Tag: Workroom

It’s been a trial, but the sewing table is finally together!

I am thrilled. It took two of us a couple of hours to get it to this state. This was in addition to the hours I spent the other day working on it. Even though I am slow, I thought I could do it myself. I was wrong. Some of the steps need four hands. DH actually offered to help and I slipped into the role of assistant, gladly.

From the cabinets being assembled, I went and made a mess opening boxes to try and find the brace for the bottom. For awhile, it was very hard to walk into the YM’s bedroom.

I think the labeling could have been better. It seemed a little scattershot to me. It ended up working out eventually. We added the brace and then later took it out and turned it over so the cord hole was in the right place. I never used the one in my old sewing table and am determined to use every feature on this table.

I brought the cabinets upstairs so I could add the brace. That was a difficult operation with one person.

I was pleased to find that I measured correctly and the table fits well between the heating vent and the outlet. WHEW!!!

Once all the pieces were screwed together, I was able to start loading it up. I gain an extra cabinet and several drawers in addition to the space required for the larger machine.

I haven’t filled the drawers yet as I was pretty exhausted after running up and down the stairs 300 times to get parts, tools and keep the laundry cycling. That will be a project for tomorrow and another opportunity to clear out stuff I don’t need.

The worst part of this was not being able to sew. I felt stressed at certain points and it would have been great to sit down at the machine and put some blocks together.  I thought about working on some hand work, but it didn’t really happen to any great extent.

 

I am in a Catch-22 sort of situation. I can’t sew because my work room has been taken apart to install the new sewing table. However, I feel down that my workroom is torn apart and can’t seem to get it together enough to put the table together. 

I have done some work. First, I screwed the casters to the bottom of the cabinets.

This was not an easy task as the cabinets are heavy and hard to maneuver.

DH didn’t like how the screws sat, but he was not available for the manual labor, and there didn’t seem to be anything he could have done differently.

The cabinets for the sides are ready for the next step.

 I really like the light wood on this table. I think it will lighten up the dark corner where my sewing machine sits.

The left cabinet also has a lot of drawers. I might have a whole separate drawer for my chocolate!!! LOL!

The parts of my new sewing table are now stacked in the YM’s room with parts of my workroom that had to be moved so I can put the new sewing table together in place.

DH was strong enough to haul them upstairs, which was a relief, otherwise we would have had to call in the nephews to help. If I had been alone, it would have been the nephews for me. 

My old sewing table is still upstairs. It is also heavy and I cannot bring it downstairs alone.

I spent yesterday unloading the contents into boxes and moving them downstairs. I want the table to be ready to be moved when the time comes. I also cleaned it. I vacuumed all the surfaces and then went over the whole table with wood cleaner. It hasn’t been this clean since I got it!

My sewing machine is still upstairs. I feel at loose ends when I cannot sew on demand. I could go and work on La Passacaglia, but I have been reading through the directions for the sewing table and starting to put it together. I’ll need a helper, though, at some point.

I took the opportunity to clear out items I wouldn’t need or haven’t used in awhile when I boxed up the drawers of my old sewing table. The guild meeting was cancelled, so I couldn’t put them on the free table, but next time. 

I was surprised at how much stuff fit in or on my sewing table.

One thing I am gaining, in addition to a space for the larger machine, is a tall side cupboard, where my tall-ish tools and supplies will live.

These were always just leaned up against the side of the old table. I am looking forward to having everything more organized.

In the meantime, everything is everywhere. I can’t use the machine and my workroom is a mess.

My new sewing table arrived yesterday. I knew it was coming, but I didn’t know it was coming at 8:30am!

Fortunately, I was home. I was looking for a ground sheet to lay out in the driveway when I heard the truck pull up. I was told it would be delivered to the driveway and my driveway doesn’t get sun until the afternoon. I didn’t want any  moisture to seep through the cardboard boxes. 

I was pleased to see the boxes were on a pallet and covered in plastic. The delivery driver also put the pallet near my front door rather than in the driveway, which is more convenient. 

I spent my afternoon free time unloading my old sewing table, moving the machine and generally gearing up for bringing the new table upstairs. 

Need a sewing table? My old one needs to go to a new home.

I am disappointed in the IKEA bookcases I bought. The Billy bookcases are very popular with a lot of people. I liked the options, look and feel.

What I found, however, is that the 66 lbs each shelf is supposed to hold isn’t true. The shelf holders are very substandard and have damaged the inside of my bookcase sides.

The shelves involved are the ones I can easily access. Those are the shelves I use for my block dictionaries, class related references and color books. I use these particular volumes all the time.

My DH looked at it and had a plan to fix it. He is really busy, though, so I called my handyman. After taking a look, he brought some new L brackets and some new Fir shelves to try. I installed them. They look ok. Not bright white like I wanted, though we will paint them if we decide they are the ones.

