Sewing Room Update

After moving into our new home a little over a year ago, I was thrilled to have my sewing room.  It's perfect for me.  It's downstairs, the window looks into the backyard, and the door opens to the family room and the kitchen.  Perfect for keeping an eye on all my little people, perfect for being able to work in the small bits of time I get each day.  But let's be honest.  Moving into a house, for me, left me with limited funds to make my sewing room amazing.  Quite honestly, I need a little time in a place to see how I like to function. 

Setting up the old sewing room was still fun.  It wasn't pretty though, and it was mildly functional, and it wasn't that organized.  I tried though.  And I was still grateful to just have a spot to hang my hat and make a few things.

Here are the before shots. The closet was a mess.  All the left over portions were in there.  My absolute funniest part was the bottom picture on the right.  That wall was a rag tag collection of shelving I found whenever I needed a little more storage.  It wasn't pretty.  It wasn't strong.  It wasn't great.  But it was mine.  But I was aching for something more.

I spent months planning this thing.  I searched high and low in IKEA for the right fit.  I planned a whole room.  And then they changed their product offering.  Big frowny face. Back to the drawing board. Still Ikea, but it took more time, and a little more money to make my sewing room what I wanted.  Billy bookshelves have become a big friend of mine over the last year.  They are cheap, but they are awesome. I also used the new Kallax (but wished so hard for the whole Expedit series they used to have).  And for the walls, I got both versions of the Varde shelf. And then a tons of odds and ends, chair cushions, containers, containers, and more containers. 

News flash.  I got all the stuff for the sewing room a week before Thanksgiving.  And I didn't get it put together until the day after Christmas.  That took way longer than I desired. I wanted to organize it perfectly. I wanted to be able to find things easily.  Have it be intuitive as I was creating things.  That took time.

Here's the semi-finished product.  I still want to "decorate" a little.  Pretty it up a bit.  But, this is the main idea.  The biggest change still needing to be done is the desk top.  My hubby is going to make that, I'll update y'all when that happens.

The closet was in desperate need of an overhaul.  I used left over items I had from our old house.  I love the gift bag storage, hopefully things will be a little easier to find now.  The tissue storage is pretty fun too, another ikea item I had from the old house, now the tissue is tucked away, out of sight, but organized.

Here's one of the Varde shelves from Ikea.  This displays and holds my ribbons, and trims, needles, pens, buttons, etc.  It's close to my sewing machine, so I can easily use these items.

Who doesn't love a wall of shelves.  I do.  I do.  This was an interesting transformation.  We bought three more shelves, 2 regular size, 1 15" wide.  As I was installing them, and organizing all my goods, I realized they just didn't have enough shelves to best use the space.  Lightbulb moment!!!!! I had a ton of Billy shelves left over from our "built in" bookshelves project we did earlier.  I gathered them up, and low and behold, Billy has changed their shelving hardware.  After a little wait, we got to go to IKEA again (2 hour drive away), got some more hardware, and I used the drill a bit, and now the shelves all fit.  I have everything I need.  Phew.

Do you remember the most horrible wall?  A mess of random shelving.  This is it now.  I love it.  It's clean.  Useful.  Love.  And when my sweetheart puts the table top on it, it will look finished, and be great.  The plan is that my little ones can work in here with me.  That there will be room on each side of the table, for two to work.  The hope is bonding and accomplishment can be done at the same time.  The shelving above the table still needs a little work too.  I need to decide where I want to attach some "goodies" to the wall.  Drilling things into the wall, always inspires me to pause for a little bit.

I am loving my new space.  It feels bigger.  It's easier to be in here, and it's easier to work.  I'm loving it.  Maybe IKEA can work some magic in your sewing room too.