Small Rearrangement - sewing room update

I've recently joined a group on FaceBook that shares sewing room organization ideas.  After seeing all these ideas and thinking about what I'd like to change in my own room, I decided to rearrange to see if I could improve.

One of the items on my "wish list" was that I frequently find myself wishing I could walk around my cutting table, instead of doing contortions or (worse yet) cutting in the wrong directions and in an unsafe manner.  I got to looking at how I was utilizing my quilt frame table.  I've used it for a pressing table for years, but could I put my cutting surface there also?  It would require doing something about the roller bars because they would prevent me from working on the other side.

And that's another thing on the wish list.  I had been trying to figure out a good way store the bars.  I tend to quilt in batches, primarily because I have to un-thread the machine when not in use because my cat eats the thread.  So I do use the frame table for lots of things other than just as a quilt frame, and moving the bars to the side helps, but then I worry about visitors damaging or bending them.

I asked my husband for ideas on how to suspect the bars under the table.  He suggested that I just re-arrange my Elfa baskets so that I could lay the bars across them.  No holes to drill, and it I change my mind, easy to un-do.  Brilliant (don't tell him I said that).

Another item on the list is my old Horn sewing cabinet.  It's just been taking up space under the quilt frame table.  If I need to use that machine, it was a major pain to pull it out, open the lid while negotiating the bars, and then try to squeeze my chair in to sew.

All of these came together by shuffling the cutting & sewing stations around. I moved the 3 basket sets that had been the cutting station, lining them up under the table with the one that was already there.  I left room in the middle for storing large rulers and extra cutting mats.  Man oh man, it feels so roomy now on this side!  And I can use either side for cutting and pressing.  Now to get in the habit, I keep forgetting I can use both sides.  My cutting station is  a piece of particle board with 2 cutting mats taped together, so moving it around is easy.  I already have two 1 x4  boards affixed to the table to protect the guide rails and they work great to keep the cutting surface suspended and away from the rails so they don't get damaged.

Here you can see the roller bars on top of the basket frames.  I'm very pleased with this solution.  It's pretty quick and easy to put the bars back on the frame, and they are well protected under the table.  There was even room to use the upright storage for paper rolls that had been packed away for a few years.

I moved my straight stitch machine to the side and put the portable table behind it to support quilts on the back.  Very handy when quilting or doing bindings but I may not leave it there.  You can see it to the left in this photo.  The shelf isn't as accessible but now it's really only for decoration, though the light is still handy.  The Horn sewing cabinet is now in front of the design wall and can be opened to use the zigzag machine when needed.  It also provides an extra surface to stack things.  When I am quilting, I can put the cutting surface there.  It still have to reach over it to use the design wall, but it is on rollers so I can move it fairly easily.

Here is the view from the other.  The baskets aren't really accessible from this side as I had to push them over far enough the other way to hold the roller bars.  I moved one of the antique crates from the side as it was in the way of the wheels and cogs on the ends of the bars.  It fits just right in the space still leaving room for my light table, an extra pressing station and a couple of large rulers.

There are still a few problems.  I keep stubbing my toes on the baskets when using the other side of the cutting table.  And I wish my design wall was more accessible.  I'm not convinced that I want to keep the Horn cabinet but I'm afraid I'll regret it if I sell it.  I could move the design wall to the wall where the pink quilt is now, but then I can't take pictures of finished quilts without the quilt frame table in the way.  But for now I like the arrangement.  And it only cost a couple of hours effort.  No new holes in the wall and no major moving of furniture.  Now to remember which baskets are where....