Sewing Room Reshuffle and the Godsend that is Pegboard

My sewing room has been a bit ad-hoc, and I just ended up putting things were they seemed to go at the time without much forethought.  And once I got my overlocker (will need to do a review of it at one point), I realised that my room wasn't very well organised at all.  I ended up having to keep the overlocker on the floor, and when I needed it, I had to push my sewing machine out of the way, lift the overlocker up, use it, put it back on the floor, then pull the sewing machine into the correct spot again.  Was a total pain.  My best friend was due to come down and he said that he'd help me reorganise it and move the furniture around.

Then I had a stroke of genius.  Pegboards.  I love buying notions, and the only thing I love more than buying notions, is organising them.  And I realised that if I had a pegboard attached to the back of my main sewing desk, I could use hooks to hang scissors, packs of pins, etc. and have them all within arms reach of my sewing machine.

My usual first search point is eBay, and I found a company that sells pegboard and hooks.  I got one that was pre-cut to the exact size of my desk. I also got some L shaped brackets that I could screw under the desk and and rest the pegboard between the back of the desk and the bracket.  Simples.

Now seeing as the pegboard is a hideous shade of brown and my sewing room is on its way to having a vintage feel, it didn't really go.  I got some primer and some beautiful powder blue paint.  While I was at it, I figured I'd add some rose decals to make it look like the Kath Kidston fabric that I use for the soft furnishings in the room.

First of all I covered the pegboard in a couple of coats of the primer, it covered well and knocked the brown right out. Then went with a couple of coats of the powder blue.  I left it so it was slightly patchy as I wanted it to have a slightly worn feel.  I then added the rose decals.  They were pretty easy to attach following the instructions.  I won't go into how I did it as you might have a different type of decal that has different instructions.

(I left a gap at the bottom so the decals weren't covered by the desk)

When my best mate turned up, we moved the room around a bit.  Used my big Ikea shelves as a room divider to make it nice and cosy, attached the L brackets to the desk, and moved the desks around so I had a nice L shape desk area.

I got all the hooks in, and my notions organised, and tada, beautiful sewing room where I can sew and overlock without having to keep lifting, and I have all my notions organised and within easy reach.

I also got a Really Useful drawer unit to keep my ever growing fabric stash in.  And I got some adhesive pockets that I stuck on the front of the drawers, and printed off some cute labels in a vintage font.  When I use some fabric and the drawer is empty, I can swap over the label to keep up with the stash.

The other side of the room divider is my fitting area, where Veronica (my fitting dummy) stands, and I can change without people seeing me through the balcony doors, handy!  I'll take some more photos the next time it's tidy and update.

I have a few projects on the go, and will be updating on those, so check back soon :)

Happy sewing!