Demolitions and Dreams

Hey Everyone.

We are FINALLY going to be able to begin renovating our house. It's been a year-long saga of trying something/suggesting something only to be told no by the City of Vancouver building permit folks. (Vancouver is the only city in the country that has its OWN set of building codes - more codes than the national standard.) Demolition begins next week, so everything must be packed away so that walls can be knocked down, drywall removed from all of the exterior walls, insulation put in (currently it's drywall on top of lath and plaster), new walls built, new stairs put in, windows replaced, etc, etc.

With any luck, by the end of June our home will have drywall back up, interior walls in their correct spots, electricity, plumbing, and flooring. This may be unrealistic, but we are hiring people to do the work (the contractor has been in on the journey for the entire year), and we won't be trying to live here during the worst of it.

I ordered the tile for the kitchen today. Hooray! One thing to check off the list!

You may well be wondering, "What does this have to do with me?" Dear reader, this means that I will not be sewing anything for a few weeks. All of my gear must be packed away. I will keep posting, though, so hang in with me! I have a few ideas...

Currently I am dreaming about my sewing space to come. Eventually I will have space in our new sun room (the old one will be demolished). I still will not have much room. I am wondering about fabric storage, dreaming of a folding table for cutting, and plotting a design for a rectangular pressing surface that would fit over my standard ironing board. Of course none of this even begins to address my need for a new sewing table and general organization for my notions!

I need more ideas of things that work in sewing rooms - particularly in sewing rooms belonging to people who can't sew full time. I have wiped the drool off my chin a few times looking at professional photos of sewing studios, but I am not going to have that much space. Please share photos of your sewing spaces, highlighting the parts you most appreciate! With your permission, I can post them, include your thoughts, and consider the aspects that might work here. Whaddya say? Fifteen minutes of nothing resembling FAME could be yours!

Comments

You can leave links here in the comments or send me an email. my address is neighbourhood dot gal at gmail dot com

I am so excited!
Mary Nanna said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mary Nanna said…
Sorry that was me deleting that comment because I put in the wrong link address.


Snap! we are also doing a renovation and waiting ages and ages to get planning permission - the boundary between us and our neighbour is unclear- the fence was not put up according to the legal boundary and now we don't know where it's supposed to be..sigh.. there's nothing like legal regulations to slow down the renovation process! Very best of luck.

Here's my sewing room. It runs down the side of our spare bedroom. The green box houses stash (I'm not really a horder) and the green laundry basket houses scraps (I am a tightwad though)

http://marynannasews.blogspot.com/2009/03/sewing-room-done-but-not-dusted.html
Super! Mary Nanna, your room looks lovely - and it looks to have about as much room as I will have. Does it still work for you?
Mary Nanna said…
why yes it does! I have more glass jars but I had to label them because looking inside wasn't fast enough!

I also found it easier to have all essential sewing supplies (needed on hand for every project) in a single basket beside the machine so I didn't have to keep looking for the quick unpick etc.

The shelving is absolutely essential. I store my patterns under the spare bed in plastic storage boxes.

I haven't found the notice board that useful. Maybe because I don't actually need to have an inspiration board but carry it all in my head.

Very best of luck!
Anonymous said…
sarah,

do you want to come check out my parents kitchen sometime soon?

- robin
oh congrats and good luck on the renovation! i'd love to see pictures of pretty sewing spaces, too (i'm moving next year and trying to set one up).
i know darling dexter has a pretty rad space:http://www.darlingdexter.com/darling-dexter/2010/1/21/our-tiny-apartment.html

and another one i like here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/redjetwhistle/sets/72157623068109203/
Thanks for those links, Nerd. (!) I am such a flickr novice that it hadn't occurred to me to look there.

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