![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.terryaskeartquilts.com\/Studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/IMG_4655.jpg\" "\\"Terry")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhen my husband and I decided to renovate our condominium apartment in 2011, I jumped at the opportunity to design my perfect workspace.\u00a0 At that time, I had been quilting for more than 10 years, and I had experimented with a number of storage and workspace options.\u00a0 I had a pretty clear idea of what worked for me, and what didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Prior to the renovation, the furniture in my studio consisted mainly of bookcases, which provided lots of storage, but no horizontal work space.\u00a0 As a result, my fabric and works in progress often spilled out onto the dining room table. There was also a shortage of drawers and doors to hide clutter, which made it difficult to keep my studio looking tidy and organized.<\/p>\n
Carpeting was replaced with hardwood flooring to match the flooring elsewhere in the condo.\u00a0 The cabinetry is all white, the countertop is a laminate in a color similar to the floor.\u00a0 The upper cupboards all have doors, to hide the clutter and provide visual calmness. The walls are painted a soft green; my favorite color.\u00a0 A ceiling fan keeps the room cool enough to work even on hot summer days.<\/p>\n I prefer to stand when designing quilts, cutting, ironing \u2013 basically everything except sewing at my machine, or working at my computer.\u00a0 So, most of the counters are 37 inches high.<\/p>\n On the long wall, the standing-height counter is 26 inches deep, wide enough for my cutting mats and an ironing mat.\u00a0 (I banished my full-size ironing board to the closet.)\u00a0 Two of my favorite organizing products are hung on the wall above this counter.\u00a0 A metal magazine holder is a perfect place to store my acrylic quilting rulers and I can use magnets to hold notes and photos to the front.\u00a0 A hanging basket from IKEA holds my scissors, rotary cutters and other small items.\u00a0 Now my rulers and cutting tools are easy to find, and don\u2019t get buried under piles of fabric.<\/p>\n I Under the counter are a combination of drawers, open shelves, and one of my favorite features \u2013 slots for my wire baskets full of fabrics. \u00a0I bought these wire baskets years ago from IKEA, and found this the best way for me to organize my fabric, which is mostly small pieces of \u00bc to \u00bd yard.\u00a0 I tried stacking it on shelves, but I always seemed to need the fabric in the middle of the stack.\u00a0 I sort my fabric by color and place it vertically\/standing upright in the baskets so I can pull out what I need without disturbing the other fabric.\u00a0 I can easily pull out a whole basket if needed, then slide it back into its slots.<\/p>\n On one short wall (above), the counter is only 16 inches deep \u2013 just wide enough for the rolling, folding craft table to slide underneath when not being used.\u00a0\u00a0 When I\u2019m designing a quilt, my portable hinged design wall is open and propped against the counter and cupboards.\u00a0 When I progress to the construction phase and need a larger horizontal work area, the design wall is moved and the craft table is rolled out.\u00a0 Being able to move the craft table around, and access it from all sides is very useful.<\/p>\n When sewing a large quilt, I need additional surface area behind my sewing machine table to support the weight of t \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The wall in front of my sewing machine has no upper cupboards.\u00a0 Instead, it is designated as gallery space where I display my quilts on a rotating basis (above).\u00a0 I installed two caf\u00e9 rods to provide some flexibility in the size of quilts I can hang there.\u00a0 I love being able to look at my quilt gallery while sewing.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0 One leg of an L-shaped closet was fitted with custom-designed shelving. \u00a0I store my finished quilts rolled on foam tubes \u2018pool noodles\u2019 on sloped shelves so they don\u2019t roll off.\u00a0 There is lots of room for bulky supplies like batting, shipping supplies and extra sewing machines.\u00a0 Sliding doors hide the clutter, and my portable design wall fits perfectly against them, if I need to view a quilt from a distance.<\/p>\n The other leg of the L-shaped closet was converted to a small (37\u201d wide by 27\u201d deep) office alcove.\u00a0 Here I manage my online Etsy shop, keep in touch with the online quilting world, plan which quilt shows I want to enter, and keep track of all the related paperwork.<\/p>\n I\u2019m thrilled with my new furnishings.\u00a0 Everything has a place, and there is even room in the cupboards and drawers for future acquisitions.\u00a0 \u00a0I feel much more organized and therefore more productive.<\/p>\n My Favorite Organizing Products:<\/strong><\/p>\n Welcome to my quilt studio! When my husband and I decided to renovate our condominium apartment in 2011, I jumped at the opportunity to design my perfect workspace.\u00a0 At that time, I had been quilting for more than 10 years, … Continue reading <\/a>My studio is located in our second bedroom, an awkwardly-shaped room of approximately 220 square feet, which also houses our exercise bike and treadmill.\u00a0 So with a finite amount of room for my studio, I needed to make the very best use of the available space.\u00a0 I prepared an inventory of all my fabric, supplies and other quilting-related possessions to determine how much and what types of storage space I required.\u00a0\u00a0 I drew a floor plan of the room, and cut out pieces of colored paper to scale for all the pieces of furniture, rearranging them until I felt I had the best possible layout.\u00a0 I turned to the Internet and magazines such as Studios<\/a> for inspiration and ideas of how to maximize every inch of space.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>For lighting, there are pot lights in the ceiling to provide good overall light, under-cabinet puck lights to provide task lighting, and two full-spectrum lights I can position where needed.\u00a0 The window faces east and overlooks a walkway along the Fraser River and a railroad bridge \u2013 there\u2019s always something interesting happening just outside my window!<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> also design my art quilts at this counter.\u00a0 The cupboards above hold my design materials – sketch books and notes about quilting designs, inspirational photos, reference books, graph paper, tracing paper, colored pens and pencils,\u00a0etc.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>he quilt.\u00a0 The sewing machine table is positioned against a counter built to the same height.\u00a0 Because this counter cannot be accessed from the front without moving the sewing machine table, it\u2019s open at the end, so that I can easily access the storage space underneath.\u00a0 A small rolling cart next to my sewing table provides additional support when sewing large quilts, and is a handy place to store my thread and frequently used sewing notions.\u00a0 I sort my thread by color and store it in clear Ziploc bags.<\/p>\n<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>\u00a0 <\/a><\/p>\n\n