drawers, schmawers

We're still waiting for the fantabulous lights to get here, so I haven't been building anything big yet. I'm sure the electrician is going to need all the floor space, and the pressing table will have to be built in the room b/c it will be so big.

But, I have been working on some drawer boxes. Here's my schematic:
The front is to the left (there will be a face plate on it to cover the joints.
Anywho, since I don't have the skills or set-up to do real dovetails, this is about the strongest joint I can make. The sides have two dadoes in them and the front has a small rabbet to lock into the dado. All were made by the router. I also routed a small groove around all four sides to hold the drawer base.

It's been a week since I've started and I've only got three drawers made. Here's two:


Right now I'm wondering why on earth I decided to make drawer... but then I remind myself 1) I like using drawers more than cupboards or open shelves, 2) I can make them the size I want,
and 3) it's good for me, right?

These drawers are the right size for my patterns, which I store in manila envelopes. I made them a little bigger than standard file drawers b/c I'm always feeling like I'm squishing the envelopes.

I've also got some sewing done. The curtains in the sewing room are finally hemmed to the correct length (finally, almost 2 years after we moved in!).

I have to say I love having all my machines on one run of counter. I just roll where I need to go. The serger was a little bouncy, though. I think I installed the bracket on the edge of the stud not the middle of it. So I've installed another one in the middle and it seems to help. However, if you do a lot of embroidery, you may want to put legs on your table. I still may end up putting a leg at the front, but I'd rather not have to.

Other than that, everything is working as planned!

My babies have a home!

I'm so excited that at least one part of my sewing room project is done. Ta Da!



My wall isn't square so there's little bit of a gap behind the table at places, but I'm okay with that. I've mounted the surge protector onto the wall, so at least nothing but foot pedals are on the floor. The mounts of wires are beautiful, but I guess I can't be too picky.

I did something I saw in a workbench book: I drilled little holes in the back for my lamps. That way I have one less thing to take up counter space.

The most important thing is that it fits! I can swoop my chair to any of the machines and they all feel like they are the right height!

Now that I've done the absolutely easiest thing in this room I'm going to try building drawers. If I can get them square I will be so happy.

Actual Progress!

Yep, I've done something. Quite a few somethings, actually.

I've ordered the techlighting, which should get here in about a month.

I sold my old computer desk Craigslist, and the lady picked it up on Sat. 15 minutes later I was marking a level line to make my sewing desk. DH came in asking what I was doing.
"Installing the brackets to hold up my desk."
"But you haven't built anything yet."
"Yeah, but I like ratchets."

I decided to buy heavy duty brackets so I wouldn't have to figure out the right size for my table. I used two for the short part of the L and 3 for the long part because plywood tends to warp over 36".

They feel very heavy because they are installed into the studs. I found a good trick for finding studs: Measure 16" from one side of an electrical box. Most are secured against a stud. Worked well for me.

I suppose I should talk about my choice of countertops. I decided that the laminate countertop was too expensive. I found some good pieces of countertop at my local Habitat for Humanity ReUse center, but they weren't the right size. So, I almost went with melamine, but then I looked at my bookshelves and remembered why I hate that so much. So, I decided to go the plywood and paint route. At least this way I can sand and repaint it easily if it gets scratched up.

Plus, with plywood I can "easily" cut holes for grommets. Ta Da!

I say "easily" because it does seem really easy, but you need to be patient. Buy a special drill bit that allows you to attach whatever size hole saw you need. Point and drill. What I didn't realize I would have to stop so often and clean out the cut, and clean off the gunk sticking to the saw. Once I realized that, no problems. The grommets I got from Rockler. The recommended hole size is a perfect fit.

So, that's what I got this weekend. Tonight I primed the back of the wood. It will be boring for a while, but I hope I will have the sewing desk done this weekend... then the hard stuff!

What's going on

I know I haven’t posted much, but I am still working on this… there’s just not much to show for it yet…

Here’s a big pile of plywood. Now I have to do a lot of cutting!




If nothing else, this has made me committed to do this thing... I've spent too much in wood to not. My next goal is to get rid of my current computer (sewing) desk so I can build my sewing table. That should be easy since I'm not building any storage into it.

I am also thinking about my lighting plan. At first I wasn’t going to change anything, just leave the one big fluorescent in the middle of the room. BUT, while I was playing around one day I realized how much shadow I would create while cutting or pressing.

