Sewing Room Makeover, part 1

I am just about finished cleaning out and reorganizing my sewing room. I did this room for under $500 using things I already owned and purchasing a few things including a desk, chair, lighting and cabinets. What a job! I was totally clueless about how much stuff was actually stored in that room. So let's start from the beginning. This is the smallest bedroom in our house measuring approximately 10 X 10. Last fall, I purchased a quilting machine requiring me to move everything out of the room so the machine could be delivered. While the room was cleaned out, I repainted, made and hung new curtains, we pulled up the carpeting and installed laminate flooring. Sorry I don't have any before pictures. The machine was delivered and it didn't take long before the room became a sort of catch all for everything because there was just no organization. So last month after I dropped my machine off for servicing, I decided to clean and reorganize the entire room. It had gotten to the point where I couldn't get anything done in there and was back to sewing on the kitchen table. I couldn't find anything without taking my life in my hands! Here are a few before photos which were actually taken after I had started pulling everything out of the closet (I didn't take photos of the stuff stacked in the hall). Beware and be scared! Far Corner (don't hate the lamp, as ugly as it is, it is a great light source!)

Inside Large Cabinet Stacked Full Containers

Now for the afters:

This is taken as you walk into the room. I made an ironing board to fit the top of the cabinet so I wouldn't have to drag the ironing board out just to press seams and blocks. Sewing Area immediately to the left as you walk in the room This is my design wall with new storage cabinets below and the ironing area. Opposite wall with another cabinet and closet. Tomorrow I'll show you the insides of the cabinets (which are all full) and provide the juicy details about how I saved on everything in this room!

Made by You Mondays

Today I am participating in Made by You Monday sponsored by Skip to my Lou and Desing Wall Monday sponsored by Patchwork Times. I had several projects I thought about showing but many are finished without pictures! So today I am showing my Vintage Sheet Bee Blocks. I made one for an example for my bee buddies but they were so addicting, I seem to be working on these every time I get a free minute. I used this tutorial and changed the size of the block to 12" and cut my strips no wider than 1.5" just to give it a little more variety. I really like this project because there's no paper to tear. I hate tearing paper!

Just keepin it real....

So I finally decided that I couldn't stand my sewing room one minute longer! I have had a sewing room for about a year now but I find myself still sewing on the kitchen table and having all my fabric and accessories all over the house. To be fair, these pictures were taken after I pulled almost everything out of the very small closet. (Pretend the pictures are turned right side up, I'm not sure what's going on with them!) My goal is to have the room cleaned out and cleaned up and organized no later than Friday, August 13, 2010. I think that's a good goal.

See that generic black clock on the wall? We'll be fixing that to make it look great!