A New Sewing Room

A New Sewing Room

GOAL: Create a sewing room from an underutilized attic room

TIME: 4 Hours  COST: Labor

BEFORE
The sewing space had been on a small table in a guest room.
When it was time to redo the guest room,
the homeowner decided to turn the attic room into a sewing room.

This attic room has one dormer window and one overhead light.

 

It was underutilized.  Bits and pieces lay about the room.

The room had no designated function.

Quite a few things were moved either into storage or other areas where they could be used.

 AFTER

Using what we had on hand, we created a working space for sewing

and a space for relaxing. A folding table was brought out of storage 

because two sewing machines are used. Lamps were also brought out of storage.

The small TV and DVD set were placed on the end of the larger table until 

another solution can be found. Its placement is suitable for sewing, 

sitting in the rocker, or relaxing on the day bed.

The art and accessories we discovered in the attic room set the color tone.

Later, the homeowner plans to paint the room a beige color.

With the Americana Country accents on hand, 

I discovered complementary fabrics in the homeowner's collection.

The fabric on the day bed isn't trimmed yet,but it covers the old covers for now.

The old white valance was removed and a new valance was made to match the new color scheme.

Below, art was centered over the daybed.  The trunk was moved to create a side table and fill a space under the low ceiling.  Small lamps were added.  The left side table was what the small TV

 sat on before the room redo. For now, a single pillow was found to match the color scheme.

When I agreed to take on the sewing room project, I didn't realize 

the day bed had to be included at the time.

Because a guest room makeover meant a new, larger bed, 

the day bed was moved out and found a home in this new space.  

The day bed became the linchpin because of its size and it established 

a mood that would include rest and work.

As a result, the bed was the first thing to find a place in this room.

Several pieces need to stay.  The large shelf unit would prove useful for sewing supplies.

Over-sized rolls of fabric find a space between the shelves and a storage room door.

The rocker and side table became part of the rest and relax goal.

THE DETAILS

The small sewing table was used for the older sewing machine.

A hoop was hung to fill an empty spot on the wall.

The sewing table has a fold down edge which just fits against the slanted ceiling.

 

A basket beside the day bed holds fabric which compliments the color choice for the daybed cover.

It will be used later to create throw pillows and a dust ruffle.

 

Five quilt pictures set the Americana Country scheme.

The sewing table has mason jars recycled to hold sewing tools.

A basket holds booklets and patterns.

 

Tucked into a nook, under an eave, this basket holds guides and rulers. 

A small table top ironing board is tucked into a back corner.

 

The old blanket chest makes a great side table in a tight corner.

WHY DIDN'T YOU PAINT FIRST?

Sometimes you want to get a project started but keep coming across obstacles.  Add painting to the list and you may never get started.  Besides, for this project, painting wasn't on the check list to begin with.  It wasn't until I saw what we had to work with, that I developed a color scheme on the spot.  Originally, the idea was to create a sewing room because the homeowner was redoing a guest room and needed to move the sewing stuff somewhere else.  She had an unused attic room and decided to "just do it".  Sometimes this impromptu spontaneity is just what it takes to get a project rolling.  So, as far as painting goes, she can paint later...after she begins using the space...after she sews the day bed cover... after she makes pillows....then, when she's ready, she'll paint, because by then, she'll have made this room her own and 

created some great things in it and for it.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

This is the TO DO LIST for the home owner now that the room has been set up with a working lay out.

1.  It's time to paint the walls.  The home owner didn't like the color and we settled on a beige / tan with gold undertones.

2. Now that there's a nice space to sit, it's time to take stock of the sewing supplies.  Loosely grouped in containers and baskets, take inventory.  Tag every box with a label on the end to make it easier to identify contents.

3. After painting, secure the power cords to the back of the tables to clear the visual clutter.

4. The rug needs spot cleaning.

5. The day bed has a temporary coverlet.  We found some great fabric she already owned.  The largest piece serves as a temporary cover and needs to be trimmed out.  To the left of the day bed is a basket of scrap fabric with complimentary patterns and colors.  These smaller pieces can be used to make throw pillows.

As for buy recommendations, live in this room a while, and see what you really need.  Then, IF you can't make do with something already laying around the house, buy only what you really need.

7 Closets In 5 Hours

One year after moving in, there were unpacked boxes of clothes 

stored in the study, and the homeowner's closets were underused. 

We emptied the boxes and tackled 7 closets in 5 hours, clearing his study.