I can do the “easy” thing and have an electrician install two can lights over each table, but my parent’s in law have this cool monorail lighting system that looks like it could be perfect. They went with Techlighting http://techlighting.com/default.asp?page=products&subpage=systemselect&sysid=1

Who wouldn't love a 5" bee light in her sewing room?



Okay, okay, I know a lot of people wouldn't, but I do!!

So, I’m trying to figure out how much light I need. Black says 2500 lumens. I want to use LED lights (yes, I know they’re really expensive, but they are much cooler and better for the environment). This would mean 13 bulbs, assuming a lumen rating of 200/bulb. I’m going to see if I can find a distributor and go see what they think!

Tops, tops, tops

I'm thinking about tops. The pressing table is easy: plywood, covered with wool and muslin/duck. But I'm worried about the other ones.

I hate melamine. Really, it annoys me to no end. In case you don't know, Melamine is what a lot of bookshelves are made of, the interiors of drawers, even lower quality office furniture. It's basically a white plasticy-paper glued onto some particle board. I don't like it because the top layer often ends up tearing off, the top is also easy to scratch, and the board often cracks (they even sell it a little larger than plywood b/c the edges are almost always messed up).

I did some research to see if there was a better quality melamine and here's what I found out:

1. Melamine is the resin in the top layer, not the sheet of "wood product" itself.
   
2. Laminate countertops often have melamine in them, just more, and thicker layers.
3. In fact, laminate could be used for a lot of things: we laminate sheets of paper with plastic, melamine coated particle board is a laminate, as is laminate countertops. The difference is that the countertops are High-Pressure Laminate (HPL) as opposed to low-pressure. The best description I found is here: http://www.gopodular.com/support_articles/melamine_vs_real_laminate_arcade_enclosures.htm

So, I don't really want melamine. I would like something like laminate countertops, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra expense.

I talked to a person at Home Depot last weekend, and to do my sewing table only, it would cost $170. While the top could also be made out of one sheet of nice plywood for about $40.

I think I'm leaning towards plywood and good finishing for the pressing table (it will be covered with a rotary cutting mat most of the time anyway) and still deciding about the sewing table.

Vertically Challenged

This week at work has been crazy busy, but I'm finally getting a chance to look at things again. Now that I've got my layout from the birds eye view the way I like it (thanks for the comments, ladies!), I'm trying to think 3d.

I've heard for years about having one's knees and hips at right angles, but I can never get that to work for me at the office. I feel like a kid at the dinner table, so I end up needing a footrest, or simply sitting cross-legged in a chair.

BUT, since I'm making my own table, I got to let the chair go down until I was at the right height. I feel bad for anyone much shorter, because I took the chair as low as it could go before I got it to the right height.

Then I used my ironing board as a way to figure out the height of the table. When I put my machine on the board and get it to the height where my arms are perpendicular, the table was only 23" off the floor. But, my machine bed is rather high (4.75") and my other machines are a little closer to 3.5" to 4." So, I tried pushing the table up to 25.5." That still felt much better than my current set up, and at least the table isn't below 2' tall :)

Here's a pic dh took of my sewing table height:


The pressing center is supposed to be 3-4" below your mid-elbow (thus bending your elbow at a 90 degree angle when pushing an iron). This felt really odd to me, so I lowered it a bit to be 6" below mid-elbow (34" for me). Here's a pic:



You can see that my elbow is at maybe a 100 degree angle. That felt good to me for both ironing, cutting with scissors and rotary cutters. So, both my pressing and cutting tables will be at this height.

While I was fiddling around, I also placed the ironing board at a depth that would match the depth of the cutting table. And I moved my current cutting table to where the pressing table would be. This gave me a good feel for the layout of the room. I had good clearance everywhere I wanted it, and the space inthe middle felt really spacious. Huzzah!

New Layout possibility

Here's my attempt at a new layout



The Pressing table is the same size as what I have now, and the cutting table is a little longer to accommodate Olfa's largest mat. Don't know if I'll ever get that, but hey, it's only a few more inches longer.

I thought about using my sewing table (the one with my grandma's machine in it) as a table for one of my other machines, but the height really isn't comfortable. Plus, without a machine on it, I can use it as a "landing zone" for my pressing aids.

Both tables will be on casters, so I can rotate them 90 degrees if I need to. Comments on the plan are welcome....