Where the hell did May go? For real. Is it actually June 1? I truly did not intend to turn into an absentee blogger but it is hard to frame it any other way. In my defense, we are selling our house and buying another house. We are moving within the same town…in fact, on the same street because we are kooky like that. It seems like that would make it easier but, truthfully, buying & selling is buying & selling and it just gets nuts! My husband is still settling into a new job that requires him to travel a good deal (about 25% of the time). My teaching is in full swing and with the end of the year for the boys we seem to have landed ourselves in full nutso mode over here and I haven’t found the time for the kind of quiet reflections I prefer to post here. I miss this space. One bonus of moving, however, is that we’ve really had to clean up the place and my sewing studio is now presentable. So, lucky you; you get a peek into where I sew. I won’t sew here for much longer but it’s nice to share it anyway. I mean, it is all fancy and clean and all.
I’m a big believer in having a dedicated space for creative endeavors….whether you engage in them every day, like me, or not. Setting aside a space makes them accessible when inspiration strikes, even if you only have a few moments. It took me a while but I eventually took over the smallest of the three bedrooms in our house when the boys decided they wanted to share a room. Setting this room up felt like a real statement to myself. I was taking my making seriously. It’s my work after all, doesn’t it deserve space? Of course it does! And, here it is:
+The green cabinet holds all of my fabric, out of the suns glare. We found it at a town-wide yard sale and I love it’s yummy retro feel.
+ Most of the furniture is stuff no one else wanted except for the two white tables and the teal rolling cart. Those are both from IKEA. The rolling cart holds all of my needles and pencils and other clutter-y items. I can roll it out when I need it but don’t have to see it when I don’t. Plus, what blogger worth her stuff doesn’t have that rolling cart! Under the tall table is a Pottery Barn shelving unit that was meant for toys but never worked well in the boys’ room.
+ The wall next to my sewing table is my inspiration wall. I have framed prints from Heather Ross and Strawberry Luna, art from friends, framed children’s book covers, prints of my own and, a big pink M that my son bought for me from what he calls “the girl store” and what I call Anthropologie. It’s hard to see but I also have some embroidery hoops up. One from Kelley Gilbert, she made it for me in a swap. And, the other from my always-inspiring friend Melanie Tuazon. That one says “Dare to Be Awesome” and I keep it really close to me…pretty much at all times. I love this wall. I love how full it is. I like creating next to a space chock-full of so much inspiration.
+ Can you see the ironing board tucked against the wall to the left? It takes up the whole room so I have to put it away when I’m not using it.
+ On the other wall are my books, magazines (Mollie Makes and Uppercase, my favorites) a wee bit more inspiration and my chest full of notions. My cutting mats usually sit on the tall table.
You might recognize the mini quilt up there from this post. and tucked in between the bookshelf and the cabinet are my chalkboard canvases used for my daily chalk writings. The chest of drawers was given to us by a neighbor and we spruced it up a little. The bookshelf is an IKEA Trofast shelf turned on it’s side. Again, a reject from the boy’s room.
It’s not exactly a showstopper but I adore this space. It’s mine to work in and I hope that some of that creative spirit has soaked into the walls and will grace the new owners. Soon, we will be taking all of this down and boxing it up and walking it down the street to reconfigure it into a new space. I won’t have my own room in the new house but I will have lots more spaces that can get messy and a whole dang house to remake for our little family.
I’m of two minds about it all. I get pretty attached to spaces and we’ve loved this house pretty well. It’s certainly hard to say goodbye but we need a bigger yard and a house we can grow in. So, off we go.
Do you have space for your creativity? A room? A desk? Good craft organization tips I can bring with me to the new house? I’ll be set up at one (beautiful) end of our bedroom so I need it tidy but still inspiring and very much my own.
kristin says
look at you with all your natural light! i sew in a basement room but it is (now) a finished basement and there’s heat and plenty of artificial light, at least! when i started sewing, it was one tiny lamp and no heat at all. it’s fun seeing where “the magic happens,” i agree. 🙂
Melissa Q. says
Oh, I know! I’m so, so grateful for the light. I used to be in our basement, too but it isn’t even regulation height and has bare lightbulbs for light! Yikes. I will have a portion of the bedroom in our new place but I will make it awesome!
ClaireBeth says
Hi Melissa…I recently did the same: moved from having a whole room for my workspace, to having one side of my bedroom as my workspace. I have an enormous amount of fabric and materials, and my new bedroom isn’t big so I thought I’d never fit it all in, but after several months of awkwardly navigating myself around bags and boxes and all sorts, I’ve just invested in some full-wall-shelving, so I can have fabric stored from floor to ceiling if I want, without it all spilling into smaller shelves/cupboards everywhere over the rest of the room (I put the last shelving up yesterday, wooohooo!!). I DO however really miss my workspace being separate from my living space. It feels less like I am ‘going to work’ now, but hey. I can just roll out of bed and straight into my sewing chair! (If I really wanted to…?)
Melissa Q. says
Ooh, that shelving sounds so clever! I think you are onto something here…it will take some time and maneveuring. Hmm, patience is not my strength but this will be an opportunity to work on that. 🙂
ClaireBeth says
Wishing you the best of luck for the move and looking forward to hearing about your adventures in new space! 🙂 If you love to sew, I am sure your patience is stronger than you think! 😉
Melissa Q. says
How sweet of you! Thanks!