The home of the Polkadot Chair…. part 1

One of the most frequent questions I get about my blog is: “is there really a Polkadot Chair?”  Well the answer is yes, there is a Polkadot Chair…

it’s pink,

and it lives in my craft room.

When I first started my blog I didn’t like the 1st name I had picked for it.  After spending an afternoon sitting in my polka dot chair hand sewing, I thought it would be a better name for my blog. So I switched it to “the Polkadot Chair, adventures in my craft room”….

A month or so ago I gave my craft room a HUGE cleaning. Threw away stuff, stored stuff, moved stuff around… My son walked in and said “wow, I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this clean in here!”… and I realized it might not ever be that clean again… so I snapped some photos.

Today as part of the  “home” theme for my blog I thought I’d share some of the photos, and a little bit about how I keep things organized. (yes, to me this is organized. I work best when I can see stuff, put too many things in boxes and I forget about them)

Since I get a lot of questions about where I got things, or who makes them, I just going to post as much info as I can about the items in my room. Please don’t think it’s braggy, it’s just to help answer the questions that I know will be coming. Please feel free to ask any questions that you like, if I don’t mention something. I don’t mind at all!

This week I’ll share some then finish it up next week with part 2.

up first:

The chair- it’s from Pottery Barn Teen,  I got it a few years ago on super duper clearance. I guess no one wanted a pink chair, but me.

The dress forms: The large one was a gift from my husband for Christmas (and yes I use it A LOT!) The smaller child sized one was purchased off of ebay.

To the left you can see my cutting table/ ironing board and to the right behind the chair is my scrapbook table. The white cubbies behind the chair hold scrapbook paper.

You can also see next to the open window small table with white canvas on it. That is where I take photos for my blog.  The window brings in great light most days. The canvas (like you paint on) makes a great base for the photos, I have 3 that I can move around to get a clean background when I need it. I also have a stand alone flash to take photos at night, but I still haven’t gotten the ‘hang’ of it yet.

On top of the expedit bookcase, I like to keep a collection of trinkets. Traci made me the cupcake topper dolls, and the pins were my Grandma’s. (which I think I stole from my Mom… I’ll bring them back in July *wink*)

I keep my Heather Bailey fabric in a DVD storage tower also from IKEA.  Next to it are drawers with scrapbook embellishments. The plastic tubs you see hold items for theme albums… like our trip to Europe etc..

I like to keep my scrapbook embellishments organized by color.

To the right of the DVD tower is my sewing table.  I have a Husquvanra Viking Designer 1… I’ve had it for 9 years and loved it every second. I’m thinking about upgrading but can’t decide.  The thread rack on the wall is from Joann’s.  The shelves are old Pottery Barn ones I got at the outlet.

This is my cutting table. I got it at a now out of business local fabric store. It’s a “gate leg” table with a cutting mat on top.  It’s great because it gives me lots of space for storage underneath.

The magnet board above the table is just a metal board covered with fabric.  To the left is my ironing board cabinet.

On the shelf above it I like to keep ric rack, note cards, and other special little things.  The blue house numbers are from the flea market in Paris, they’ll stay there until I find a better home for them.

I like to keep colorful shoe or gift boxes for storage. One keeps zippers and the other keeps elastics.

Underneath my table I keep my WIP’s in bins.  There are a few WIPS right now, the top one is pillow shams for my daughters bed. There is also a bin full of quilt pieces for my other daughters bed.  The baskets behind the pink boxes hold interfacing, batting scraps etc.

Also the floors are laminate. My husband installed them and I love them! They are easy to clean and the light color really brightens up the room. I’m a very messy crafter so I think carpet in here would have been a huge mistake!   The laminate sweeps up easily and so far I’ve managed not to stain it.

Okay that’s enough for today….

watch for part 2 next week.