Space Saver

When Josh and I "met" Dave Ramsey the plans of buying a house and settling in changed. It became a better choice for us to rent an apartment and buy a house at another time. That whole thinking process was NOT easy for me. Most of you know all of this already but it was tough. I had just had a house before we were married and I really wanted one. Fortunately I've matured a little and realize that wanting and needing something are different. I've also learned the things I thought were once important (a house) are no longer important. I'm pretty sure if Josh and I had bought a house right after we were married then I would not be able to spend most all my time with Sadie. For me (I only speak for myself and not for others) I wanted to be home as much as possible. I'd be lying if I said I didn't become discontent with things at times. It's so easy to get caught up in what everyone else has but right now I feel VERY blessed to live where I live, work where I work, and more importantly I'm blessed to have a wonderful little family of my own.

Goodness....anyway...all that to say I do love our little apartment. It is PERFECT for us. It's in a great location, a great price, plenty of room, and storage (well when you have as many dishes and things as I do there is never enough storage). One of the best things about where we live now and where we lived previous to this is the built in desk area. Some might use this for a small office but not me. This area is my sewing area. It's a place I set up my machine and get my work done. The problem is its a small space and would take so much time to get things out in order to be able to work. I started thinking about ways to help organize it and make it easier to work. With a baby sometimes I would have 2 hours to work other times only 30 minutes. I wanted to be able to sit down and do what I needed to do. While it still isn't completely perfect it is almost there. It has been so nice. I've been able to get things done and enjoy doing it. My sweet husband is responsible for getting my space ready to go. He's a keeper.

Here it is. Isn't it cute?

I'm lucky because our dining room table is right in front of it so I can use it for cutting fabric or ironing. There isn't a picture but I have a cute little table top ironing board just for sewing.
This shelf holds random things I need while sewing. Having them here keeps them within arms reach and I'm not digging through drawers and bags to find them. I also decided to hang my hoops on my wall. It is so much easier to grab it when I need it.

Here is my thread and some larger grosgrain ribbon. This has been wonderful. No more getting my threads all tangled up. It's also nice knowing what colors I have and what I need.

One of my favorite things about my space are the rods Josh put up. I use these for my ribbon and my tulle. Oh joy. Before my ribbon was in a box all a mess. This makes getting ribbon super easy. Not all of it would fit on here but that's ok. I image I will be adding more ribbon and tulle very soon.

How cute is this little trash can? It has been so handy. Don't mind the yellow thread on the floor that clearly missed the trash can.

Underneath the desk is a set of drawers with most of my fabric and scraps. I have crammed a lot of fabric into a small amount of space. I'd like to organize this more but for now it will have to do.

The cabinets above the shelves need to be organized as well. I have these white baskets that hold stabilizer, interfacing, some patterns, and even blank things to monogram (bibs, burp cloths, table napkins, t-shirts, etc). And the little mail and office supply area needs some work too.

These little baskets hold my current projects. I put the pattern, fabric, thread, etc in here to make it easy on me. So far they have worked really well. It would help if they were a little bigger but there is no room for that.

Anyway, here is a little area in my home that I am very thankful for. I hope I use it to make lots of great things.

I better get started.