Welcome Back to My Newly Improved Sewing Room!

After I wrote this post on my sewing room, I started thinking about some of the "wishes" I had mentioned in the post -- like having more room on my table for cutting and ironing, taking more advantage of vertical storage, etc.  It suddenly dawned on me that I could easily create more possibilites for vertical storage by rearranging the room.  I dug out the measuring tape and starting figuring out the possibilities.  I decided that if I flip-flopped my table and my stackable drawer system, I would be able to add on to the drawer system since the window would no longer be a factor, and I would have the additional bonus of being able to see out the window while I sewed!  Win-win situation!

Here's part of the new and improved layout!  In the old layout, the storage system was in front of the window, and unfortunately blocked part of it, especially when I added baskets on top of the storage!  The sewing table was against the other wall, and was covered with way too many things.  The first thing I had to do was remove a lot of clutter from the room (I'm in the midst of a slew of custom orders, which I'll post more about later, but suffice it to say, the room was a complete disaster! Then, I had to do quite a bit of dusting -- a lot had accumulated in places that were very hard to get to with all of the clutter in the way!  This caused a fair amount of sneezing!

Once I had most of the clutter cleared away, I was able to flip flop the storage unit and table (this was not easy to do in such a small space, but I made it work!).  I was able to put the storage unit right against the corner, once I checked to make sure that I could still access the drawers while leaving the crate bookshelf where it was. (The sunflower quilt is still in the original location, so if you look back at my old post, you can really see how things have moved around!)

I really like the crate bookshelf system, and it worked fine in its original location. I decided to purchase two more crates so I could get even more backing fabrics folded and stored -- these had been in an overflowing basket under my sewing table.  I definitely am at the maximum height here, so although there is a little more room for books and backings, I need to keep these purchases to a minimum in the future!

Here's a view from just inside the door.  This layout actually allows me to use the ironing board in the room when I need to iron tops and backings.  This will make the family happy as they are tired of walking around the ironing board in the kitchen!  The floor space isn't quite enough to layout a quilt, but I can lay out a few blocks here and there when I need to.  The best part is that now I can invest in a few more of my beloved storage drawer units.  I plan to go one level higher, which means I can fit four more units!  Although I've made good use of the drawers, I have some additional fat quarters waiting to be stored, and another row of units will be perfect!  I already purchased one (top left) and put it on top of my two shelving units that used to be on my steel industrial shelving unit (these hold Accquilt dies and works in progress). 

Now I have room on my industrial shelving to store all of my Etsy quilts ready for shipping!  I'm hoping to eventually clear a little more space on this unit (second shelf and fifth shelf) to better maximize its use.  You may also have noticed that my table is now clear enough to work on!  I really thought about what I absolutely needed on the table, and what could be stored away, and I am so happy with the new work area!
It's nice to be going into the new school year with a clean and organized space!  All is not perfect yet, however -- I didn't include the behind the scenes pics of the pile of items that did not get put back in the room yet (trying to weed through these and destash some) or the closet (I need to take better advantage of the vertical space in the closet in order to store the rest of the items!)  Once I purchase a shelving unit for the closet, that should take care of both of those issues!
I'll be sharing pics of some of my custom orders in an upcoming post, and I'll have a post about what caused me to take immediate action on the room redo!  Tune in soon for more on that!