilizers, batting, yarns, paint, dyes, etc. Will your fabric be on open shelves or in drawers of some kind? What flooring will you have? I have a cork tile floor and love it. It's smooth, warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Also easy to keep clean - just vac. it. Where will your pressing area be? A large board or regular ironing board? Will you have a small pressing surface next to your sewing area to use while piecing? What kind of lighting will you have? Where will your design wall be and how large? Also will it be portable or stationary? Where will your cutting area be? Make sure it's a good height for you. What color paint on the walls? Make sure to put in enough electrical outlets, you might want some in the middle of the floor, instead of all on the walls. Will you have more than one sewing machine set up, a serger perhaps or a long arm? Don't forget to include some wall space to display some of your creations.

I'd use graph paper to plan out the design of the arrangement for the furniture in your new space. Cut out to scale shapes for the furniture and built-in cupboards/counter space. Move them around until you find one that you like and what will work for your needs. This is when you might figure out where the electrical outlets will go in the floor.

My DH and I used to work on H for H houses. I never thought about it but YES he says we should check it out. Great idea. My old workspace in the basement has a humidifier running almost non stop. I hate that noise when i am quilting. We don't need to run them upstairs, but we do have one connected to our furnace. The new room will have it's own HVAC. There is a nice little sitting area in the plans. enough for couple small tables and two or three nice comfy chairs. There will be an archway separating them. I am wondering if i can figure out a way to post the floorplan as a picture. worth looking into.

What a great reference this post will be, thanks for such a compehensive list of things to think about. LOVE the idea of an outlet in the middle. I can position it so it is under the cutting table, but near the edge. Just think... a light, a glue gun, all the things you might want to plug in and use on that big surface. YUP gotta do that!! Flooring: we were thinking of a laminate that looks like old farmhouse boards. Can you tell me more about how cork would be better, or would laminate work.

Regarding cabinets and storage....on word CASTERS! Yep, get the kind that lock in place. You can place your ironing table/cabinet on them. When you need to roll it over to your sewing machine and then when you are done, roll it under the counter to keep it tidy. And, I am one of the creative people who tend to change my room 1 or 2 times per year to help keep the juices flowing...a different perspective out the windows.

Wonderful plans. Fantastic grandson. Just want to squeeze him.

Don't overlook having a large design wall. I personally love to see my quilt "grow" a block at a time. I do a lot of sampler quilts so the final view is important before sewing the sashing and making permanent choices about block placement.

Congratulations. I envy you.

Enjoy your new sewing room. Your grandson is adorable.

Beautiful little grandson !!!!!!!

This little flyer/book was the biggest waste of money. I thought I was getting a real book but it was just a fold out flyer thing. If you wanted mine, I could send it to you. PM if you are interested. Don't waste your money on it like I did. It would be okay for free but for the $10 plus postage via Amazon...bad investment.It came in a brown envelope that had been bent up. I was unhappy.

being over the age of 60, I would not like bending over all the time with the 16 ft. of cabinets, I would rather have tall cabinets with loads of shelving, not too deep... Maybe some doors with windows to see the nice array of colors. Tall cabinets(or built in shelving) on both ends of the windows with a great big window seat with storage under the seats
.It is going to be a great adventure for you, best of luck. What a super house warming that could be, bring FQ's as a gift!

I would be looking at every photo in magazines and online of quilting studios for ideas if it were me. Once you can come up with some sort of floor plan, you should be able to mentally walk through the space and know exactly what you want to put where. Then you can order your cabinets. Keep us posted, this is exciting.

I just saw a picture of an organized closet that contained a CLEAR peg board. I dislike the look of pegboards but clear sounds awesome. I am considering buying 1-2 in order to hang my rulers and stencils. That might be a cool addition to your room.

Dotha's post about Lois Hallock's "Planner" must refer just to a companion item that goes with her book. The book itself is wonderful. I pored over it for months before making decisions for my sewing room. My space is only 11 x 13 but has a big walk-in closet. I had our carpenter make a table that serves as both cutting and ironing space. It's on casters and has a large drop-leaf. It's the very best thing in the room...other than my beloved Bernina, of course!

Thanks for the tips. I am also all about dressers and other things on wheels, etc. Hadn’t thought about them locking but at least for some items that would sure be a great idea. Glad you brought it up.

That adorable grandson and his sister.
 

Thanks, we think so! Here he is with his sister at her third birthday princess party. He was the Frog Prince.
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So here is an update regarding the new studio we are planning to build very soon.
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I have a space in my garage where I am accumulating stuff that I hope to use in my new studio whenever it is finally ready for me. My DH and I have been to a ton of yard sales, flea markets, and antique stores. It’ s just something we love to do together.
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Today I found this little foot stool for only $18 and I can’t wait to put in on wheels, and cover it in something new and inspirational.

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I love these little boxes, I can see them painted in a primitive way with words stenciled on them like BUTTONS, THREAD, and OTHER JUNK who cares if that is not what ends up in them. LOL

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This baby buggy – dolly sized – was a must have even if it did go for $100. I can see it draped with doll quilts and of course my antique baby dolls. Let’s hope there’s room for it after I get done with all the essentials.

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$15 – wow. I think this is from an old sewing machine cabinet, great place for something!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]321428[/ATTACH]And now for the grand prize winner. We bought this a few weeks ago for $250.00 It has 30 little drawers that were once used for those little cards at the library. It is VERY heavy. Which is why I am glad it comes apart in four pieces (top, 15 drawers, 15 more, and base with legs)
What a find for a sewing room. Are you jealous?