Starting to plot my corner of the basement

Thanks for all the lovely comments on our new house! We are super busy unpacking and figuring out all the stuff we need to do or buy, but it's been awesome. ♥

One of the things I'm daydreaming about now that we've moved is my sewing and craft space! In our condo, my sewing "area" (and I use the term loosely) was the dining table. Not a very useful setup and annoying when we actually wanted to dine at the dining table.

Now that we have a house, holy crap! I get to have my own real sewing space! This thrills me to no end and is worthy of excessive use of exclamation points!!

It'll be roughly one-third of the finished part of our basement, which is all open. The other two-thirds? Mel will get art studio space, and we'll also have a lounge area. This part of the basement is more like partially finished... it's not very well insulated and is a wee bit rough around the edges, but at least there's peel and stick tile flooring, finished walls, and a bathroom. And it's totally not creepy at all (unlike a couple of what we dubbed serial killer basements that we saw during house hunting—egads).

Here's my corner of the basement. Pardon the dark Instagram pic, but the computer I use to work on photos isn't unpacked yet...actually it has nowhere to go because it's supposed to go in this space, ha ha:

You can see my sewing machine (in its carrier), dress form (wrapped in plastic bags without its base), rigid heddle loom (behind the boxes) and yarn bins have already made an appearance. ;)

Part of that space will be Mel's, but what I have to work with will be roughly 10.5 feet x 8 feet. I'm going to take the corner, so that I have two walls to hang up plenty of things (thread organizer, etc). The bright spot on the right-hand wall is a glass block window that does let in some natural light. To the left of the pole will be the lounge (about as big as the what you see above), which will be tiki-themed.

Now I'll admit this right now: while we're going to try and stay as mid-century and mid-century-inspired as we can throughout the rest of the house, the sewing and art areas...not really. If I let myself only go vintage with furniture, it will be years before I get it all together and make my mind up. To compromise, I'm going to try and accessorize with vintage seating and items, and incorporate vintage fabrics where I can. In my heart of hearts mid-century design is the ultimate, but I do think it'll be nice to just freestyle it in my basement nook and let my crafty geek flag fly.

What areas will I need?

1. Cutting fabric. I'm thinking possibly an island or kind of a dining table of sorts. I'm short and prefer table-height to counter-height.
2. Sewing. Doesn't need to be a big table, but maybe something long enough in case I one day get a serger (woo!), so I can have two work stations.
3. Working on the computer. I'll setup our older iMac down there for blogging.
4. Working on my loom. I may get a stand for it, or set it up on a table.
5. Fabric storage. I used an organizer from Target (Circo 9 cubes) in a closet in our condo, but the cubbies were not really suitable for larger lengths of fabric. I think drawers would be better.
6. Sewing pattern and crafty doodad storage. Not including yarn, which will remain in plastic storage bins in the storage area of our basement (not in the finished area). Space for my sewing patterns, buttons, ribbon, blocking pins, etc.
7. Book shelves. I'll keep all of my sewing, knitting and craft books in this area.
8. Seating. I'm thinking a chair and a stool so I can alternate, depending on where I'm sitting.

What are my obstacles to work around?

1. Fluorescent lighting. Not going to change anytime soon, so I'll need to accessorize with really good lighting. Fortunately unlike the rest of the house, there are lots of outlets in that area. I'm thinking at least a couple of full spectrum lights, and one or two vintage lights with fun shades for a mix of cozy as well as functionally bright lighting.
2. It's not really a room, so there are only two walls. I can float furniture to make it more of a square space, but will have to think about how. And then we have to think about how we can visually separate it a bit from the future lounge area.
3. It's not that warm. I'll need a (safe) space heater, for sure.
4. The floor covering is on cement. I'll need some kind of rug or maybe a big carpet remnant. And a dog bed for Pia to hang out, of course!

So what would you do if you were building a crafty space in a basement corner? Is there anything I'm forgetting about? Do tell!

Next time, I'll share some of the crafty spaces that are inspiring me, and talk more about ideas for furniture, storage and decorating!