You've provided some excellent info.

Would you consider taking some photos after opening all the cabinet doors to show what is in there? For example, is it mostly fabric, paint supplies, or miscellaneous?

Do you paint more often than you sew?

There are many wonderful sewing rooms photos on Houzz. Here's one that has a large cutting table:

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That room is beautiful! I wish I had enough room for a rolling work table!

Long story short, we majorly downsized into this smaller home and then renovated and this is what’s left after several purges and adjusting to empty-nesting. I got burnt out and had decision-fatigue, but I’m feeling ready to tackle these last spaces.

My main craft is painting. Sewing is for mending/hemming - and I can stow the machine and bring out instead of leaving out, depending on how I lay things out.

In the photos I used pink to highlight the items I’m keeping. Everything else will be relocated to another room.

Well it looks quite well organized to me! But I can see how things would get lost since the shelves are so deep. Lots of baskets/bins for like things should help with that. It looks as though your shelves are adjustable, or at least removable, so there should be plenty of room for larger decor items in there once you get everything moved out. Do you have a case for your sewing machine to make it easy to pull out of the cabinet?

As far as paint color, what's your style? Do you like bright, bold colors? Neutrals? The door color goes well with your floor but maybe something a few shades lighter? There are so many pretty knobs out there. Maybe something with some color or pattern? This is a room that you can have a bit of fun in. Black and white could be pretty with a neutral painted cabinet.

I have updated my other photo albums with my other living spaces and some inspiration rooms.

I tend to like order/minimal, but love pops of color and interest with textures.

I love me some anthro knobs, or fun brass animal knobs…….

I’ll have to get some paint samples for the cabinets. Do you think I should do solid? Or a wash, so the wood shows a little?

I feel like my vision is getting more clear. After removing the items that will be relocated, I can remove some of the upper cabinets, to have more counter space.

Then I can consider having a couple work areas, 1)home computer/minimal
Use and 2) painting/most use.

Just need to decide if I should keep these cabinets or find something else, maybe with drawer option not just shelves?

I also want to make it look nice!

Do you have a budget for new cabinets? They're so darn expensive-unless you can find some used that might work for you. I wanted to replace the 60" of cabinets over my washer and dryer and they were so darn expensive, I decided to just paint mine and add new knobs. Well that's my intention anyway ;). You could add slide out tray options to some of yours if you think that would help. Or you could add trim molding to your existing to change the profile if you're handy. You could always try a paint wash and paint over it if you don't love it.

I can purchase new ones, if I have a furniture plan. I like to thrift and sometimes build things once I know exactly what I’m going for!

I was gonna ask, if my washer/dryer are 54” how big of cabinets should I go for?

Thanks for photo of cabinet contents. When you moved, it takes a while to shake out what is delightful to find and use again and what is ready to pass along to someone else.

Since the highest priority would be painting, do you prefer to have an easel that faces the window (across from where the computer desk is now) or is directly in front of the window, exactly where the computer desk is now? I suggest getting out the easel and giving it a try in both locations.

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Do you have photos of all four walls of your laundry area? IMHO, the best laundry areas are pleasant to use, bright and free of lint-collecting clutter rather than strictly utilitarian. We spend a lot of time in our laundry areas.

I have to take into account that this is a heavily treed area outside my window, so it’s pretty dark. [I probably wouldn’t use an easel, I like to work on a flat top.] Directly in front of the window would be ideal.

Here are more pictures of the laundry room! I think you hit the nail on the head with wanting a charming little laundry area that isn’t terrible to be in!

If your washer/dryer connections are in the corners of the space, I would go all the way across with cabinets. You cold then have a center pullout cabinet between the washer and dryer for trash and a counter top all the way across the whole thing. Something like this.

Oh yes! The visual is soooo helpful!

So finding cabinets that are max 77” will be key. Or do I need to leave more room for the HVAc to breathe?

Not sure I understand. The washer/dryer and overhead cabinets will be on the wall opposite the HVAC, correct? That's what I presumed based on the drawing at the top of your post.

Oh I see. I was thinking of just leaving it as-is and unstacking, adding a topper there …..

