I truly didn’t think on Tuesday that this project would ever get to this point, THIS week. There was cooking to do, and young children to take care of, and things just were NOT going the way I wanted them to… We mainly went through the boxes of “who knows?” that had been dragged to the living room, and got everything thrown/put away.
Then on Thursday, I had a brainstorm that I wish I’d had on Tuesday. I sent my two oldest children, Tabitha (13), and Jonathan (12) into the sewing room. Tabitha, a natural organizer with an eye for rearranging things to a room’s advantage, was in charge, and Jonathan was her helper. Since he wasn’t interested in learning about sewing supplies, he was content to be the guy who put everything where she said to put it. (Actually, he said he’d rather go fishing, but he helped willingly.) I gave them free rein to do WHATEVER they thought best in there, with just a few guidelines about certain things.
They warmed to their work, and they recruited several younger siblings who delivered various items to different parts out of the house. I was kept out of the room for a while while I heard furniture moving. They called for an opinion, and I was amazed!!!
The new view, walking in the door. The box on the floor is full of trash, and will be gone tomorrow. The spice rack on the table will hang on the wall near the sewing machine with as many spools of thread as it will hold. The little box to the right of the table is my grandmother’s old sewing box, which holds more thread, knitting and crochet needles, etc. That still needs to be decluttered, but that is an easy 20 minute project now that can fit into a normal day!
My favorite part of the room! Tabitha found that these two cabinets, which had been on opposite walls, fit perfectly on this wall with 2 inches to spare from the window! This “cubbyhole shelf” was free from friends of ours who run a daycare center, and is invaluable for holding individual projects and supplies. Needs to be streamlined, but we can find everything now! The basket on top holds all our patterns which need to be organized and I’ll probably store them in a drawer. One of the drawers holds yarn.
The closet now contains mostly empty storage containers and boxes, and a huge box of mending that we can now tackle! The barrels are favorites of my husband, since they belonged to his mom, and they hold material, more material, and a bunch of clothes I found that need to be sorted/resized/cut apart for material/buttons. Once again, we’re down to final projects that will take 30 minutes or less here and there. I also plan to cover these barrels with some material to act as “tables.”
Amazing! An empty wall! Right now, the little girls’ toy box is here, but we plan to build another sewing table since we have 2 sewing machines and a serger. And I can now have a spacious place for ironing! I have cool wall hanger, which holds the board, the iron, and two cans of spray starch, that will be moved from the laundry room – most likely will place it on an “usuable” little wall by the door.
On Thursday, we had a mini almost-done-celebration and cut up two sparkly, large valances I’d been given into 6 capes/shawls/?? for the girls. I hemmed the cut edges for the little girls and they’ve been wearing them ever since.
Oh, after all their hard work, Tabitha and Jonathan got to do some fishing in the canal that adjoins our property…
Tabitha bagged a goby (aka bigmouth sleeper).
This evening (Friday), while Jonathan cooked quesadillas, and everyone else played dressup, I sat on the floor of the sewing room and went through the last 5 boxes of mixed up supplies and sorted ribbons and trim, fasteners, elastic, needles and pins, bobbins and thread, and buttons. The quesadillas were done before I was, so everyone ate them in the sewing room and put things away while I sorted madly. What an incredible feeling to have this done!
