Repurposed China Cabinet: Fabric Storage

So I mentioned in my last couple posts that I've been redecorating in the sewing room.  Since we replaced the carpet, I took the opportunity to do some rearranging, downsizing, and making pretty.  I'll share the full remodel soon, but this new cabinet is one of my favorite pieces!  For those of you new to my blog, here's the old sewing room layout.


Here's the $50 Craigslist china cabinet the day I brought her home:

Not horrible, but needed a little freshening up in my opinion.  And after a good cleaning, a few coats of Annie Sloan chalk paint (old white), some sanding, and clear wax (not to mention all the muscles involved toting this around for me inside, outside, and upstairs), here she is:

You can also see a glimpse of the new wall color: it's Travertine by Sherwin Williams.  A very sunny, happy color.  And a few close-ups of the details... the drawers are perfect for storing all those little loose items like ribbon and zippers and scissors/tape and books - nicely tucked out of the way.

I bought the antique Singer machine from a thrift store for $5 a long time ago, but never had just the right place to showcase it.  Now it has a proper home in the new cabinet.

I've painted a few pieces of furniture before, but not one this big or with windows or that needed paint on the inside.  I won't lie - it was time intensive, but I absolutely love the end result!

Linking up at Quilt Story.

xoxo,

Megan

Special WIP: Sewing Room Facelift

This week's WIP is a facelift for my sewing studio!  Thanks to a sweet puppy with separation anxiety issues, we were finally given the push to replace the carpet in the secondary bedrooms - a project we've only been talking about since we moved in almost 5 years ago :)

But wow, cleaning out those rooms and the corresponding closets has made me realize how much junk we've accumulated.  So I'm taking this opportunity to purge and reorganize.  Actually, I thought hell had frozen over earlier this week when the hubby actually agreed to get rid of 3 garbage bags full of his clothes, suits, & shoes.  You don't know how much I struggle with him to let go of stuff - I was seriously over the moon - that gift was better than any flowers, jewelry, etc could ever be :)  Now I hope he keeps the momentum going to tackle his mancave (a girl can dream, right??)

Anyways, I'm planning to repaint the sewing room and potentially shuffle the furniture around - I'll keep yall posted!

xoxo,

Megan 

Scraps under control

I feel like my house is a downright disaster area.  I have projects (physically in progress) or wannabe projects (those only in my head at this point) going on in almost every room.  New paint colors, garage sale finds waiting to be transformed, pictures waiting to be edited & printed & hung, on and on...  But Sunday I tackled some stacks in my sewing room.  So while the rest of the house may feel chaotic to me, my scrap bin is now under control and wonderfully organized by color :)

And I'm doing a major downsizing on my fabric stash - check out my Etsy fabric shop for lots of destash fabric. 

Light at the end of the closet...

We are sooooo close to finishing up our master closet project. It's back to being functional, and I've reloaded much of our clothes/shoes. Still need to do some purging, then I'll share all the details... Until then, wish me luck in persuading the hubs he really doesn't need all those stained t-shirts he hasn't worn in years ;)

Sewing Room Tour

I love seeing other people's sewing spaces, so thought it was time to share mine. And what better time to do so than after it's been organized and cleaned, right?

In our previous townhome, my sewing room doubled as the guest room and it was the first room people saw when they walked in. So I had to keep it fairly clean and continuously pack and unpack my projects.

But in our current home, I'm fortunate to have a secondary bedroom that is completely dedicated as my sewing studio. It's bright and cheerful and a great place to escape, turn up the music, and just create :)

I can't pick just one favorite item, but some things that have made my life easier are:

• the Craigslist cabinet, which just so happened to be a perfect fit for a 24" x 36" cutting mat.
• the sewing table (a Christmas present from the hubs), which is way more ergonomic than the drop-leaf table I was using before.
• the IKEA Billy bookcases so I can see all my fabric.
• my DIY design wall.

What's your favorite thing about your sewing space?

Fabric Stash In Order

One night as I was browsing some of my favorite blogs, I came across The Art of Choosing series by Jeni at In Color Order. Knowing that my fabric shelves looked like this...
... I decided to embark on a fabric organizing project. I won't tell you how many hours I spent folding and ordering my fabrics, but I will say it was well worth the effort! Check out the after:For fabrics where I had over 1 yard, I rolled on mini-bolts and placed on the upper shelves. For pieces 1 yard or less, I folded and placed on the lower shelves. I had a hard time breaking up a few of my designer collections, so I put those in a separate cabinet for now:

And after all that work, I realized it's time to destash - visit the fabric shop for some discounted bundles, and check back often!

Seeing rainbows

We're finally getting rain in H-town, so it's the perfect day to spend tidying up the sewing room :) Or really, I've got to get the fabric under control pronto! I've listed many fabric bundles and scrap bags in my Etsy fabric shop, with a lot more to come. So if you're looking to build up your stash, help a girl out! (read: so I can make room for more!) Here's a few more pictures to tempt you...

Organizing 101

I love to organize. Random shoes left scattered on the floor or last week's shopping receipts crumpled up and laying on any ol' piece of furniture drive me crazy (I love you honey, but I've come to learn that we just don't have the same organizing standards). More than anything, I love the calm, peaceful feeling of being surrounded by non-chaos.

The sewing room is my domain, where I can organize to my heart's content. A couple months ago, my fabric was literally taking over the house, room by room. I had to tame the beast, so I took a short jaunt to our neighborhood IKEA, and bought some fantastic Billy Bookcases.

Here's the end result: plenty of space for the bolts, and shorter shelves for my non-bolt fabric collections.


There's even a hanging shelf with bins to store all my scraps.

Ah, thank you IKEA for restoring order to my sewing room. The fabric is no longer creeping down the hallway and invading the rest of our house. Now, about those shoes and receipts... :)