New Studio Space!!

(Please come take the "full" studio tour here!!!!)

Do you want to see the studio space I have recently "acquired"??? I love it! And the funny thing is, I didn't know how much I "needed" it until I got it all done....

Our oldest daughter got married back in June. Sad as we were to see her go... youngest daughter couldn't wait to get her hands on her older sister's old (bigger) room! We moved youngest daughter into that room.... what to do with the extra room which used to be youngest daughter's room? Expand the studio space, of course! (No brainer, right??)

Now, I will tell you a secret- for years now, I have kept most of the quilts I have made in big plastic containers in the basement, because there really wasn't another place to put them. I couldn't wait to have a room dedicated to storing and displaying all of my quilts! And also, I wanted more space for storing my bolts of fabric and for cutting fabric.

We decorated the room when my daughter was about 8 years old. It had yellow bead board and lilac wall paper. My daughter tried to talk me into painting, but I just didn't have the energy for that! I decided that the colors worked fine with my stuff- it's cheerful. Here is a photo of what it looked like when I was organizing all of my quilts.

In addition to the yellow bead board and lilac wall paper, the room also already had shelving all around (for displaying dolls). This, I discovered, was PRIME real estate for storing and displaying fat quarter bundles which are waiting to be purchased & go to their new homes, as well as many of my project samples:

I already had many of the furniture pieces in the room. The dresser is a vintage piece from my grandmother- great for storing all kinds of stuff. I had the rug, and the cedar chest. The cedar chest used to belong to oldest daughter, but it's not her style and she left it behind when she moved out. It is perfect for storing all of my wool and protecting it from moths:

 The cabinet was youngest daughter's and stayed in the room when she moved across the hall to a room with a much bigger closet (making her little armoire unnecessary.) Now I have some place to store all of those quilts that used to hide in the basement:

I did buy a couple of pieces of furniture for the room from Ikea. My favorite is this gate-leg table. You can have one side of the table up, or both, or neither, so it's really convenient. There are drawers on both sides for more storage. Plus, I think it's just really cute. It works out really well when I have lots of fabric to cut (like when I'm assembling bundle after bundle of fat quarters...)

I also got some shelves from Ikea so I have a convenient place to store my bolts of fabric, and other cute stuff:

A bonus of this room, which I didn't even realize until we got it all done, is that with 3 east and south facing windows, the light is great! So it makes a perfect little photography studio. And since I have managed to keep it pretty neat and clean so far, it also means that I don't find myself spending half an hour to find a clear surface so I can set up a photo.

Did I mention that I love my new space? I spend as much time in there as I can, because it is so bright and cheerful and uncluttered (my "main" studio space tends to get pretty messy....) Also, since my main studio is downstairs and the "annex" is upstairs, it has really increased the amount of exercise I get each day :)

To go on a "tour" of my downstairs studio, click here.

When it comes to a sewing room, studio, or other "hobby" area, what is the most important feature to you? Lighting? Storage space? Your surroundings- colorful & energizing or peaceful & inspirational? Being as close to (or as far away...) from the family as possible??

Thanks for "visiting" my new studio!