Quilt Studio: Switching Spaces

Hi.
My name is Lani.
I’m a quilter.
And a fabric hoarder.
And a ruler collector.
And a crafty mess maker.

If you are a crafter of any kind, then you know how vital it is to have an area in your home carved out for all your crafty “stuff.”  It could be as small as a table and a shelf in your dining room, or as large as an entire room or two dedicated to your specialty.  When we lived in California, I had the former … a table in the corner of our “formal” dining room.  The dining room table was also used, especially for cutting fabric (with a cutting mat on the table, of course.) And there were definitely piles of fabric and “works in progress” lined up on the floor of the room. It was awesome!  (Sometimes I miss the simplicity of that arrangement.) Here at Sunnyside Manor, though, I have the blessing of dedicating not one, but two spaces for my love of quilting.

In the first post of my Quilt Studio series, I showed you how we turned the loft into my fabric studio. But so much more is needed for quilting. Besides shelves full of fabric, there’s space for cutting, the sewing machine, pressing, etc.

When we first moved, we were 100% convinced that the basement would serve as the perfect space for my quilt studio.  We started in the farthest corner of the basement.

Then did some rearranging and moved it around a bit.

This setup was great!  Plenty of room for my machine (which normally is on the desk). Perfect spot for my cutting tables. My stash is accessible, although not very organized. One of the things I really liked about this space was the big wall that I could use for a design wall.

But there was one problem.  It was in the basement.  An unfinished, gray basement.  Don’t get me wrong … how could I not be content with so much space! I am truly blessed! But I was frequently all alone down there, while the family was upstairs.  Since I’m a fairly social person, it just wasn’t working.  I wasn’t getting anything done and my love for quilting soon became a dreaded chore.

I don’t know about you, but over here at Sunnyside Manor, we have a severe case of DIY ADHD going on.  Seriously, any one DIY project  can create a domino affect that has the potential of turning every area of the house into another project, all to be started without another being finished.

I’ll try and explain.  Hang on tight … this might be a bit confusing.
Hubby thought it would be a great idea to start “finishing” the basement.  Build walls, run electrical, sheet rock, etc.  You get the idea.  To do that we needed to start “excavating” the basement.  First to go:  my quilt stuff.  No way, no how was I going to have all that construction dust anywhere near my quilty stuff. So after searching the house high and low, we decided to put it up in the loft. Only one problem. The bedroom on the other side of the loft was occupado. The high school senior, soon to be college freshman had taken possession of that space.

Part of the basement plan was to build out a bedroom and a bathroom which this particular boy-child would occupy. SO, since we’re moving him to his new “suite” in the lower level fairly soon, let’s go ahead and move him out of the loft and let him have the spare bedroom on the main floor until the lower level is done.  Besides, you might notice that there aren’t any pillows on this bed … he actually prefers to sleep on the couch in the family room!

Still following me?
So here’s where that whole domino thing happens.

1) Move son and all his belongings to the spare bedroom on the main level.
2) Start a DIY project and build shelves in the loft
3) Move the quilty/crafty stuff in the basement up two flights of stairs to its new home in the loft, in no particular order. Just grab and go.  Five people.  75 trips. Just put it “someplace” on the floor.
4) Organize the huge mess.

And that’s where we began this series …

The second part of this makeover is the actual quilt studio … the “work” space.

Here she is in all her naked, yellow glory.  Actually, the walls are all white, it’s just a really bad photo taken by the realtor.

Once the loft was done we went ahead and set up the cutting tables and put up a card table for my sewing machine.  Plenty of room … organized … crafty heaven!

The Montgomery Wards pink wingback chair c. 1985 is the perfect spot for hubby to come hang out with me to chat or watch TV.

Definitely showing signs of improvement, don’t you think?

But we’re not quite done yet.  Another “issue” cropped up.
As a blogger I kinda’ require the use of a blogging device, namely a computer.
The computer was … wait for it … IN THE BASEMENT … where we had set up the office.
By now you know the drill … more DIY dominoes … because I could be SSSSOOOOOOOO much more productive if my computer and my quilt space were all together.

And so we began the de-construction, re-construction of the quilt studio and hit the pause button on the basement buildout.

You’ll have to wait until the next installment to see what we came up with, but let’s just say it involves this behemoth of a desk.

Are you a crafter?  Do you have a space all your own?  I’d love to hear about it.
If you are a blogger and have written about your space, leave a link in the comments.