Big re-org project this weekend. Roshani was over a few weeks ago, and tried out a little resin work in my basement. She noticed how overstuffed it is (I could absolutely run a summer camp out of my craft supply hoard), and suggested moving my sewing stuff up to the playroom. This was a genius idea.
When we bought our house, we did a gut rehab, and part of that was finishing the attic. Two segments we raised the roof to make the children’s rooms, but there’s an L-shaped section we just drywalled (after putting in HVAC ducting) and painted. It’s been a chaotic playroom and served good duty for 15 years, but we have teenagers now, so there’s far fewer toys in the space.
A few years back, I reworked it some, turning half of it into teen lounge for both kids and Nintendo / Xbox gaming space for Anand and his friends. That part is working well.
In theory, the other half of it was art studio for Kavi, but it turns out she mostly does drawing on the couch or in bed. So that half is getting re-purposed to sewing & art studio — I’ve moved my sewing machine, serger, and ironing board up there, along with a ridiculous amount of fabric and many projects-in-process.
I think it’s going to be a much nicer space for sewing, and while Kavi doesn’t have a big interest in sewing, she’s started learning how to take in her tops and hem her pants so they fit better, and I’d love Anand to eventually learn some basic sewing machine skills too. He has almost no interest in his own clothes, though, so that may be a tougher persuasion. It’s way easier to learn any skill if you have an innate interest in doing something WITH that skill.
Lots of hauling yesterday! Since Kavi’s out sick, a friend’s teen came by and worked for an hour and a half yesterday (paid!), helping Anand haul everything up three flights of stairs — they were pretty tired by the end of that! And I’ve been organizing since then, bit by bit.
This is one section getting close to done — I just need to go through the stuff on the HVAC duct shelf, most of which moves over to the sewing area. I might have to move one IKEA shelving unit up from the basement, but am hoping to avoid that, since it’s heavy, and I can probably use it down there for resin supply storage. We’ll see.
It would be amazing to add some skylights in here to get more natural light — if we get some extra money at some point, maybe that will happen. I should write some more stories and sell them. 🙂
For now, progress. Plan for the rest of the day is to keep working on this, intermittently with coaxing convalescent Kavi to eat something and move around a little, and cooking for tomorrow’s open house potluck. Yes, I know I don’t have to cook a lot for a potluck, but I want to. There will be trifle, I think. And mango fluff. And some rice and curries…
I’ve started a rewatch of Vera, now that the series is coming to an end — just one more episode to drop next week and it’s done.
It’s a really splendid British murder mystery series, and there are fourteen seasons (British seasons, so typically 2-4 80 minute episodes), so if you’re looking for something to watch for a while, highly recommended. It’s probably my favorite of those types of series, and I watch a LOT of them. Amazing character development.
