Monday, November 3, 2008

YAY for Organization!!!

Not too long ago I had a pretty decent set-up for my crafting needs. I had a nice little corner in our finished basement dedicated to both my sewing and scrapbooking needs. I had drawers, shelves, cabinets, a closet...I was in good shape! I mean, yeah, of course everyone has that picture in their mind of their dream crafting space, but I was very content with my little corner in the basement. That is until my mother-in-law moved in with us a couple months ago and what was our familyroom, office, and my crafting center was turned into her little 'apartment'. So, what's a woman to do??? The only other room in the house that was not really 'used' was the diningroom. So, my diningroom is now my office and sewing room. My scrapbooking stuff is now in bins and boxes, but that's a whole different story. My major focus now is sewing....so, anyway...I went from an area with a built-in desk that spanned 2 walls, built-in cabinets, shelves, and drawers, and a closet to....NOTHING in the way of storage. And since 90% of the furniture that I used in the basement was built-in, it wasn't something I could just move up into the diningroom. So, as you can imagine, I had quite a mess. I had Josh build me a cutting table with some big drawers to store fabric in. But, it wasn't nearly enough. I had so much stuff crammed EVERYWHERE that whenever I needed something, I'd have to dig through it and it ended up a huge mess very quickly. Here...let me show you. :)

Here's the cutting table and an old desk that I pulled out of the basement for my sewing machine.


Now, I know what you're thinking....that's not bad at all, right??? Well, that's because you haven't seen the inside of the drawers yet. lol...Top drawer (and, yes, the entire drawer was in the same kind of disarray - it wasn't just the top layer):

Bottom Drawer - same story...a big mass of tangled fabric, oh, and don't forget the elastic mixed in there, too!

And how about the drawers in the desk....well...here's a sample of that - all my Aplix tangled beyond recognition...don't ask me where the end of it is.

And what's worse is what I forgot to take pictures of....the piles of fabric to the left of the cutting table and against the opposite wall. There simply was not enough room for it all. So, I put Josh to work again! I had him buy some pegboard to hang above the desk so that I could move my thread and some of my other tools and notions up onto the wall freeing up space on the desk for the serger which in turn freed up space on the cutting table for the snap press. Then, I had him build shelves up to the ceiling to hold more fabric and notions. Then I organized everything! I wrapped all my elastic around little cardboard pieces and put them in bins, all my aplix is now neatly wrapped around a rod above the cutting table, and MOST of my fabric is now visible, and easily accessible. I used some pieces of mdf to wrap my fabric around - like little bolts that you'd see at the fabric store. I'm quite happy with the result! It's been so much easier and quicker to get things done! No, its not perfect, and no, its still not my dream sewing space, but it sure is an improvement!!! :)


Boy am I thankful to have such a handy husband! :)

1 comment:

RetroRugrats said...

Wow! very nice. I have a handy DH myself and it is great. Happy sewing!