I have four rooms in the loft at this new house. One is an office, one is a small space where my sewing machine and craft supplies are kept, one is a bathroom and the last room is this one. It is a craft room but will double up a guest room as time goes by. However the guest room role is a very long way off at the moment.
My dad assembled this unit for me on Sunday afternoon. It is from Ikea and actually lived in a cupboard at the old place. It housed my fabric stash then and will do so now. But this time the shelving unit will be out in the open and therefore so will the fabric. Which meant it was time to sort it all out, throw away the scraps too teeny to use and re-distribute the ugly stuff.
This means that I give it away to some unsuspecting family member.
This means that my sister gets it.
And this means that my brother - in – law gets annoyed with me.
To transport the fabric from one house to the other it was unceremoniously put in to plastic bags and taped up. A label denoting the colour was placed on to each of the bags and it was therefore super easy to unpack and display. I keep all of my fabric in order of colour. I remember fabrics by their colour and I work on craft and household projects according to their colour so it makes obvious sense to me to organise it in this way.
An hour or so later (and a great deal of fabric that has now passed through my hands and on to another home) and this was the result……
A surprisingly neat and TINY amount of fabric.
It feels so good to be this light. I can see all the designs and I know how much of each print I have in the house.
I’ve been re-inspired to decorate this house with some fabric I’d forgotten I had and it feels great to be saving some money in that department.
I keep crafting, quilting and household fabrics altogether. I know what is what and where to find it. That is key to this exercise I believe, getting organised. I walked past the unit a few times last night and stroked my OCD’d piles of fabric. Neatly folded and waiting to be used. All usable scraps are in three white wicker baskets and as I use scraps a lot for smaller projects I’m glad they have been dealt with too.
Of course I’m only showing you one tiny corner of this room. The rest of the space is in utter carnage still but that doesn’t worry me. I’ve begun and I’m in no rush. I’ll potter about, folding, unpacking, re-housing and pottering some more.
And what was once only a corner……
Will become a bright, sunny, welcoming home.
Where anyone is welcome.
Especially you!
I love you. Have a terrific Tuesday and thank you so much for reading today.
Cherry x
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So brilliant! Love it!
totally gorgeous, sooooo totally you cherry!
can I just ask, where oh where do you get all your fabric from?
I am runnign out of all the vintage material left to me by my grandma, a very stylish sophistated lady….who could even make coats and suits…her dad was a master tailor, not inheritated by me or my mum, sad but true..
Lovely!
I love shelves, any kind, bookshelves, whatever, I love them
So pretty! I love fabric sorted by color!
Thanks Cherry for letting us all in on your very busy life. Love you craft room. Mine is the landing area here in our Saudi villa. I have “see through” boxes to store craft products and materials. Like you I gather, I am a huge fan of Martha Steward and I try and watch her as often as I can on one of the channels here. Love the way your website is soooo inspiring, and just so perfectly designed. Thanks Cherry, your are an inspiration for all women out there who “want to do it all”. Lizzy (British born and bred)
Oh yes this is the way to store fabric, not in soul destroying plastic tubs! I am sorry Cherry, but I think I may have to poach this method for my own craft room
It is lovely to see glimpses of your new home sweet home, and I cannot wait for more!
Morwenna
xo
Oh Cherry, your excitement is infectious! Do you realize that? All this newness, there’s nothing like it to get the creative juices flowing! Happy setting up house!
Ooh lovely, what a beautiful sunny room. And plenty of inspiration for my new craft room, it’s a lot smaller but it will be the first time I have my own craft room.
Kate, am envious I so long for a Gypsy caravan! Cherry I love your sense of Order. Wish I could be a bit more like you in that….Your fabrics are so pastel and like an Easter collection. Very pretty!
