Sewing Room Makeover - Again... The Big Reveal

Last summer, at my wonderful husband's suggestion, I moved my sewing space from the breakfast nook, where it had been for more than 20 years, to one of our now-empty bedrooms.  At the time, I thought I knew what I wanted by way of organization.

Now that several months have passed, I can tell you that it just wasn't working. I had stuff hidden behind stuff and fabric in bins that were buried under other things that I just couldn't get to.  I had piles on my piles, so to speak.

It all started when I was at Target last week and they had these ClosetMaid Cubeicals on clearance.  I've been stalking them since I bought the first ones last July, and I never saw them go on sale.  But at 30% off for the organizers and the baskets, I decided to go ahead and get them.

So put together the Cubeicals and tore the room apart.

Naturally the mess kind of exploded into the hall.

I moved most of the storage along one wall.  (All by myself in fact, because the husband wasn't home.)

By the end of the next day, I had made a lot of progress.  It was still a mess, but I could see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.

One of my problems is that I tend to use and re-use only the fabrics I can see.  Unless I'm looking for something very specific, I will make do with what is readily at hand.  This was all the fabric that was sitting on the top of my sewing table.

I purchased comic book cards months ago, when I first started my sewing room project, so I folded all that fabric onto cards and added it by color on the shelves.

I had also purchased a giant box of destash fabric from IG, amongst which was this treasure trove of 2-1/2" squares  Sadly, even though it was obvious that they had been mostly sorted by color, they had gotten all mixed up in shipping.  So, I took a couple of hours and sorted them...

and they fit perfectly into this perfectly sized box that my friend had given me months ago that was just sitting empty.  I guess it was waiting for these squares, because it is amazingly ideal for this purpose.

So now it is much better.  This room is very small - only 12' x 12' - but having most of the storage along the one wall makes a huge difference.  Best of all, I can now see what I have.

There's lots of thread.  And I didn't move the computer screen, although I may have the husband do that next time he's home for any length of time.

The other side of the room still looks messy, but it is a vast improvement over the way it was before.  And next time I am at Home Depot or somewhere, I'm going to get some shelves for that wall which are slightly larger.  I think that will make a big difference.

I had to cut the design wall down by about 6" to make the whole thing work, but it seems a small price to pay.  And it makes a great display place for random blocks and other miscellaneous items when I don't have a quilt up there.

And I still have most of my minis on the wall, although I have a few more to hang.

All in all, it's a pretty pleasant space.  Hopefully, the new arrangement will be a lot more functional too.