Organization & Reveal

I was not sure if I wanted to show you the studio in progress or just the reveal but after thinking about it I decided to show you a little bit of my process.  I am very visual so I usually start with pictures from a large variety of sources then I think about it for a little while, then do a ton of measurements and finally I start to move things around to see if what is in my head is really going to work or if I have totally lost my mind.  Good thing for me what I saw in my head was going to work well because some of the furniture and organizing units were awkward to move by myself and also kind of heavy.  First up was packing up all the “stuff” on my sewing/craft counter; there was more there then I thought taking longer then I hoped. From there I moved over to the window wall to remove things from the top of the cube storage units.  The only thing I could not move by myself was the flat screen TV and all the electronics; I had to wait for my husband so we could move everything in unison.  In the meantime while waiting for him I wrestled down the 8 feet of counter top nearly giving myself a hernia, that was a dumb idea, I had no idea how heavy and awkward that was going to be, Yikes!!!  OK, time for the photos of the rest of my progress, don’t laugh too hard, this was hard work and would have been ridiculous to watch if I had video taped it.

 

Oh by the way…. Please excuse the poor quality of my photos, some were taken at night and others with the bright sun streaming in from three big windows, also I seem to be getting shaky hand syndrome and I need a new camera so these are not the best.  Here they are anyway…..you get the idea.

The great migration of the three cabinets and some plastic storage units from under the counter being shimmied/rocked, still full of supplies, across the room to the window wall…Ugh!

First set of cubes empty and moved to the old counter wall waiting for the TV and electronics to be moved back on top of it. The cabinets are set in place waiting for a very heavy counter top to be put in place.

Here we go…electronics in place, cubes in place, cabinets and counter top in place ready to be loaded up. I set some decorative pieces on top of the counters to get a feel for the space.  Almost looks like I am done until you turn your head and look down the room and see this….

Yikes!!! What a mess and the second half of the counter top is missing and there is stuff everywhere!  From here on out it was a huge project to drag the tall storage cubes out of the closet and put them into place so I could add the second 6 foot counter on top of them.  Tons and tons of organization and purging went on in the closet and with all the supplies and décor piled up on the cutting table and on the floors and in the other rooms…Wow!!! It took four intensive days to get it all sorted out and put into place.  Talk about being sore and tired but it was well worth it.

The hubby and I worked in separate rooms building the two new storage pieces for my sewing counter.  I bought several more but found I did not need them and I did not want to clutter up my space with too much stuff, only what I really needed, back to Michael’s they go.

Here they are; my two new storage units; aren’t they grand!!! I am totally in love with them both, perfect for my sewing notions, book and patterns. Everything is nice and neat and easy to see and use! 

And last but not least….. Ta da…. everything in place!!! Take a look.

These are the nighttime photos I shot when I finished, starting from left to right. Did I mention I now have fourteen feet of creative space to sew and craft in!?!

Wow, look at all that daylight coming in those three big windows!!!  The room looks so much larger and less cluttered, I am one happy camper and I got exactly the room I set out to create.  What more could a creative gal ask for!?!

Well… there you have it, the new configuration and organization of my creative studio.  I hope you enjoyed taking a peak into my new work space; I can not wait to get in there and do a little detail clean up and sew up some curtains to cover up the storage cubes and all the storage under my work counters.  When I get those done I will share the before and after photos of the whole studio side by side so you can see the transformation all in one place.  Time to finally take down all my Christmas décor and get it to storage then take a little rest before tackling the next project; we have so many I have no idea what is next, I guess you will have to check in to see what we are up to.

See you soon.

Laurette

Studio Inspiration

Before I show you the studio reveal I though I would share with you some of the inspiration photos which set the whole project in motion and what I saw when I looked at them.  Everyone gets inspired by something different, for some it is color, for others it may be composition or graphics or how a room makes them feel upon entering it, for me it is all of those things that help me decide what direction I will go in during any given project like this.  Here is a bit of what inspires me and why.

When I first saw this photo I loved the bold pops of color and the work surface facing the window which bathed the room in bright white light.

This particular room had wall color similar to my studio and had the double long work surface facing a large bank of windows just like my space.  This was what I wanted for my own creative room and really inspired me to just go for it.

Total eye candy with the turquoise and pops of red with large windows in front of long work counters.  This sewing room caused me to consider putting my counters into an L configuration instead of one long 14 foot counter and maybe adding bright pops of hot pink to my black, white and ice blue color scheme.

I loved the bright white and clean lines of this sewing room, the simplicity spoke to me.  My studio was so cluttered with small keepsakes and full counters I wanted something different.

A very clean streamlined room hosting three windows and one long work counter with two work stations, just what I was looking for, right on target even though I knew I would never get my space that clutter free, but I sure was going to try to clean it up a lot.  As you can see all of these rooms are different but with common threads throughout; multiple windows with work stations placed in front of them with long counter tops and dual work stations.

