sewing addition help again, but still in researching phase

I just finished a sewing room for my wife...It is 20 by 16 and here is what I did for her...

1) wood floor, makes it easy to sweep up and see the dust on the floor - since she does wedding dresses, it is important things are clean 2) Air cleaner - normal woodshop air cleaner mounted in the ceiling to catch dust 3) Cutting table with storage under it - used the Ikea bins for storage

- they come in 3 depths - so projects can be stored together - made the rack units myself with a router and skill saw

4) ON the wall roll storage for fabric - used 1 inch wooden dowels and 1x6 end boards - the dowels slide in and out. They hold large amounts of fabric in an easy to pull onto the cutting table fashion. One rack is centered on the cutting table 5) A cutting board top for the cutting table - making it possible to using rolling cutters on the fabric. I also took some green house plastic (flexible clear 10 mil plastic) and edged it with gaffers tape, so she has a cover for the cutting table when she has a project out and needs to leave it. 6) Sewing cabinet - bought it - so that she has a professional cabinet to do work on - it stands away from the wall - so project can hang over in all directions - the machine lift lets her lower the main machine and put the serger in place to work with it, in about 30 seconds. 7) Floor to ceiling cabinets (and where the cabinet would not go high enough bins that close) 2 walls worth (about 35 feet of wall space) 8) a 4 x 4 foot peg board on a 1x2 frame - and lots of 12 inch long straight hooks - her thread cones go on the pegs - 3 to a peg (e.g. all the same color on the same peg). Probably 80 colors up right now. 9) Thread rack - got two from stores that were tossing them - they are full of thread sorted by general color (e.g. all the greens are in the same area) 10) pattern drawers - 2 file cabinets that were bought surplus and painted white with enamel to match the cabinets - patterns run left to right in the drawers - making room for 3 rows in each drawer - 1/4 inch plywood makes the dividers

Lots more details if you have questions. It is the third time I have done this for her - this is the largest space in the house now. The next move is to add on, if it needs to grow again.

Doug

Doug, that sounds fantastic. Do you have pix anywhere we can see? I'm sure we can all learn from the way you have planned and set this out. There must be lots of little details we will love.

And, of course, we are incurably nosy... ;)

And as jealous as heck...... not that I have time to do sewing anymore, and I'm very lucky in having a small room all to myself as my sewing room set up 99% of the time (1% guest bedroom usage).

Sarah

Outstanding thoughts and suggestions!!!

I have added them to my original list and will be plotting and pricing over the next few months. I'm hoping that this will all be bought/made/dealt with by the time the kiddos go back to school in August, so I have a little while yet.

The big project that needs working on (as far as the house is concerned) is finishing hubby's office (hey, he gave me the finished room for sewing and has waited over 2 years to work on his office, so I can delay finishing my room to my specifications for a few months). I have drafted out the preliminary layout - for the closet!! And I am going to get as far away from pastels as I can for the decor.

Right now, the room holds 2 collapsable tables (set at a right angle to each other with the trash can between the ends that meet - easier to just slide all scraps right off into it), a tall wardrobe cabinet that currently holds my apparel fabrics, but will be turned into the computer and planning area with schedules, etc. so that I can get rid of the cheapo computer desk, a bookshelf that may or maynot be staying, a narrow - 12" - wide 2-shelf cabinet that will be going up on one of the walls, another wall cabinet that is about 18" wide and is currently holding who-knows-what. The first closet holds a base cabinet and wallcabinet, stacked on top of each other and originally intended for my quilting fabrics, now holding giftwrap and boxes, the other closet has cheap metal shelving, which will be going to the garage.

My plan is to make one HUGE closet and I will have 3/4 of it for my fabrics and such, with the remaining 1/4 (where the base and wall cabinets will be) being for the misc stuff - wrappings and such - simple because we have no other storage at this time. Eventually, they will be moved into storage in hubby's room since he is making storage alcoves specifically for the things that we don't need 365 days a year.

I've already got the wood floor, and when we are done with it, I will have black mopboard (vinyl for easy wipe down), slightly ivory walls (recycling paint leftover from the kitchen/dining room, that was then used on 2 walls in the family room) with a turquoise trim. Accessories will either be white or black....I have a black futon that will stay in the room for customer seating. I have yet to figure out where my design wall is going, but I *will* have one, no matter how small, to hold customer ideas and quilt ideas.

Again, thanks for the imput!!

Larisa

It all sounds very exciting. You've had enough troubles recently that a ME project like this is just what you need. You can scoot bits of paper about and play with exact layout and stuff while hubby's room is being done. You have time to really think this through and make it work. I feel almost as fired up about it as you! You really must keep a diary of progress and planning on the web somewhere so we can keep up with you. We are, after all, incurably nosy! :LD We will totally understand if you need to neglect us a little while it all gets done. If we feel you get out of sight, we'll come LOOKING for you! ;)

Are yuo married? Oh yes, you said you were.. Just kidding but it sounds fantastic. And we do want to see pictures!

Kirsten

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Click on Kate's Pages and explore!Hey Kate! After reading the post on RCTQ, I'm sure you can understandthat this is going to take a while...the post about the sick child. I am toying with the idea of the google blog since I don'thave to pay for it....will probably get it set up so that I can use itfor the sewing room progress as well as the actual SEWING progress. I need to get some accurate room measurements and then I will be drafting out potential layouts. SInce hubby is at the phase in HIS room where he would rather work alone or with minimal help, I can do my designing while I'm inside with the children or doing other household chores. I did find some awesome, totally the right color sheers for the 1 window that I have (it looks out onto the side street, not that pleasant, trying to figure out how to fix that) as well as some great curtains for whenever I get around to redoing the master bedroom (currently olive green with white trim...yuck). I have decided that I won't bother with hardwood flooring *in* the closet, but instead will be putting down probably vinyl tiles, maybe in black with multicolored fleck in it, preferably with some metallic. I am going to re-sketch the closet layout sometime this weekend, if I can find the time between sick children, bills, and grocery shopping...lol.

Once I get something set up, I will post back here so that y'all can track my progress. I'm actually REALLY liking most of the suggestions...the pegboard has been something I've been wanting for a while (cutting implements are currently on pushpins above one of the tables) and I had a thread rack once, but have no idea where it got to when we moved here. I can't do the 2 walls of cabinets, but I can probably do one wall of cabinets.

We'll see how things progress....off to feed the family

Larisa

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> Click on Kate's Pages and explore!> > Hey Kate! After reading the post on RCTQ, I'm sure you can understand> that this is going to take a while...the post about the sick child > . I know... Fingers crossed and all that.

That sounds like a good idea.

If I was doing it, I might just hardwood all the way through... It wouldn't be THAT much more expensive, not when you consider the cost of the whole thing. Do, if you possibly can: that way if you do ever have to sell, you'll have an added touch of luxury to add to the selling points! ;)

Every bit helps! We fitted most of the conservatory with pre-loved kitchen units (one new unit for the sink, and a couple of bases left over from fitting the kitchen!), and will just change some of the doors so they all match when we have the cash.

I've just made dinner for later... By the time I get to it I might want to eat it!