A Room of One's Own - My Sewing and Writing Space

It's done!  At last! 

It's not the prettiest sewing space, it's certainly not the largest (it might even be a contender for the smallest) and it doesn't have any natural light, but it's mine and I love it.

This room is essentially a glorified storage cupboard with a light and a plug socket (and a heater, but it gets so hot in there, I don't know why anyone would ever want to use it!), but when we first looked around the apartment I clocked that it was big enough for a desk.  That was over a year and a half ago, but hey, you can't rush these things, right?

It's funny, but I've noticed that a lot of other bloggers have been organising or rearranging their sewing spaces recently, too - it must be something about this time of year.  For me, it was the fact that I'd saved up for the necessary furniture and had the time after finishing my uni course.

To give you an idea of the size, it measures 1.5m by 1.8m (4'11" by 5'10"), plus the little alcove with the shelves.  And it's a hard-working little space - it multi-tasks between being a storage cupboard, the tool-shed, sewing space and writing room.  Just look at all the stuff I share my space with:

You know I said that Ikea owned my soul?  Well, when you've got so much to fit in so small a space, you really need great storage.  These shelves are perfect - they fit in a small space and you can put so much on them, plus their clear storage boxes fit on perfectly:

I love it when companies like this actually consider their items working together and harmonising - the middle shelves accomodate one deep box, while the bottom shelf fits a deep and a shallow box stacked on top of each other.  Genius!

Their cardboard boxes are the perfect size for patterns:

(And my knitting patterns are in that folder to the right.)

And last, but not least, little drawers!

I think loads of stitchers have these Helmer drawers - they're so useful and great value.  Plus, in a strange way, I enjoyed putting them together - yeah, sad, right? 

Even better, you can label them with exactly what's inside each drawer (yay, labels!) and they make little plastic inserts that divide the drawers into separate sections, if you want - so useful:

Another great way of maximising your space is by using the walls - I've already blogged about that wall-hanging pocket I made from One Yard Wonders, which is hanging right above my desk (it's a bit overflowing at the moment, but nevermind!).  I'm a bit scared of power tools, so I got my gentleman to put some wall-shelves up for me, giving a home to his beast of an A3 printer as well as other computer-related bits, like paper and blank discs.  And finally, there's a little pinboard for me to add inspiration pics and reminders for my sewing (like a list of the best needle sizes for different fabrics) and writing.

I've already been busy in my little cupboard, so expect some completed projects soon!  x