They work ok and the bowing of the outside pieces has stopped, but I lose and inch or two that I need, so I can’t fit the books on one whole shelf. I put the books sideways, but that doesn’t help me much since I can’t see the spines.

DH checked Home Despot for other shelf holders and we have a few options. I am really annoyed that these shelves have only lasted for one year. Yes, I have filled them full, but each shelf is right around the max weight, so they should work fine.

One option I have is to get bookshelves built out of wood rather than particle board. My handyman told me about a place in the City that will make custom shelves. Stay tuned.

I spent time filling my shelves and emptying boxes. The boxes went out with the recycling (except for some DH hid from me) and my shelves are now filled with my quilt books.

I am really happy that my books are more accessible. Before, some of them were on the floor in big stacks, which was not conducive to browsing.

Last week after I had done some of the work, I spent time leafing through some of the books that were more accessible to me. I also leafed through some while on work calls, though I have to be careful, because I tend to tune out work and focus on quiltmaking, which is not what they pay me for. 🙂

Before this whole workroom redo I had collected books, run out of space which meant all the books on one topic were scattered. As I was putting books in boxes, I made an effort to arrange them so that like books were together.  All quilt history in a group of boxes, all art quilt books in other boxes. This made it easier to shelve them all together when I unboxed everything.

The very top shelves are less useful *to me* because I can’t reach them without a stool. I wanted them (the top shelves are add-ons to the Billy bookcases not part of the shelves) for two reasons. First, stuff will get crammed up there anyway, so I might as well have a shelf. Second, dust. I prefer cabinets and bookcases to go to the ceiling because that open space just becomes a dust collector. With these shelves, I put books and stuff up there that I don’t access often. For the books housed there, they may be candidates for weeding in the future. We’ll see.

My shelves are not 100% crammed full, which is great. I am glad to have some growth space. I do feel like there are a few books missing, so there may be another box somewhere.

Next project is to put up the design walls. I want to work on some quilts again soon, not that I am short of bag and other projects, so I can mark some fabric off my ‘fabric used’ list. DH is busy with clearing out his parents’ house (still) so I have to fit this in or get the handyman in.

DH came home from the football game Saturday night and put together the second shelf. My room has that new paint or furniture smell again and is a complete wreck.

I really like the clean, white look of the bookcase next to my desk. It is beautiful. It is also a lot better than a pile of cardboard boxes.

Cardboard boxes don’t just magically unpack themselves, though I wish they did. The rest of the room is a wreck. I have a lot of work to do reshelving books and arranging stuff on the shelves.

DH has to get some anchors, so I am not allowed to stand in front of the bookshelves during an earthquake for the moment.

See that computer set up in the picture (above right)? That is where I spend my days. That particular computer is my personal computer. I swap it out for my work laptop at about 8am every morning. One reason I need to clean this area up is that I have to get that blue chair out from the boxes, so I can “go to work” on Monday. Currently, it is stuck behind some of the boxes because we quickly moved the boxes out of the corner of the room so DH could install the second bookshelf.

More progress! Yay!

Some progress is being made on my workroom. I retrieved the purchased bookshelves about two weeks ago. It seems like an eternity.

I asked DH if I should get the handyman to put these shelves together. (I am sure they are relatively straightforward to assemble, but my shoulder can’t handle such work.) He said that he would put them together. Time went on, we went to San Bernardino ? for an event (it was a good event, but an icky town) and still he insisted he would put them together.

When DH told me he had to go work at his mom’s house over the weekend, I asked him when he was going to put my shelves together. While I was gone at Sew Day, he put the first one together. Then he came home from the football game later  the same day and banged around putting the second one together. He is a really great husband.

My friend, Cyndi, sent me a text saying that the bookshelves were in at a local IKEA. I couldn’t get them delivered, so I had to arrange to go and pick them up. The packages were longer than my car so I had to borrow a van.

Now the boxes are laying on the floor of my workroom and DH is studying the instruction manual.

The bookshelves are delayed again and I am getting annoyed. Well, I was already annoyed, but now I am more annoyed. Pandemic. Supply chain. First world problems. Blah blah blah. I know. I know.

Scandinavian Designs has some very basic bookcases, which might be a good solution if they are in stock. They do not have the added height shelf that the Billy bookcases have. Also, one thing I like about the Billy set is the accommodation at the bottom for the baseboard. There is a little cut out so you don’t have a gap against the wall. Also, apparently, they no longer have white in stock and I refuse to introduce anything even approaching life-sucking beige into this room. Finally, they are much more expensive. On the plus side, we have an entertainment unit from Scandinavian Designs and we are very happy with it.

Why hasn’t anyone tried to copy the Billy bookcases? I know I should be promoting intellectual property theft. I really want the chaos in my house to end.