Now you have a pretty good idea of what types of photos inspired me to organize and reconfigure my studio; these were only a few of the hundreds of images I viewed of creative rooms and storage/organization ideas before I got down to work.  If you are looking for inspiration of your own you can view my Pinterest boards by clicking on the large red PINTEREST word on the right side bar of my blog where it says follow me.  You do not have to join Pinterest to view my boards, just click and view to your hearts content; there are over 80 boards to drool over and keep you inspired for years to come. Enjoy!

Thanks for letting me share a bit inspiration with you today, you know what comes next so keep an eye out for the progress of the studio transformation, it is coming right up.

See you soon.

Laurette

A Time To Organize

It is once again that time of year when we look around our homes and think to ourselves… it is time to reorganize all those pesky areas and rooms that never got done or spaces that just didn’t function well for us all year long. After all it is a new year which can mean new beginnings and why not start with the old flawed and problem areas plaguing us; create a new, clean and organized home we can enjoy everyday without all the frustrations of not being able to find the things we need and want.

I have such a space, actually a whole room and a huge closet in my design studio.  For those of you who have been a reader since the very beginning you might remember I did a full studio clean up and organization in January of 2012.  It was a big improvement to what I started with after moving into our new home and just shoving all my creative supplies and fabrics into the room to make it all fit.  After living and working in our home for over three years I finally know what is working and what is not.  Little by little each room and space is being reworked to create better flow and storage.

Pretty to look at but facing the wall!

Final Office Layout 

The re-org of 2012 worked well for about a year then suddenly I found myself not working in my studio but not understanding why.  After looking through several of my Pinterest boards it became obvious why I was working everywhere but in my studio, it had become overrun with projects and keepsakes creating a claustrophobic environment…. Yikes!!! When had that happened?!?  The other conclusion I came to happened while setting up a full office to write and work in, I do not like facing a wall while I work, sew or create a project….yuck!  Guess what my sewing and craft counters face… you got it right if you guessed the walls!  I never realized how much I hated that until I had to move my office around three times finally putting my desk smack in front of the window in order to want to be productive.  Now I really love my new office and it is a pleasure to work in there for hours at a time.

I have three big beautiful windows on the second floor facing out to the backyard and they are being partially blocked by my storage units. What a waste of light and a great potential space for my sewing and craft counters, fourteen feet of light filled creative space blocked by storage cubes.  I usually think out of the box but for some reason I just never thought to put my counters there, what a ding dong I am!

The other nemesis in the room is my large closet which does not function due to giant closet doors that you can only open a third of at a time blocking the other two thirds with the other two doors.  Oh… and did I mention the closet is very shallow and dark with two of the doors always closed; it is hard to see what is in there and actually get it out around all those doors.  Needless to say the organization in there is not what it should be and needs a complete revamp once the studio is moved around and I see what additional storage I might need. 

We are talking a very big move around and reorganization of a lot of furniture, storage units and supplies but…. I am going to do it and I am going to be blogging about it all the way.  I hope you will join me as I move along through the process of thinking out this HUGE project and putting it into action.  I can’t wait to get started!!!

See you very soon.

Laurette

Where She Sews

In honor of the final day of the virtual studio tour sponsored by Pink Chalk Fabrics I am going to share the sewing/creative space of one of my readers, Jolene, who sent me photos of her sewing/work area, her space was also featured in the virtual tour mosaic on the Pink Chalk site.

This is her sewing/craft area where she carved out room behind the sofa so she would have some place to work on projects which could be somewhat contained and out of the walkways.

Just by turning around she can work on her graphic arts at her computer stations with easy access to books and business supplies on the shelves next to her computers.

Her space is compact but very, very functional with great light and an excellent use of storage space.  You can check out the rest of her room makeover on her blog at www.ajewelddesign.blogspot.com , have a look; she has some great craft projects and graphic design advice.

Jolene thanks for sending me photos of where you sew/craft so I could share them with my readers.  I hope you all got a chance to go to the Pink Chalk site and view all the featured sewing studios as well as the virtual tours of the readers on the mosaic wall, if not, use the hot button on the side bar and it will take you there.  It was such an honor to be part of the virtual tour; I had a great time all month looking at the many, many fantastic large and small creative spaces.

Thanks for letting me share where Jolene sews and the Pink Chalk Fabric virtual tour with you.  Up next is the sweat suit upcycle tutorial which was lots of fun to do.  Following the tutorial will be a building block quilt; I am working away on that sweet little quilt right now, watch for it.

See you soon.

