Ok, so it's pretty much After without Before.

My husband is a contractor and he had the porch of the house we rent redone into a workspace for me.  Yes, we are the best tenants ever and I can see how some would think it's nuts to do so much work on a rental. But, owning is so far ahead of where we are (thank you suck economy)  that it simply made no sense to sit around and wait for someday. 

Did I start to hyperventilate thinking about what if we had to move or something? Sure, but I do that on a regular basis and really I'm more concerned about Gabriel's school then anything else. 

At some point you have to sit still or make do and I'm really bad at just sitting there. Luckily so is my husband. 

I was using a ten by twelve room upstairs in our very typical Arlington brick house. With bookshelves for fabric, etc. it got really very hot in the Summer and while functional, was not a 'real' workspace. 

Plus I'd be upstairs having to yell down and answer 'Mom?' every three seconds and trying to step over a sea of dog (I have three all averaging 90 pounds who NEED to be right there at ALL TIMES) and having on thing here and another there, well, it was not motivating. 


The porch, while a few feet narrower, is a few feet longer, on the first level and not used at all, really.  Unfortunately, while the dogs have more room to spread out, they still pretty much make a dog rug around my feet. 


The upside being that since it's not so hot, they pant less and I have more oxygen. I'll post some pics of them next week, they are pretty awesome. Right now I have one behind my chair and two on the bed behind the chair. One of them has to stare at me at all times.  Another must have their ear right under the wheel of my chair. It's some sort of built in system they have.


But I digress.

You can click to make larger. 

This is my neglected Suzie Pro. Which I can now use as it's not crammed behind my sewing table.  The last pictures are some (yes, some) of my spinning stash. 

This is a rug I made from one of Gabriel's drawings.

This is a cutting table from JoAnn's. A fabulous thing and one I recommend highly. See that metallic looking pad under the pillow on the table? That's an ironing pad. You use it on any surface, it costs under $12 and you don't need to use an ironing board. Awesome space saver. 

This is the far end of the room. The shelves are built in and on brackets if I want to adjust them. Yes, the room does slant ever so slightly,lol. All porches do. See that shelving in there, on the left? With the stacks of wool? I had to put a shim under the left side because otherwise the slant was so pronounced I felt like I was on a ship.

Cute bins from Target on major mark down. Fleece and what not fabric is on this end with the cottons on the other.

Pics fuzzy, sorry. Under those two windows is where I planted the lavender bushes and the climbing roses (well those were planted but had to be cut back, they are coming around nicely). So when I open the window, next year it will smell lovely. 

This is the machine I'm using while my Bernina gets fixed. Yes, it's a bit of a challenge. 

Over on the door end. All cottons, most half and quarter yards. Those rolling storage things are from the Container Store, try and grab the floor models (I did) and save big bucks. 

Obviously a ceiling fan.

Track lighting he put in after I pointed out that the ceiling fan's 150 watt output just wasn't gonna cut it.

Front of the room, look at my big ass windows! Blinds will go up eventually,lol.

Another view. That purple fabric is a temporary fix until I figure out  how to deal with the dogs going nuts every time someone walks by. Those bins in the middle will go in the basement after I *sob* figure out Photoshop and take pictures and list everything.

I thought I took pics of the before. But, can't seem to find them. Anyhow, it was a basic porch, not enclosed, with a roof. Now it looks like this. The floor is kinda bouncy as Hamid put padding and then plywood and then the cheaply fake wood (we don't own the house, so couldn't rationalise spending $600 on a floor). It's nice because it's kind on one's feet when you are standing for a bit. 

These are great because they have little photo sized (5 by 7) boxes in them. I use them to hold die cut felt shapes, and small felt projects I'm working on. Great storage and great for travel. Plus, you can use the coupon from Michael's and get them way cheap.

All my weaving supplies will stay in one of the upstairs closets. So will the yarn. The looms will stay in what is now the spare room. Wool and roving will remain in the rest of the upstairs closets. This is why I have those whatevers that hold like, eight towels at a time on the back of the bathroom door. At last count it was four closets full.  But they are really small closets....

Oh this is my magnet board. I'm stupidly excited about it.

These are my Ananda Tree price labels. The house and tree and for the House and Home line and the girl is for the children's stuff. They are stamps from The Mayberry Sparrow who has wonderful things, all of which I want, and is a dream to do business with. 

Of course the Ananda tag is affixed to all goods, but these not only make the items a little more special, it's easier for consignment inventory.


It's painted Faraway Blue, which you can't really make out with the photos due to my crap ass skills. That's about it. I don't know how big the room is exactly, here's the outside. UPDATE:  The space is about 8 by 16 feet.   

Typical Arlington post WW2 two story.

Oh and in case you thought I was exaggerating, here are some of the closets.

I'm thinking I may need another addition....