This month I am participating in a “Sew Thankful” challenge hosted by All People Quilt. It is a two-week celebration of things and people to be grateful for in our quilting lives. I hope the prompts stir up some of your own stories and I hope you take some time to think about how a simple hobby can result in so much gratitude.
Yesterday I gave thanks to my mom, the person who taught me to sew. Today my thanks goes to my dad, the person who is mostly responsible for my awesome sewing space!
I’m going to spare many of the details, but I can sum up 10 years by saying, “My sister and I lived together in a sub-1000 square foot home and we had no room for any of our hobbies.”
On weekends, we would pull out tubs of our crafting supplies and we would prepare make-shift ironing stations over the stovetop and cutting areas on our kitchen counters. It was insanely fun and we ordered take-out the entire weekend.”
A chain of events happened and fast-forward a few years and I no longer have to use my stove as an ironing board, but I offer you encouragement to know you can do it and you can have a lot of fun in a small space! So many memories sewing or scrapbooking with my sister with Friends on DVD in the background and pizza on paper plates in our laps.
Dad is responsible for the chain of events that led to the house I live in now, and he’s also responsible for making two requests of mine come to life.
First, he helped execute my vision for this very large table I work at, and second, he’s responsible for pulling those lockers, once rusted on a junk pile, and turning them into amazing and practical storage in my craft room.
DIY Craft Room Table:
The large craft table actually comes with a funny story where dad, my sister and I ended up working to construct the table and then subsequently getting mad at each other and not talking to one another because it just wasn’t coming together.
It was Thanksgiving 2012…my sister and I had just moved to this house and we were giddy for a larger space to craft and sew in. The built-in shelves were already there and we just needed a large table to work on.
I had the idea of buying a few modules cubes (like these) from a Black Friday sale at Michaels and using them as the base of the table. We then went to a local home improvement store and purchased plywood and a melamine panel to use as the table topper.
Easy, right?
Not so.
The plywood/melamine combo was insanely heavy and bulky. It bowed and bended in the middle because there wasn’t enough support.
On top of that, my dad did not buy the right length of screws so as we worked on our project, a few kept popping through to the top.
The cubes were flimsier than I had thought and screwing them together was giving us fits. At one point my sister bowed out and left dad and I huffing and puffing at each other.
Although I’m not a perfectionist, I was disappointed with how it was coming together and when mom returned from some more Black Friday shopping, she found us all mad and pointing at a sagging table.
We decided to head out to dinner one last time before they left town and that’s when mom announced, “All of you should stop pouting. We’re not leaving town until that table looks right.”
We put out heads together and then it hit me – we could prop up the middle of the sagging top with one of those adjustable height folding tables and wa la!
Magic.
That cobbled together table has been in place for more than 8 years now and she’s still going strong and the large workspace is amazing!
Craft Room Storage Lockers:
The yellow lockers are probably one of the most asked about questions I get on my Instagram account.
They are the doings of my dear dad, who can scout out any piece of junk you ask for!
When Pinterest was just a baby, I saw someone post some lockers on there and naturally I NEEDED some! I called dad and said, “If you’re ever anywhere where there are discarded lockers, get them for me.”
About a week later he calls, “Got them!”
He found them on a junk pile and he pulled them out. The lockers were in terrible shape but a little help from the local auto body guy did them wonders. He sandblasted and painted them with a bright yellow auto-body paint (which at the time I hoped I would never regret and spoiler alert – I never have!).
Get yourself a dad who pulls things from junk piles and makes them beautiful and installs them in your craft room!
Thanks dad! You’re a hero!
My current space is huge by nearly anyone’s standards, so I would be remiss if I didn’t also thank my husband who is generous enough to give me nearly the entire footprint of our basement as a crafting area.
Instead of a large man cave with a built-in bar, he gets a small room with no windows where we’ve hung a TV for him to watch football and golf. He keeps a sad little drink table by his lone rocking chair.
He also installed AMAZING lights in the basement now my craft room blazes under the light of one bazillion watts.
Get yourself a husband who is an electrical contractor and you’ll never work in poor light again!
Thanks hubs! You literally light my life!
You are blessed with a beautiful craft room. I love it!