Laurette

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Where I Sew

Fabric Organization – (January 2012)

Studio Inspiration Boards

As part of the 2012 studio re-organization I freshened up just about every area of my studio with the exception of my inspiration boards.  They had been sitting with the same ideas, pictures and articles on them for several years, time to shake things up.  Many of you have your inspiration boards on your walls on cork or fabric boards etc... , mine; however are hanging on giant closet doors which take up one entire wall of my studio.  There wasn't another space for them because the other big wall is taken up with three large windows leaving me only two shorter walls for my fabric and my sewing/design counters.  I basically hung my boards up there during the move to keep everything on them from getting trashed or lost; they have been bugging me for over a year and now was the time to change things up.  I thought about it for quite some time before coming to the conclusion I could just continue to treat the doors as walls and hang whatever I wanted on them as long as I used those handy little Command Strips for hanging everything up, this way the doors would not be harmed and I could easily move things around.  I am very pleased with my new inspiration walls/doors and when I get tired of them I can change them anytime I want.  Here’s what I did.

Kind of a cluttered mess with no rhyme or reason to them, the doors go floor to ceiling, there are three of them, which cover over 11 feet of closet space, I am one lucky girl to have such a huge closet for all my crafts.

These doors are not very impressive empty; they just become one big long expanse of blank space.  No way was I going to waste so much real estate in a room with only two usable walls.

I love the way the black and white looks on the white doors.  The beautiful pictures of the classic couture garments are all framed in matching black frames and placed around a long black framed mirror.  The pictures were from my last two studios and it was killing me not to be able to use them in this studio, problem solved.  On the second door I hung cork boards covered in black and white Fleur-de-lis fabrics, used elsewhere in my studio, pulling those prints over to the doors.  The entire studio is done in an icy blue for the walls and all the accents are black and white with touches of hot pink for a pop of color.  Can you say Black & White Bling!

The fabric covered boards make a nice backdrop for all my new inspirational pieces, which brings some extra pops of color into the room.  One of the boards on the left is a dry erase board and the other is magnetic, perfect for all those little reminders I might need to post.

I left the third door plain white so I could use it between the other two doors when I need a design/photo wall.  The white door gives my eyes a rest when I need to design a quilt or use it as a clean backdrop for taking photos.  I have a fleece covered board I can attach to the white door, with more of those Command Strips, when it is time to create patterns or quilt layouts; I have the best of all worlds this way.  Now my studio is organized and complete, ready to work in on a daily basis, no more clutter or confusion, I am one very happy seamstress/crafter/quilter.

Thanks for letting me share my Studio Inspiration Boards with you; I hope you enjoyed reading about the last of my studio spruce ups.  Look for more creative projects in my next posts.  See you soon.  Laurette

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The Organization Bug

Fabric Organization

Studio Supply – Storage

A Bit of Bling

Black & White Bling

Contain That Clutter Parts 1, 2 & 3

Contain That Clutter Part 3

Recently I shared some of the unusual containers I use to control the clutter in my studio, at least some of it.  Last week while working on several projects in my outside studio, I looked around and noticed some of the containers I was working with and decided to share those as well. I don’t always work inside, sometimes I work in my outside studio when I am doing any wet work like, spray painting, working with foam for flowers or anything which is messy.  All those projects require “stuff” which needs to be contained; here is some of what I use.

This drawer might appear to be a bit untidy but it is in fact organized with several containers, one of which is a plastic style shoe box with a green lid, which is where I keep all my leftover hardware pieces from a variety of projects, you never know when you will need those little bits and pieces.

This little gem holds some of my tools; yes I said “my tools”.  I actually have my own set of hand tools and power tools; I like “more power”.  I am actually very handy with all of them, my husband is so proud.

My mini box contains leftovers from building shelves for my studio.  I found both containers in the jewelry making and embroidery departments of a craft store.  They work well for storing little parts and the removable panels allow for larger items. I could have bought a tool box but I preferred to use the unusual so they would fit in my drawer.

This little drawer came from my upstairs studio, from a set of wheel around drawers, the removable drawers allow me to move my things from one studio to another.

The little blue box my wire and floral ribbon sit in is from a frozen dinner entrée and the mini jars, in the back, holding some small brads, are Jelly sample jars from a past Christmas gift.  Use and re-purpose all those unusual containers, have some fun looking for unique colors and shapes just like I did.

The great old lunch box belonged to my father-in-law; we found it in his storage unit after his passing. My husband didn’t know what to do with it so I suggested I keep it and use it in the outside studio where he would see the box and it would get some real use as storage for my large glue gun and glue sticks.  We are both happy to have it.

 A small peg board sits just above my work bench; it was a scrap from another project and fit just right under my shelves and above the counter top.  The wooden box was re-purposed from a holder for my ink stamp collection which grew out of the box.  It now holds packing tape rolls.


For more storage ideas see;  Studios Magazine.

As you can see storage containers can come in all shapes and sizes and can be used anywhere in your studio, office, home, garage or any place you need to control that clutter.  Don’t be afraid to look at all the items you buy or use, especially those things you might otherwise throw away.  I hope this gave you some good ideas for organizing your special spaces.  Thanks for letting me share with you, see you soon.