More Storage in the Studio!

Thanks to seeing various blog posts on the web, showing other quilt artist’s studios, I got a wonderful idea to add more storage to my cramped little studio. Check out the Postmark’d Art blog to see regular studio tours where members show where they do their creating.

I have shown many views of my “cubicle” or studio before, but usually have tried to crop out the view of under the ironing board. Not a pretty site… lots of stuff just stacked there… My paper cutters have been pretty much floating around the place… I use them a lot and it’s too hard to heft them up onto the shelf above the ironing board, so one usually sits on the top in the way… the larger one is shown in this photo above on the Wonder under box on the floor.

My first step toward getting the shelf unit I wanted, was to create a drawing with measurements for Ken to use to do the job. He finally got them together, but when I walked into the workshop to look at them, there was a BIG problem…. The shelves were not in the places shown above…. When Ken got to the point of installing the shelves, he didn’t read my numbers right for the first shelf, then things really got strange… he realized things were not right, but by that time he needed to have the tools in a vehicle to drive to GA.  Nick’s house was narrowly and blessedly missed by a tornado a week or so ago. The trees, sheds, fence and pool didn’t fare so well…. lots of clean-up is  needed and Nick and Megan came over from Germany to get things taken care of. My shelves were not tops on the list, so last minute before tools were leaving for two weeks my shelves were done.

I ended up taking the shelves apart and got them put back in the proper places…. they were planned to meet up with the ones on the end wall of the studio so I can still access those shelves.  The  photo above shows the completed and primed shelf unit, ready for the final coat of paint. As you can see, the kitchen became my workshop…. a pretty crowded one, but cramped spaces are not uncommon around here.

Once the shelves were painted, the main challenge was to get them into the studio… this is what it looked like looking from my sewing machine to the door into the office area.  The  shelves are 20″  wide… the space is not that wide as you can see… I have the doorway well blocked with the cutting table and an office table with a plastic drawer unit under it also in the doorway space.

I decided the only way things were going to work would be to get the shelves in on the tops of the tables (after they were cleared).  A rolling chair in my office helped me to get the shelves from the livingroom floor to the table tops. It took a  bit of wrangling, but I got them where they needed to go…. A lot of stuff did have to be moved make room.

And TA-DAAA!! Here are the shelves with their new coat of pale lavender paint left over from the master bath remodel for the finish coat. I did ding the paint in a few spots, but that is fixable…. I don’t know why I never thought of this earlier, but now my paper cutters, Wonder Under box, die cutter and dies, a bunch of fusible backed fabric pieces, and more have homes now… there is even a bit of space still available… The trash can fits perfectly between the shelves and machine cabinet (I did plan for that).  Despite all the trouble to get the thing re-made and wrestled into place, it is wonderful!!! It also gives me a MUCH sturdier ironing surface…. the ironing board was an old one that is sturdier than most new ones, but still pretty wobbly.  I just happened to have been using the purple spray bottle…. It coordinates so nicely with the lavender  of the shelves….  The bits of lime green on the ironing board are for the next batch of art cards in the works.

Now I better get back to finishing up preparation for giving two lectures in the next two days for a guild in State College, PA…. I probably could have waited until I got home to finish up the shelves, but this has been on my mind for a lonnngggg time.  Now If I could magically be able to get down to GA…. Not only are Nick and Megan there, their new little baby boy is there, too…. I soooo want to get my hands on that little guy!  They have been in Germany for over 6 months now, but still own the home in GA.