Stairway to Heaven

After two and a half years, I’m finding my sewing space is finally becoming a space I love.

My rental home is about 100 years old and with it’s renovation about 4 years ago, it is an interesting mix of old and new. Which translates to mean I had to get creative to make some rooms work with my lifestyle. My sewing space is about 7 feet by 7 feet, a quasi-room at the end of the hallway, but I’ve managed to work a good bit of stuff into it. Now, with the help of my clever boyfriend, Mr P, my space has gone vertical too.

Re-evaluating my space is a regular pasttime. I’m constantly questioning how can I improve how I use the space. A conversation with Mr P while in the sewing room resulted in the suggestion to go up – Up the stairs. I was using the stairs anyway but it was more of  a drop zone.  I’m notorious for stacking the stairs with things which is in direct conflict with my container-itis  and very disconcerting. Power tools are my toys too but I don’t have a background in construction & engineering like Mr P.

So my sweet Christmas Elf got to work, customising Ikea shelves, cutting the back legs to fit the angle and installing braces to keep them steady.

After a couple of hours, I had the beginnings of new storage.

A quick stop at Ikea for more shelves and boxes and I’m much happier.  I can see what I have and get to it quickly.

When I come down the stairway to heaven, my space is no longer piled high with things that have no home.

At the bottom of the stairs, on the right I have two nice big pressing boards (made by me, using Sharon Schamber’s method here) and my flannel design wall.

In the center, there is my up-cycled $10 desk turned sewing table to house Bernie the DSM in front of a nice big window. Now you know:  nothing is safe when I get a power tool and an idea.

To my left, the cutting station then the alcove with the larger section of fabric, and on around to the entry, with a smaller unit and more fabric. There is another Ikea unit with the Scrap Boxes in the hallway so try as I might, I’m still overflowing a bit.

Now when I come into my space, it doesn’t make me whinge with the frustration of not being able to see everything so I can get something done. Of course it also means I have no excuses either… 🙂