COST: 5 Hours Labor + One Shelf Bracket for a sagging closet corner

This homeowner has more clothes than the before pictures reveal, a LOT more!  Living alone, he is lucky to have all the closet space to himself.  In the end, we created closets dedicated to types of clothes: Casual, Formal, Dress Casual, Out-of-Season, Long-term Storage, and Sports Wear.  As an avid runner, he also had to make room for golf ensembles, ski wear, swimwear, football game attire (GA DAWGS, of course), and rugged outer wear that included cowboy boots and flannel shirts.  Travel luggage had to be worked in. Shoes were separated into different closets according to the occasion. A coat closet downstairs at the entrance filled up quickly.  The linen closet was the only closet that remained half filled. A hat collection found a home. In addition to 7 organized closets, the study was finally cleared and turned into a working study for the homeowner.

CLOSET ONE

The first closet is in the master suite. It is one of two closets which line a hall connecting the master bedroom to the master bathroom. Across the hall is a walk in closet.  This closet has folding doors.

BEFORE

AFTER

This closet houses the nicer casual shirts. Golf Shirts hang at the left. Short sleeve button downs are in the middle with long sleeve button downs at the right. Solid blue and white long sleeve button downs are across the hall in the walk in closet with the suits.

The top shelf has a fabric steamer and three boxes of ties.
RECOMMENDATION:
Now that the closets are organized, it's time for the ties. Working around the space used, we're left with the insides of the doors in the guest room and the office for the ties. Ties racks hung on the inside of these large doors will work great.

The nicer shoes are in this closet because that's where the room is.

CLOSET TWO

The second closet, a walk-in, is across the hall in the master suite. It had became a place to drop laundry. Sports wear and formal wear hung alongside casual wear.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

This became the formal wear closet. 

The awkward L shape and shelves that overlapped layers was worked around.

On the top are the suit jackets. One the bottom are slacks and very nice shorts (golf wear, etc). The areas where shelves overlapped provide storage for extra hangers. On the far right top shelf, there are small boxes for bow ties and silk handkerchiefs. A very nice suit coat for tuxedo and black tie occasions hangs at the extreme right near the formal wear. The length of the coat and the limited use with formal wear dictated that it was placed in the corner of the formal wear closet.

The shoe boxes at top left are empty. Shoe boxes always come in handy; keep a few if you've got the room. 

CLOSET THREE

An avid runner, the hall closet was turned into a sports closet.

BEFORE

The closet went from housing military uniforms to athletic wear. 

Now retired, uniforms went into the attic for permanent storage.

AFTER

The sports closet

The top shelf holds shorts and running braces on the far right. Hanging from L-R are Long pants, shirts, and then jackets to the right.

The laundry basket works well for him. Tossing in a lightly soiled set of running togs for a second or third run, the basket is the perfect drop spot. This is an example of a habit that works. Previously, he kept the basket in another closet next to regular clothes. In creating a sports closet, the basket became our starting point.

The oodles of shoes must be better controlled. 

RECOMMENDATIONS:
Our goal was to work with what we had. However, in the near future a set of plastic drawers with 2 DEEP drawers should be placed on the floor to the right of the laundry basket. The shorts from the top shelf should be moved into the new drawers and the majority of shoes should be put on the top shelf. (First, line the shelf. Cardboard will do fine.) The shorts folded on the top shelf won't stay neat for long. Drawers that thin running shorts will be tossed into are ideal. Keep 2 pairs (max.) of shoes in the floor with shoe inserts. 

TIP: For shoes that are seldom worn, stuff newspaper inside. It works in so many ways. The paper helps the shoes retain their shape, and it absorbs dampness and odors. No cobwebs either!

CLOSET FOUR

BEFORE

The study closet, like the other closets, was underutilized.  The study was unusable because boxes of clothes, pictures, luggage, and desk parts crowded the room. We had to clear the room to fill the closets and set up a study.

AFTER

This is what he calls his primary overflow closet. It's mostly for casual wear.

When the client said he loved t-shirts he wasn't kidding. To the far left are events shirts from road races, distinguished by hanging on plastic hangers. The bulk of the shirts hanging are his usual t-shirts. The belt loop with 30+ belts works for him so it's hanging next to casual pants. 

The top shelf came in handy because he had little drawer space : one dresser with 5 drawers. Bulky jeans are folded and placed in two stacks to the left. The middle stack are work pants for painting and working around the house. The two stacks at the far right are "too small" shorts waiting for the day those few inches disappear and then the shorts will move into the limited drawer space.

