You see, I live in a three bedroom house and up until this point, I've had a dedicated room just for sewing. Since we are going to have a little one very shortly and I am blessed with parents/in-laws who are willing to stay and help for a spell, I figure I need to make space to accommodate all new comers. In my mind, this has become a shared sewing room/nursery and separate guest room. Anyone who is willing to come and stay for one month+ to help with a new baby deserves their own room, don't you agree? I want them to be as comfortable as possible so they don't leave hastily, cursing me on their way out :P
This means also a shared closet for the stash/sewing supplies and the baby items! In going through all of my sewing stuff, I am worried I won't have enough room! What to do, what to do! Like everyone else in the Phoenix area, storage space is in short supply, a bi-product of building homes without attics or basements. On a side note, I still remember commenting when we first moved here 5 years ago on all the self-storage places around, thinking it was due to apartment living. This ranks right up there with my assumption that there simply *had* to be a train between Phoenix and Tucson. LOL! Sadly, the Southern Pacific rail is only for freight containers...My east-coast naiveté amazes me still.
So, do I sift through the stash and contemplate giving some of it away? I don't know if I can bring myself to do so. I have been very good in the past year, however, in that I haven't acquired much new fabric, just the baby dedicated yardage in the most recent months. I'd rather give away older clothes than my yards of fabric! I've already culled what I can and stored clothes I know I won't be wearing for at least the next six months (suits and my skinny dresses and such).
Here's the layout for the room so far; this is to scale.
The room is approximately 12.5' x 12.5' of usable space and is currently the guest room - containing a queen sized bed, 4 drawer dresser and night table. The closet has become our catch-all clothing storage for woolens and blankets, etc, that are hardly (err, never) used but too valuable to me for donation. These items are all going to be swapped into my current sewing room, which is slightly smaller.
In this layout above, there should be enough room to occasionally roll out the collapsable cutting table I bought a while back from Joann's that is my favorite sewing work surface. As a bonus, the table is narrow enough to roll away and fit in the closet or even in the laundry room (if it comes to that!) . There are actually sliding doors on the closet, but the program used didn't have that option. The shelves I use for the stash fit right under the closet rod and there is *just* enough space in that little corner for the wooden cd-storage/pattern shelving unit I currently use. The shelves next to the closet are currently where I store my notions, Burda's, sewing essentials, etc, but I don't know how that will realistically work in this space. It might make the room feel too crowded. I plan on allowing half of the closet for miscellaneous baby items and clothing.
Well, I had my break and now I must return to my organization attempts. More later and, possibly, some photos of my current endeavors...
