Here you can see my lovely bead chaise, next to the window for as much natural light as I can get! I love this chair so much. It's the perfect scale for me, and wide enough that the cat can sit next to me if she feels like it. Sometimes I work on a lap tray with legs and sometimes I pull a small folding table up over my legs if I have a several projects going on at the same time.
Underneath the window I have a couple of shelves that I've filled with all of my bead/sewing/craft books, and other frequently used items. Currently the biggest thing that is in limbo is shelving for the beads. Obviously, towers of stacked boxes is not ideal for creativity. I think I'm leaning towards a heavy duty commercial shelf because all those boxes of glass and stones get HEAVY...I've already destroyed a couple of different household shelves. The trick is to find something kind of long and low. I have a tendency to sit on the floor in front of the shelf to pull out boxes and find pieces for a project...that just doesn't work if I have to keep standing to reach things off higher shelves!
Wrapping around the rest of the wall that the chaise is against, I have a rack where I keep wires, cords, and other supplies, next to my doll cupboard/creativity altar. Above the chaise on hooks, I keep my handcut leather cords and sari silk ribbons (and usually a few other things) within easy reach. Next to the chaise on a skinny wire rack is my ott-lite, toolboxes and coloring utensils. The two open bins are for sorting project leftovers into - so I don't have to drag out all the boxes to put things away after every single project.
I worked so hard to get this room set up to show you all...that I haven't even pulled out a beading project yet! We zipped over to Knoxville for the holiday weekend, to be with our adopted TN family, and bring back a new (to us) washer and dryer. Hopefully next week I'll be able to bead some...or maybe get my Etsy shop reopened!
I hope you all had a happy and safe 4th of July!
It looks like a wonderful space to bead Lindsay. You should be proud of what you have accomplished.
ReplyDeleteNice space to work, and great to have things so close at hand. For your shelving dilemma, might I suggest going to the local lumber yard or home improvement store and getting some thick planks of solid wood (not MDF) and some bricks or cinderblocks. You can customize how high you want your shelves by using different numbers of bricks stacked up, and choose the length of the shelves by having the planks cut to the lengths you need. That way, you can also place brick stacks where needed along the length to prevent sagging.
ReplyDeleteThe weight of your boxes and of the bricks should keep things secure, but to make extra sure things don't topple over, holes can be drilled through the planks from top to bottom and using some kind of steel bar or threaded pipe to run through all the shelves and the holes in the bricks, then clamped top and bottom.....well, you get the idea, I hope.
Good luck with completing your set up, so you can return to your creative pursuits!
Suggestion for shelves....have you considered thick planks of wood, cut to your desired lengths, stacked on top of bricks? Homemade and rustic looking, yes, but could also be very useful. You can customize how high you want each shelf to be by using different numbers of bricks as spacers, and you can place brick stacks where needed to ensure that the shelves don't sag under the weight of your materials. Also using actual wood instead of MDF will be more structurally strong, I think.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with completing your set up, and enjoy getting creative again!
Great space , Lindsay! I love your chaise.
ReplyDeleteLinday, that room is inspiring! Love the way you have it set up.
ReplyDeleteThat Chaise looks amazing!! What an awesome place to sit and bead!
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