Third floor adventures
So, when last seen, Our Heroine was excited about the craft room taking shape, and said a lot of things about how it would be. Some of which are actually true, but some have been modified as thiings have taken shape.
My room is shades of blue--lighter (but not too light) blue on the walls, a teal blue trim paint, and the floor is a sort of sage green that almost exactly matches the Rhododendron Leaf green of my Martha Steward craft furniture. The second piece of which is being put together by Himself even as we speak...that one is a "corner craft desk" that will become my jewelry station.
Several adventures have happened:
1. The sturdy wire shelf that was installed just above the windows for the width of the room (minus about a foot and a half on each end due to the "knee walls" which are about 5 feet high) collapsed under the weight of 43 bolts of linen and 21 bolts of wool. I think it was the double stacking that did it. Though when I called Dan the Contractor to report this mishap, he and his assistant Ron seemed to think that it should have held up regardless. It has now been replaced, with even more bracing, and I didn't put quite so much fabric on it this time. Getting my fabric out of storage and rolling it on bolts and making a list of what I have for an eventual database has caused me to realize that I do, in fact, have fabric I will never get to. I'm planning to sell things I can bear to part with...I will probably charge around $5 a yard which is a good average--some I paid less for, most was that or more (though none was hugely expensive).
2. Also Dan and Ron built a sort of bench at the windowsill that is just high enough to put most fabric bolts under--additional fabric storage. It's a little high and a little skinny to be an entirely comfy seat, but once I put some cushions on it and maybe get a small footstool it will be fine. And the cats will adore it.
3. There will be no futon in this room. It'll go into the dressing/storage room instead. Along with the cedar chest.
4. I had intended to use Himself's old computer desk for the time being, but then I happened into a resale/antique shop one day and found the most adorable, all-wood, high quality little secretary desk. It's fine for my laptop, although I'm going to go shopping for some sort of small desk-height table or shelf to put next to it so I have enough real estate for my desk organizers. It is full of the sorts of cubbies and compartments that bring joy to my little heart, including two small "secret" compartments. :)
5. My new sewing table (see Martha Stewart, above) is awesome. It's huge, it's counter height, it moves easily, and I love it.
6. I have one filing cabinet up here (a second one will join it once we can move it out of the former office). I spent some time the other day using one of the draweers and a bunch of hanging file folders to organize my many cross-stitch patterns, leaflets, and too-skinny-to-have-a-readable-spine booklets. They are nice and tidy by subject or theme of the patterns, and I can find what I want easily without going through a whole shelf and pulling stuff out. My craft books that are thick enough to have readable spines are slowly going onto the hanging bookcase Dan and Ron built me. I still have a whole box of quilting books that hasn't come up yet, but there's a good deal of shelf space left for them. I'll have to take my too-skinny quilting books and leaflets and use another drawer to do the same thing with them that I did with the cross stitch. There aren't as many of them, so that should be a fairly quick job. Though choosing the file categories might be more difficult.
7. The beading table won't quite fit in the corner by the window, so it will go next to the closet instead. One of my five new shelves will fit nicely into that corner. I haven't done much with the shelves yet (read: anything other than put remnants on one of them). I have a bunch of fabric drawers, boxes, and so forth in which to organize things, as well as pegboards on the walls.
It's still a work in progress, but progress is being made. I am happy with it.
Oh yeah, I told Himself that what he has is a study, and he was way cool with that--"I've always wanted a study!" And he is a super sweetheart for putting my difficult-to-manage particle-board craft tables together.
My room is shades of blue--lighter (but not too light) blue on the walls, a teal blue trim paint, and the floor is a sort of sage green that almost exactly matches the Rhododendron Leaf green of my Martha Steward craft furniture. The second piece of which is being put together by Himself even as we speak...that one is a "corner craft desk" that will become my jewelry station.
Several adventures have happened:
1. The sturdy wire shelf that was installed just above the windows for the width of the room (minus about a foot and a half on each end due to the "knee walls" which are about 5 feet high) collapsed under the weight of 43 bolts of linen and 21 bolts of wool. I think it was the double stacking that did it. Though when I called Dan the Contractor to report this mishap, he and his assistant Ron seemed to think that it should have held up regardless. It has now been replaced, with even more bracing, and I didn't put quite so much fabric on it this time. Getting my fabric out of storage and rolling it on bolts and making a list of what I have for an eventual database has caused me to realize that I do, in fact, have fabric I will never get to. I'm planning to sell things I can bear to part with...I will probably charge around $5 a yard which is a good average--some I paid less for, most was that or more (though none was hugely expensive).
2. Also Dan and Ron built a sort of bench at the windowsill that is just high enough to put most fabric bolts under--additional fabric storage. It's a little high and a little skinny to be an entirely comfy seat, but once I put some cushions on it and maybe get a small footstool it will be fine. And the cats will adore it.
3. There will be no futon in this room. It'll go into the dressing/storage room instead. Along with the cedar chest.
4. I had intended to use Himself's old computer desk for the time being, but then I happened into a resale/antique shop one day and found the most adorable, all-wood, high quality little secretary desk. It's fine for my laptop, although I'm going to go shopping for some sort of small desk-height table or shelf to put next to it so I have enough real estate for my desk organizers. It is full of the sorts of cubbies and compartments that bring joy to my little heart, including two small "secret" compartments. :)
5. My new sewing table (see Martha Stewart, above) is awesome. It's huge, it's counter height, it moves easily, and I love it.
6. I have one filing cabinet up here (a second one will join it once we can move it out of the former office). I spent some time the other day using one of the draweers and a bunch of hanging file folders to organize my many cross-stitch patterns, leaflets, and too-skinny-to-have-a-readable-spine booklets. They are nice and tidy by subject or theme of the patterns, and I can find what I want easily without going through a whole shelf and pulling stuff out. My craft books that are thick enough to have readable spines are slowly going onto the hanging bookcase Dan and Ron built me. I still have a whole box of quilting books that hasn't come up yet, but there's a good deal of shelf space left for them. I'll have to take my too-skinny quilting books and leaflets and use another drawer to do the same thing with them that I did with the cross stitch. There aren't as many of them, so that should be a fairly quick job. Though choosing the file categories might be more difficult.
7. The beading table won't quite fit in the corner by the window, so it will go next to the closet instead. One of my five new shelves will fit nicely into that corner. I haven't done much with the shelves yet (read: anything other than put remnants on one of them). I have a bunch of fabric drawers, boxes, and so forth in which to organize things, as well as pegboards on the walls.
It's still a work in progress, but progress is being made. I am happy with it.
Oh yeah, I told Himself that what he has is a study, and he was way cool with that--"I've always wanted a study!" And he is a super sweetheart for putting my difficult-to-manage particle-board craft tables together.