Doors and layout thoughts....may I suggest switching the swing of the glass door so that it rests on the wall leading to the laundry room (like you have shown in your drawing)? This would provide a better flow in and out of the craft area as well as the other door. It appears you have yet to install baseboard floor, window and door casing trim in this space--as you have elsewhere in the house, so this would be a good time to adjust the door. Also, where does this other exterior door lead you? Is this a door you access daily in and out of your home? This would affect how the space can function for you on both the organizational and creative levels.

@ankpow, those are great points.

The exterior door by the desk leads outside. I would like to keep it accessible, I have thought about adding a glass top style so more light can come in.

We have the interior glass door opening the wrong way because we salvaged it, it’s super old. And I think we didn’t want to mess with switching hinges? But we could look into that if it makes more sense with all the changes.

We were also originally going to install a sliding door to cover the laundry, but not sure that’s the best option now. We’ve thought about some custom mini-French doors on a swing hinge….it does get loud in there with the HVAC. But once I add a privacy screen around the HVAC/water heater, that should help with sound as well?

I think I would move them so they're opposite the furnace and HWH. That way they feel separate from the utility side of the room. That's just my opinion though. I'm also wondering if there's a way to box in the ducting on the ceiling to make it feel less utilitarian.

@katinparadise I second all of that.

My husband can box in the ducting - we plan to do trim and small finishing projects in these rooms, this summer.

I agree having washing/dryer on the opposite side will make them look nicer.

Sounds like you're on your way to a plan Steph. Keep us in the loop if you don't mind. How lucky you are to be able to do some of the work yourselves!

I will try to do an update as we start making progress. Thanks for all the insight

Good luck! I'm sure you'll end up with a space that really works for you.

Ideally, the glass door from your living room into the craft/office area should rest on the laundry room wall. I do understand that the current door set-up may not allow for it, so you may just live with it as is. You mentioned replacing the exterior door with a half-lite glass door--I think this would be a great idea and would allow more light into the space.

A door to the laundry/utility area, such as a swinging solid door would be best to block out the noise of the HVAC and water heater more so than a glass door. I would suggest one in a 36" door to accommodate anything that may need to be moved or worked on in the future. I could see a sliding door option (in a open rail style) on the outside of the laundry room as a possiblity, if you could find something that could fit in that tight area.

Your suggestion of privacy screen may be the your best option to block out the "view" of the HVAC and water heater, plus offer ventilation and access to those utilities. Maybe you could find some old doors (possibily louvered?) that could be hinged together as a portable wall.

@ankpow-thank you so much for putting this together-this is so very inspiring! The visual of the layout speaks a thousand words to me!!! I’m envious of your skills!

A few questions :
•my husband looked and we can switch the glass door to swing into the laundry wall -

•but not sure we also have room for a 36” door into the laundry - would the funky split door work?

•is there an ideal rug size for the office/craft area?

•what kind of lighting would be ideal for painting? And maybe ambiance?

Thank you so much!!

Oh, I also just realized, the “office wall” has pull-down stairs over the far right, so I can’t have a cabinet taller than 60” - like the drawing. Should I just run the floating shelves all the way to the door since I can’t hang a cabinet there?

There are folks who really like the Ott lights for crafting. They're available in a number of configurations. They're flexible so you can move the light around.

https://ottlite.com/collections/craft-and-hobby

• Door to laundry room: it appears that the opening is 30" wide and maybe 7'-0" tall. (Are your ceiilngs 9 ft tall?). A sliding or bifold door could work there to say you space.

• Rug: A 4x6, 5x7 area rug or a runner would work best in the craft/office area.

• Lighting: natural light is best for painting, so the window location would be ideal. You have rececessed lighting in the ceiling it looks like for overall room lighting.

For tasks, I would add a desk lamp that is adjustable on the craft counter that you can move around as you need while working on projects; under cabinet lighting in both the craft, office and laundry areas would be nice as well (like what they make for kitchens).

For ambient mood lighting, I would suggest a small table lamp to go on top of the white file cabinet and maybe another one to go in the corner to the right of the window--this would balance the lighting in the room w/o having to have on the overhead ceiling lights.

