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I wish I may, I wish I might…

Have the sewing room I dream of TONIGHT!  Not really.  I wish is right.  Soon enough, though.

If you’ve read my previous post about painting over tacky wall paper, then you know my husband and I live in a pretty budget friendly house (that’s code for–NO ROOM for anything).  So, a little over a year ago, we started building our dream workshop to house our hobbies.  Brady drew up a big metal building and then we planned to frame off 1/4 of it on the interior to make that my sewing/quilting “studio”.  My awesome father-in-law got involved and literally has done more than my husband and I combined.  

The shop is basically done, and Brady has been working on my sewing room for the last 6 months.  

 This was the first picture I took of when we 
were prepping the foundation.  
After our huge delivery of fill dirt–I think it 
was something like 9 truck loads full.
After spreading the fill dirt…

I really don’t remember what this step was. 
 Something about keeping moisture in with the plastic…

And then, the magical day when the concrete was poured!
I wish I could go back in time and tell myself we were no
where near close to being done, like I thought we were…


My father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband worked 
on putting the beams up for the building.

Next week, I’ll share pictures of the next step progress.  I will say that from the start of these pictures, through the one above took roughly 6 months.  It would have taken probably days, had we hired a crew of people to come out and do everything for us, but that isn’t the route we took.  Even though it’s much more time consuming, it really saved us a lot of money.
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My disaster of a sewing room…organizing to be more productive

I am starting this post by literally cleaning out my closet!  Or sewing room, if you will.  Most of us that sew (not as our numero uno source of income) have limited time to do projects and orders.  That being said, you have my excuse for the disastrous pictures you are about to see.  Consider yourself lucky (or unlucky!) that you are getting to see the nightmare that my sewing room had become.  With a full time job, it is difficult to remember at the end of the day to tidy up after yourself.  

Lighting was also a huge issue.  It always seemed really dark, especially since I just had to paint the walls teal and the ceiling an even darker shade of said color.  So that was addressed as well.

I finally decided something had to change when I gashed my leg open on the corner of a rotary ruler that I had propped up against my sewing table.  Notice that I said rotary RULER.  Not rotary cutter.  Yes.  I am that much of a slob that I cut myself with a ruler.  

I know it has been a LOOOOONG time since my last post, and I’m determined to make a change…as you will see in the after pictures!  I have spent the last week thoroughly enjoying myself in my sewing “studio” now that I actually have the space and organization to get some work done.  I would estimate that I spent roughly $300 on shelves, bins, containers, hardware, etc.  But I would do it all again and then some.  It also took me 4 days, and I usually do not stay committed to a project that involves cleaning and organizing for that long, so I was extra proud of myself.  And…drum roll please!  It’s been clean for over a week now.

BEFORE…you know, the hot mess pictures…


Whew!  AFTER!  


I know I have probably given some of you a panic attack with the first 5 pictures.  But take comfort in knowing that if I can do it, anyone can.  

Even if you don’t have a room devoted to your hobby, you can’t get anything done if you can’t FIND anything in the area without tripping over a body.  

The only major changes I made in the room were the following:
-took all my textbooks from college that I never use off the bookshelf and put them in boxes.
-purchased Closet Maid shelves from Wal-Mart and Home Depot and installed them
-moved all surface areas (tables) to walls 
-purchased organizing bins from Wal-Mart and used them to group similar objects together
-purchased and installed new lighting fixtures above the sewing machines

Hopefully, your situation is not as dire as mine was…but if it is…hop to it so you can be more productive!

-Joanna