Many good, useful, inexpensive ideas have been offered...may look into some myself! That damp basement sounds like your main problem......could that cause that nasty black mold to form......hope you can resolve it....sounds like a waste of space that would drive me crazy!
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Originally Posted by Mrs Shak
(Post 6911737)
I have to sew on the kitchen table and my stash, etc is thrown in a corner (in clear containers or baskets) or in other rooms. I would love to set up an area in the basement but it is too damp (when it rains hard or when the snow melts, we get water down there).
I'm looking to see if anyone would have any ideas of how to better organize because I have to dig through everything in order to get what I want. I do keep current projects in their own totes. Or how to use a damp basement? I don't have any extra space except the basement. My family (and I) are tired of having to look at my sewing stuff whenever we use the kitchen! TIA! |
How much water, just a bit, running into the drain? Get some large cart wheels (here's a picture, but get bigger than this, to keep your platform out of the water.
http://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/...B&gclsrc=aw.ds A sheet of good plywood, 5/8" or 3/4". Cut it in half. Reinforce it with 2x4. Attach the cartwheels to the 2x4. Put plastic bins which seal (like rubbermaid) on the frame. Wrap plain charcoal briquets (no starter fluid) in newspapers, then wrap that in scrapbook paper (for the protection of your fabric - acid & lignen free, etc.) and put a bundle in each bin with your fabrics. Absorb odor & moisture. ... can you tell I lived with your problem once upon a time... |
Originally Posted by Mrs Shak
(Post 6911737)
I have to sew on the kitchen table and my stash, etc is thrown in a corner (in clear containers or baskets) or in other rooms. I would love to set up an area in the basement but it is too damp (when it rains hard or when the snow melts, we get water down there).
I'm looking to see if anyone would have any ideas of how to better organize because I have to dig through everything in order to get what I want. I do keep current projects in their own totes. Or how to use a damp basement? I don't have any extra space except the basement. My family (and I) are tired of having to look at my sewing stuff whenever we use the kitchen! TIA! Could you store things not sewing related in the basement on shelving suspended from the ceiling so the water won't bother them? (Like seldom used pans, etc). If you put everything in its own plastic bag the humidity shouldn't bother it. But I wouldn't put fabric or paper down there. Anyway this might free up space upstairs. In my closets I put some plastic shelves on the main shelf which gave me more storage in the space above the main shelf. If you have standard closets, you could even attach a shelf close to the ceiling which could take stuff like batting or out of season clothes, etc. and you wouldn't have to get at it very often. As to organization, if you could categorize your stuff(by use or fabric by type/color) maybe you wouldn't have to "dig through everything" as often. I have all my sharp things(scissors, needles, rotary cutters, etc) in a small 3-drawer plastic container that sits on a bookcase. When my grandchildren were little and slept in my sewing room, I just took the whole thing into my bedroom for safety. Maybe you could keep something like this elsewhere and take to the kitchen when you want to sew. |
For leaks around stones in basement, This Old a House did a program on hydraulic cement. It can go right in even if the leak is still wet and seals in minutes. You do have to work quickly though.
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Don't want to sound mean, but how old are your children? Young enough to double up in a bedroom? Old enough to be thinking about moving? Any room in one of kids bedrooms to set up small table?
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How attached to your kitchen table are you? I bet you could find or build a table with storage in the middle and chairs or benches with lift up seats for storage. Check out Ana White for furniture plans.
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Kari, much like you, I sew at my dining room table. I have a cutting table set up in a spare bedroom and keep my fabric in a plastic storage bin with drawers on wheels. I have to move my machine to the laundry room when we have guests for dinner.
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Perhaps a bookcase if it fits? I buy large sheets of foam board at the dollar store and cut four 9x12 boards from it (there will be some excess) . Wrap fabric around each board and organize it by color on the bookcase. I also use plastic shoeboxes from dollar store on bookcase and cut pretty coordinating scrapbook paper to label the inside fronts and keep them uniform (but less utilitarian). I roll fat quarters and tie with a scrap strip, then put them in a pretty container on top of the bookcase ( not a lg bookcase).
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Originally Posted by pocoellie
(Post 6912221)
I think that the first thing I would do, is to take care of the basement problem, because eventually that will become a MAJOR problem.
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