Craft central...

Living in a one bedroom apartment can be challenging in an organizational sense at the best of times - add to that a husband, two cats and the desire to have a dedicated crafting area and it gets a little out of hand.  Originally, my crafting space was in a corner of our bedroom (which is quite large, so it wasn't such a big deal) but I was constantly having to run out to the living/dining areas so that I could use the dining table to cut fabric, or set up the ironing board in a larger area.  Lucky for me, The Boy is quite an accommodating lad and so I moved my work desk/sewing machine/supplies out into the living room.  This has meant moving my computer and small desk into the bedroom, which isn't ideal, but it takes up less space and gives me a quieter area to work in when I'm writing or blogging.

In addition to taking over more square footage in the living room, I've also taken over the hutch in the dining room, as you can see above.  This had become kind of a catch-all, so I feel good about re-purposing it for something useful and it's helped me to organize my supplies more than I have ever done before.  Oh, and see that old Underwood typewriter?  Someone had left that in the Free Stuff pile at our old building.  Can you believe that?

Fabric all in one spot!

I've also gone so far as to organize the items within the hutch.  You can kind of see a peek of the labeled boxes in the photo below.  Originally, the hutch had awful wooden handles, so I replaced those with the white and black ceramic ones that you can see in the close up.  Easy to do and the knobs were a cheap find at Paboom (great store with locations in Vancouver and Victoria - all sorts of neat things for the home at (generally) very reasonable prices).  The 'Hope' heart was an ornament attached to something else I bought and the metal owl was a gift a fellow blogger sent during a swap I participated in.

My plan is to eventually paint the whole hutch.  I'm not sure what colour yet, but I'm thinking something light - maybe a pale blue or light lemon yellow.  I know some people frown on those who dare to paint wooden furniture but this hutch is neither an antique nor a particularly expensive piece, so I really have no qualms about it.  Plus, I think if it were a lighter colour it would seem less of a hulking beast.  Summer is pretty much over in this neck of the woods, so I may have missed my opportunity to do any outside sanding/painting for this year.  No matter - gives me plenty of time to pick a colour!

Finally, we have a really atrocious photo of my new desk/sewing area set up.  I've still got a little tidying to do and still have my training wheels on when it comes to fully cleaning up after a sewing session.  Having this in the living area is forcing me to be more mindful of that.  My computer and small desk were in this spot and I just left the cork board and other pictures up.  I need to find a more aesthetically pleasing way to deal with the cords, too.  If you've got any suggestions, let me know!

For daydreaming purposes, I have a panorama shot of Melbourne as viewed from Williamstown to stare at and also a large patio window to stare out of.  I should put some plants or something decorative out on that balcony - it's not very inspiring in it's current empty state.  (We have a second balcony that has the bbq, bistro set and plants - how decadent are we with our two balconies!)

To keep me company, I also have a wee Evil Monkey and a tiny Edgar Allen Poe.  You can just seem them perched on the edge of the cork board.  Oh, and that bunting is from The Boy's birthday - which was two weeks ago.  We like to keep the party going around here.

So, that's my new space.  Not that you know what my old space looked like.  I'm hoping this new set up will make crafting a little more streamlined and hopefully that will translate into increased productivity.  I did manage to finish a new quilt last night so things are looking good!