Oh Sew Organized — Finally!
With Ellie’s big girl room being the most decorated room in the house, I set out to organize and decorate my office and sewing space next — over a year ago. I am happy to report that it is finally a settled, organized and beautiful space to be creative in.
A History of Sewing Rooms
When Ellie was born, our offices were combined upstairs, which left me the tail end of the laundry room that we just moved downstairs to create a cozy sewing space, complete with — yes — more shelves for fabric, a cutting and ironing area and my grandmother’s sewing desk and machine. It all fit nicely, even being so small of a space, and it was very functional to go from ironing or cutting to sewing and back again.
After Ellie became a mobile toddler we had to separate offices in hopes to minimize the interruptions for Brian. I also longed to combine my office and sewing room into one creative space. The best plan we came up with was that the largest room downstairs would be a shared space between the guest bedroom and Brian’s office and then, guessing that the small room upstairs may be needed for another child, my office and sewing space would be gathered together in the other bedroom in the basement to include — yes — more shelves for fabric, my large desk, cutting and iron areas as well as my grandmother’s sewing desk and my new machine.
About six months later, Brian ventured to an office out of our home and here sat the largest room of the house, empty unless we had guests over. The room I had moved into was large enough but it lacked natural lighting, and with a hobby like sewing, you can never have too much room. So I decided to take over the largest room of the house and promised Brian that my desk would never move again.
Settled for Good
With all of the transitions of offices and sewing rooms, there has been an endless trail of “stuff” left behind and when push comes to shove with another baby on the way, closets need to be emptied and those trails need to be taken care of for good.
Since the plan is to never move my office and sewing room again, I decided to put a little color on the walls while the room was empty and Brian was able to put in the finishing trim. It seemed like a quick move with piles left stacking high with no time to dig into them properly over the holidays. I could do what I needed to do, but it was a visual eye-sore.
My desk fills the short wall opposite of the window making it the perfect place to get some work done. I purchased some shelves that matched my desk very nicely and then got busy folding and organizing my fabric stash. Stored in the corner closet is the office supplies, printer, sewing notions, and additional fabrics. My grandmother’s sewing desk has found it’s place back in front of a large window, just as it was in her sewing space. Above my cutting table I quilted and covered four square cork boards and hung a ruler rack for easy access. I iron on top of some cubicles that store my ironing needs and my current/unfinished projects just waiting to be worked on. The shelf above the ironing board is great place to display random trimmings, buttons, and more.
I am sure there will be a few decor items here and there that will grace a shelf or two, but for the most part, the room is finished. Complete even with my scraps organized.