ORGANIZATION....
CAN BE PRETTY ALSO!!!!
Some of you already know that we were making plans to move last year. We packed up some 400 boxes of our stuff and loaded it to a shed to store, while we continued to clean, refurbish and get our home ready to show. This was from April through July. By August we put the house up for sale. With such a "hot" market we thought we would sell fast and have to be out fast, so we felt we were ready.
Even though we weren't trying to make all our money back that we had put into the house, new deck, new driveway, etc., we were hoping to at least make back what we had bought for almost 10 years ago. After two months, and with not many people looking at the house we counseled with a good friend, whose a realtor. He suggested our prices was too high, way too high. By the time he told us what he realistically thought it would sell for, and we took in realtor fees, etc., we were way below what we had bought for.
That was crazy...to think of taking a voluntary move, and lose money. Too irresponsible we felt. Not good stewardship of our money.
So we cancelled the idea of moving, and proceeded to move all the boxes back to our house!!! I am going to take you on a journey of how we took this opportunity to redesign my sewing room...not too wordy...mostly pictures!
First, here's the space before we did anything...
This is the "library"...totaling 15 bookshelves! Many of these books were downsized and given away. The top picture is on your right as you walk towards my sewing room in the background.
These shelves are on your left as you walk towards the sewing room in the back.
When standing in my doorway, this is looking back towards the other end of the library.
This is the desk that I had for my computer...used to need such a big desk before the laptop!!!
Opposite side of the room, back towards the library, this desk was for my sewing. Both desk were solid oak and extremely heavy. It took four guys to get them up the stairs last summer.
Below, as I started the downsizing of the books, the library took on this look.
Extra storage for my sewing.
As we got the house ready to be shown, this is how it looked, below.
Books were donated, and things we wanted to keep were boxed and stored.
Books were donated, and things we wanted to keep were boxed and stored.
Looking back at the sewing room, this is all that's left!!
A totally empty sewing room!!! This is how the room looked when we had lookers.
Naturally, when we realized we weren't going to sell, it was time to move back in! All those boxes came back home! Now my husband told me, to rethink how to design my sewing space. Actually, we realized, I had never done that. Really design the space!!! It just was always Hodge-podge!!!!
That's when I knew I didn't need to stay even with the same color scheme! I needed to think outside of the box....completely!!!
If you aren't familiar with Pinterest, I would recommend it, just be forewarn that it's addicting! I spent many hours on it searching what I like, what was possible and more. I needed to learn how to set my sewing room up so that it would be well organized, but also attractive. If I am going to spend hours in this room, I needed to be able to love it!
You can visit my Pinterest board Crazy Quilt Sewing Room Organization for all those ideas that inspired me. There's over 600 pins, I told you, it's addicting! But there you will see how the color scheme grabbed me. If you go to the bottom of the page, and come up, you might see a few you like!
Here's a sampling:
Since I had been working on a Peacock project, these colors jumped out at me. Back in the 1970's I had decorated a bathroom in these colors, but you couldn't find anything with the two combined, so I bought towels, wash cloths, etc. of each color and put them together myself. Guess I was just ahead of my time!
Now you can find these two colors every where! Also, my BFF had a bedroom growing up in lavender and I had always loved her room!!!
I do find the colors extremely relaxing but exhilarating!!!
A trip to Home Depot was a must. I chose what I felt I could live with. Now I already knew that all the furniture was going to be all white. If I went with pastel, which is normal for me, the room would have looked washed out. My instincts told me the walls needed to be more dramatic.
We moved most of the furniture out of the rooms, or towards the center and used as work space.
The blue went up on two walls first. My husband looked at me, and said, "Are you sure?" LOL!
But then, when it was time for the lavender, well, you should have seen the look on his face! Priceless!
We stuck it out, and kept going. The more we got the walls painted, the more we both liked the colors!
I even think the names on the colors are apropos: Paradise Sky and Magic Wand!!!
Finally...Moving in day!!! Sandy was a big help in designing where to put all the cubby holes for maximum space saving storage! All of these were ones we already had, so no new ones in here.
More boxes for this cabinet also. Below the file cabinet was found in a thrift store for $15! A new counter will be added for a desk.
Amazing how much storage we got out of the existing units, but a whole new arrangement out of them!
This is the room that used to be the library. Sandy surprised me with the wicker dresser, which goes with the bench we already had. He found it also at a thrift store for $45!
Sandy came up with the idea of how to put all my yarns on the closet door! Not only decorative, but always visible when I am stitching!
Above, I display my glitter on a lazy Suzanne.
The desk complete and in use!
Buttons and Ribbons on wall.
Shelves filled up with beads, threads, and lots of books!
Lights and glass, I am addicted to. I collected much from thrift stores and added threads, buttons, etc. for pretty storage! The San-dollars were painted by my mother years ago.
Yarns stored on hooks.
This wall is in the first room...two views...these were new ones we bought. More glass jars for storage, books on crazy quilting and sewing.
This view looks back to the opposite side of the room. It was Sandy's idea to put these cubby holes as a room divider!
The picture above is my favorite painter, Susan Rios. Coincidentally, the title of it is called, A New Arrangement! She teaches painting classes in Carmel, California, which is on my bucket list to take from her!!!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my journey! I thank you for visiting.
Happy Stitching!