The stairs angle beneath the closet so there's a strange little bump in the closet floor.

IDEA: Rest shoes at an angle.
The storage bins on the floor also contain t-shirts. He doesn't wear them, but doesn't want to part with them. 
To the left of the storage bins, extra pictures are stored. Out of sight, they are safe from breakage.

At Last! The room is transformed into a working office.

CLOSET FIVE

The guest room has a large closet, but if you're a guest, don't expect to share closet space.  By now, it's obvious that this homeowner has LOTS of clothes.

BEFORE

There's a hat collection hidden in here!

Cowboy boots, skis boots, sandals and more...

AFTER

What a difference!

The hat collection is now in one closet. We had an overabundance of cup hooks and these worked perfectly. Just the week before he had asked why the previous homeowner needed cup hooks under every kitchen shelf. We found a great use for them.

A small wooden rod rests on the front of the shelf.  This works great to lift the caps from the hooks.

The clothes in this closet are seldom worn or off season.

(ABOVE LEFT) Seldom worn ski wear and boots found a place at the far end of the closet. Turning the boots sideways, we had room for 2 pairs side-by-side, two deep.

(ABOVE RIGHT) A mirror from a recent bathroom remodel no longer had a home, so we put it against the back of the closet wall. Mirrors can be expensive so he wanted to keep it for future remodeling.

This closet became the spot for casual shoes.

CLOSETS SIX AND SEVEN

These two closets took about 5 minutes each.  If it works, don't change it!

BEFORE

Sometimes you don't need a big change. Don't create work.

AFTER

Space was found for a vacuum cleaner. Collapsible travel bags for weekenders were placed on a lower shelf. The larger luggage went into the attic for those once-a-year week long vacations. 


RECOMMENDATION:
In the end, we had a cardboard box of oddballs like socks he didn't want to get rid of. I recommended that he buy a plastic box with lid that will fit on the empty shelf for the odds-and-ends.

THE FINAL CLOSET

We actually redid the coat closet downstairs, but no pictures are available. It was very necessary because the upstairs closets had overcoats and outer jackets mixed in. When we took the outerwear downstairs, we discovered dry cleaning mixed in. We took five minutes to clear out the odds-and-ends which found a home upstairs in one of the other 6 closets. Coats were organized seasonally and gloves and knit caps were stacked on the shelf. It was a quick redo which left no room for future dry cleaning.
Only one coat remains upstairs. Worn only for black tie winter occasions, it made more sense for the long, wool, formal coat to stay in the formal wear closet.

LESSONS LEARNED

Work with the client. 
Initially he wanted me to come in while he was working. This doesn't work with a space as personal as a closet. I found out just how often he does wear all those t-shirts and that he loves his collection of hats. I also discovered how committed he is to running and a dedicated sports closet is the end result. I also discovered the (in)frequency that he uses things from ski wear to flannel wear.

Work with what the client has.
Dry cleaning hangers. He uses dry cleaners more than most so I used his dry cleaning hangers for the things that get dry cleaned. All button downs went on metal because, let's face it, when's the last time you switched hangers after picking up your dry cleaning? 


Sometimes swapping all your hangers helps to create a neat, uniform appearance.  We opted to use what we had on hand. As inexpensive as hangers can be, this homeowner had a surplus of unused hangers. More importantly, he uses dry cleaners a lot, and it's easier for the clothes to stay on the D/C metal hangers. It wouldn't make sense to swap out hangers unnecessarily.

We sorted the plastic hangers, the clip hangers, the pants hangers, and the wooden hangers from the metal and used them appropriately. His golf shirts got the plastic hangers because they go in the washer and weigh more than a tee. T-Shirts got metal hangers because they are light weight and we had a million of them, t-shirts and metal hangers. Suits got heavy duty hangers. Pants were hung on a mix of D/C hangers with cardboard overlay, heavy plastic pants hangers, and clip hangers. Wooden hangers were used in the downstairs coat closet. Extra hangers went in every closet afterwards. Excess hangers were hung from the bottom shelf in the linen closet. As D/C metal hangers accumulate, return the excess to the dry cleaner or donate them to a thrift store.

Don't create work where none is necessary.
The closet shelves stayed where they were hung. 
The laundry closet was functional and organized; we only utilized the free space that was already there.

Buy only what you need up front.
In all, he bought one closet bracket because he saw the guest room closet wasn't braced at one end. 

