Monday, May 19. 2008
Star wars – fighting the UFO’s
As I think I mentioned in my first blog entry, I am interested in almost everything connected with textiles and (time permitting) like to work in many different techniques. One problem with having many textile interests (besides never having enough time) is what to do with the various stashes and UFO's.
I not only have fabric (plenty), I also have yarns for knitting, weaving and crocheting, unspun fibers, threads for sewing, embroidery, bobbin lace and tatting, and the notions, tools, and equipment for all my various textile activities. In addition, my propensity to create UFO's is not just limited to one particular technique, so I have sewing, knitting, weaving, etc. etc. projects in various states of completion - I do finish things also, but the UFO's seem to pile up.
I actually like things to be organized - I like to be able to find what I am looking for - and have spent considerable time and money trying to find the best way to keep everything neat and orderly. I always read the articles about how other quilters, weavers, etc. organize their studios and try to incorporate their good ideas.
This week-end was devoted to my latest storage project. My living room is very long and narrow and also very high - it used to be a storage area for building materials before we renovated the house. Up until about a month ago, I had a shelf system mounted on the end wall - metal standards which carried adjustable metal brackets which supported shelves. It wasn‘t really beautiful, but it was practical, economical, and easy to install and it served me well for over 10 years. But I always had in mind to replace it with something more attractive. About a month ago, the living room got painted, so we had to take down the metal standards anyway and I decided that now was the time to finally replace the old wall shelves. I talked the problem over with my SO and a friend who is a cabinetmaker and together we came up with an idea to combine a lovely wooden book shelf with (hidden) storage space.
Since the room is so long and narrow and high, the living space wouldn‘t suffer much from being shortened slightly. In other words, we decided that we could pull the book case away from the wall, thereby creating storage space behind it. The storage area was to be shelves of the same wood (beech) as the book shelves, but narrow enough that they would be really hidden behind the book case. The cabinetmaker friend suggested also adding two drawers to the book case to hold small tools and accessories (good idea!).
Theoretically, it all seemed perfect....but it is always exciting to see if things really work out the way intended. Well, my new book case/storage space was installed Friday and then we (SO and I) spent all week-end putting things in order (why is it always necessary to create a huge mess in order to make things neat?).
Here it is right after it was installed. The photo was taken from the 1st floor gallery to show the storage shelves behind the book case.
And here it is, with books and
boxes of yarn and fabric (hidden)
in place.
This photo gives an idea of how high and narrow the room is.
And here is a shot of the storage space (difficult to photograph).
It is everything I had hoped for! Attractive and practical. The storage area is narrow but high enough (I think 2.30 meters/ about 90 inches) that it holds all the boxes of yarn that I had on the old wall shelf, plus many boxes of fabric (which were some place else up until now).
I fear that the storage problem is a never-ending story, but my new book case/ storage space is definitely great step forward! Now what can I do with the space that was left where the boxes of fabric used to be....?