Most of my cupboards are tidier than the rest of the house – i’m a bit back to front on that count aren’t I. The shelves look great Cherry and how you’ve organised them really appeals to my desire for order, balance and symmetry – things i’m not very good at achieving. At the moment, if I could keep 2 rooms in my house tidy at the same time, i’d be happy. Ironically the tidiest one at the moment is the least used – maybe that’s why, but I think i’m getting there …. slowly!
My fabric stash is all tucked away in boxes at the moment waiting for me to have some time to do something with it. I don’t know how you do it with twins – I don’t even have any kids!
Enjoy the rest of the unpacking – i’m off to the post office to send chocolate to my nephew.
Take care, B.x
lovely
Great minds think alike! I have that same cubby in my sewing room (only in the darkest color) and I store my fabric in it by color as well! After seeing your photo, I need to get in there and organize it again. Although, it never stays tidy for long.
I think I may have to go home and tidy my cupboards out but alas no craft room from me (yet!) but inspirational…..
If only I could manage to keep my fabrics in such an organised way. I don’t even own such lovely vintage ones like you do.
Must say that I also start with a colour inspired order and then I have to take some fabrics out, not use them straight away, before they end up in a chaotic pile shoved back onto the shelves again.
I wish you all the happines in your new home, Cherry !
)
I need to do this!! Mine is currently stuff into a hamper!
Thanks for the inspiration Cherry, I feel utterly motivated to go home and tidy my craft room (always in a constant mess) and sort out my fabric. Hopefully that’ll inspire me to do so some sewing too
Have a great day and enjoy the continued pottering/sorting.
Lowri xx
Lovely to get organised isn’t it! I’m halfway through sorting out my craft room myself. I think a lot of us all have that Ikea unit for our fabrics, its so useful! And what a good idea to organise your magazines by month, I think I’m going to do that this afternoon!
Sally x
I need that Ikea unit! It looks amazing and I’m totally jealous.
OOOOh, you are a girl after my own heart, Cherry!
I have the smaller Ikea cube in my dining room where my recipe books live, but I have always thought the big one would be fab for my craft supplies. However, they currently live in various places around the house until I can knock a coat cupboard and room back into one (it was originally one space). Seeing your stash has inspired me again, and I must speak to my joiner, as I think the job will be less expensive than our recent project of knocking a load-bearing wall through to open up our dining room and kitchen! I don’t want to frighten my husband too much, but it will make such a difference to me!
As much as I love all that is featured in this post (and am *slightly* jealous as my home is nowhere near this stage) I mostly want to say I am totally in LOVE with that pink chair!! x
That’s my Christmas Chair – http://www.cherrymenlove.com/home_family_life/2009/11/this-years-christmas-chair.html
Cx
I love having a craft “space”. I am enjoying seeing your new house unravel. We just had an offer accepted on a house yesterday so after some uncertain times renting, I (fingers crossed) will have a renovation project and a house I can make my own!! squee!
Gosh, I wish I was that organised AND had the space to store my stash so beautifully! My fabric and other craft supplies are currently in boxes stacked in the corner of our current spare room, which will soon become the nursery. I have NO IDEA where I am going to store them after the baby is born. I think I may have to enlist the help of my mum, who is the super-organised woman I will never be, in finding a suitable place to store them away from prying hands but easily accessible for if/when I catch a few moments to do some crafting again!
It looks gorgeous! I have fabric envy.
Enjoy sorting out the rest of the room, that’s the one bit I like about house moves… dressing it up once you get there.
ZP xo
ZP, I could not agree more. It’s a little like Christmas. Once it’s all done I’ll have to move again. JOKE! Cx
I love it!!! Im with you on the OCD piles Cherry – my friends laugh at me because even things that are in my cupboards have to be neat (tins facing front and all that lol!).
At the moment my fabric stask lives under the spare bed, but as part of my grand plan it will have a new home on full display – ah someday!!!
Lord, I wish I was that organised…..I’m currently renovating a vintage caravan and making curtains and cushions from sweet old 30s fabric..there are piles of fabric everywhere!
Kate, you are taking part in my all time favourite project, my dream project!