Buy what you think would improve the situation after you know what the situation is.
In the end, I had two BUY recommendations. 
(1) a covered plastic box for odd-and-ends for the linen closet
(2) a set of deep drawers to store running shorts in the athletic use closet. It will be much easier to toss running shorts into plastic drawers than keep them folded on the shelf.
We discovered a need for these things after the organization was finished.

Laundry Room and Entry

Moving into a new house gives you a chance to design and organize from scratch.

This laundry area and back door entry is a wide hallway divided by a hot water heater closet.  Overly bright with white walls, the owners decided to minimize the glare and opted for a darker paint color. Curtains that filter the light were added.  A matchstick curtain is easily adjusted for the season.

The color palate was based on rugs and fabric from Pier One.  The homeowners love their childhood 70s color scheme, so the paint is an avocado green from that era.  Colorful cloth napkins were used to create curtains. Two place mats were used along with a matchstick curtain, also from Pier One.  Aside from a new hanging ironing board organizer, everything else came from existing furniture and accessories.  Scrap wood had been used to create a shelf over the W/D and it was painted over.

COST : LABOR + Less than $200 for paint (1 gallon), fabric, rugs, coat hooks, place mats, and an ironing board organizer


A long hallway, the laundry is at far right (above) with a hot water heater closet extending into the space. The hallway to the left became a space to hang coats, hats, gloves, toys and more.

Because the space is limited, functionality became a priority.  A system for doing the laundry was created using the space and existing materials such as laundry baskets and an extra shower curtain rod.

The washer and dryer rest in an alcove between a wall and the hot water heater closet. An extendable tension shower rod provides great space for clothes that air dry or need ironing. Hung from hangers or draped across the rod, it works great for the limited space.
The picture (a gift from the MIL) was found at a garage sale for $2. Visually a mix between Grant Wood and her mother-in-law, it makes a great reminder to do the laundry.  The mother-in-law could visit at any time!

At the extreme left is a wall mounted ironing board unit with a shelf above for misc. The ironing board covers the unsightly electrical box for the home.

The shelf over the w/d can be pulled out when the machines need to be serviced. The yellow basket at the far right is home to sock orphans. The basket has dryer sheets and lingerie bags.  The containers have scissors, buttons, threaded sewing needles, and a catch all for loose change found in the wash. Detergents are stored in smaller containers.  Economy size boxes are above for refilling. A cloth napkin divided makes a nice shelf cover.

The cabinets have detergent and spare linens.  The bottom shelf towels are old towels recycled for washing cars.  Attached to the door interiors are laminated stain removal guides, washer and dryer manuals with warranty info, and misc laundry odds-and-ends like fabric clips.

A stack of laundry baskets rests on the dryer.  Putting away laundry is less of a chore if folded clothes go immediately into personal baskets. Each person has their own laundry basket which is carried to their room, laundry is put away, and the empty basket is left on the dryer empty.

For this family, hampers are in each bathroom.  Laundry day means taking hampers to the laundry room.  Clothes are sorted into the washing machine and the laundry room hamper holds the other clothes. Empty hampers are returned to the bathrooms. The laundry room hamper is also a great place to toss clothes being treated for stains between washes. When in use there's just enough room to sort, load and unload in the walk space.  When not in use, the hamper and basket stay on top of the machines.

Though narrow, the hampers line the space in front of door going towards the window for sorting.  Quickly emptied, they move back to the bathrooms where they are used daily.

The window is topped with fabric napkins.  We used cafe clips and hardware already owned. A small trash can sits in a corner. On the window sill a row of succulents enjoy the sunshine.  These low water plants are great for warm spots.

On the other end of the hallway, the odd shaped corner became a coat rack and an old shelf was used for hats, mittens, recycling and much more.  A smaller cabinet hides sewing supplies, flashlights and emergency weather gear. In the odd corner between the shelves seldom used archery gear awaits the children.

The lower hooks were added for book bags. This didn't work well with the kids, so an old ottoman was put in the corner.  Inside are flip flops and sandals.

The laundry wall meets the wall of the library, so for now, there is an unpainted wall. The baskets were reused from the former home's laundry and they store everything a back door area needs. The bottom shelves have crates to hold recycling. Old chess pieces sit between the baskets. The wooden bowl is a catch-all for keys and change. All the accessories are things already owned.  Nothing new was bought for this corner.

To the right of the mirror is a clever little addition.  Why buy a key rack when you can make one easily? Looking for things to top the cabinet, we found this little wooden box that once held Exacto knives. The wood is so thin that the cup hooks that hold the keys screw through the back and into the wall behind.