As far as light bulbs, LED is the way to go.. You typically want between 4000-5000K for task lighting.

You're very welcome! Glad I could help. :)

I made some quick changes to the layout based upon the attic door access. I think you have have two options when it comes to the office wall--either do floating shelves above the desk and file cabinet or do shallow (think kitchen wall cabinet depth) cabinets above the desk and floating shelves the rest of the way.

Also think you could do a shallow wall cabinet above the craft counter (left of window) and this would give you reach in space that you could easily access smalls. This also leaves over 2 of the existing cabinets that you could be utlilized elsewhere. It would have been nice if they would fit in the laundry room for a cleaning/vaccuum storage, but they are too big as as..

Oh great, thank you so much! I like the idea of a shallow cabinet over the desk section, and maybe another above that for extra decor storage, since it can go all the way to the ceiling as well.

On the craft side, I might leave that wall section empty/instead of a narrow cabinet so I can hang inspiration photos or a canvas.

That’s been the tricky part is how to do a drying rack…….of course the cat likes to step on anything that’s fresh/wet lol

I’m always thinking of ways to keep things out of the wet. Like suspend a pull-down drying rack from the ceiling. I play around with different surfaces like, floppy canvas, framed canvas, paper

Also, the fun part is styling- I’m looking at these knobs, they are so unique and fun. And I might build custom doors floor to ceiling, so it’s easier to see what I have - and either painting or wallpapering a large mural ……here’s an inspiration photo

Craft zone w/ open wall space to left of window for artwork, etc; drying racks on the on side of tall stack of cabinets. Yes, I understand the cat wanting to walk on wet masterpeices in progress. A drying rack from the ceiling could be cool as well. They do make large pull-out vertical drying racks meant for laundry--you could make something similar for art drying.

Office zone w/ double stack of shallow (kitchen depth) cabinets over desk and floating shelves

Love the hardware! You can really dress up those large cabinets with molding, paint and texture. Excited to see how these turn out.

Oh lala! Yes that visuals are so great. That’s exactly my view out back over our property.

And I’m super exited to see the function of drying racks - so much to decide! And clean-up/projects to get done.

I wonder your thoughts on the current cabinet vs something not as deep? These are pine cabinets with adjustable shelving- they are 31” wide x 20” deep - 32” tall (the bottom
Cabinet is 36” with feet

I love how this project and space planning is coming along…this room is so functional and yet so nice looking in these renderings 😍

Love the knobs! And the mural idea is wonderful in a creative space where you don't have a lot of free space for hanging artwork, etc.!

I just came across a layout issue - we have a wall heater on the short wall where the office side is. It’s 15” from the door, so the existing cabinet would not work.

Should we move the heater (and where?), or could we lay out differently?

Not always as easy as it sounds, but can you just scoot it over a few inches closer to the door. I'm sure it will depend on where the ducting is coming from. You have a lovely family!

I laughed when I saw I accidentally shared a photo too, can I delete that? lol

I’ll have to ask my hubby if we can move it. Maybe under the window? This room gets cold because it’s the original garage with cement floors.

You can edit it out. Just hit the edit button under your post, put the cursor under the picture at the beginning of the next line, and backspace to get rid of the picture.

Will the heat under the window be blowing on your legs when you're sitting at the desk? I'd find out where the duct work is coming from first then decide where to put it. If possible, you could do this under one of the cabinets.

I wish we had ducting, but this is a converted garage so we have installed hard-wired wall heaters.

We might just leave an enough space by the existing one to slide a slim ladder or broom. That way we don’t have to relocate it!

You definitely want to avoid moving it if possible. I think you can still make it work though. Just may need a bit of tweaking.

I know that you've received a lot of help in the many comments that have been posted above - however, I just thought I'd add some suggestions on how people were able to create custom looking cabinets/tables/storage for their craft rooms by using less expensive items.

For example, there are many IKEA hacks that have been posted showing how people used various furniture pieces from IKEA in order to build craft cabinets that address specific needs/space constraints/etc. They all cost much less than having a carpenter build something.

The person below created this mega craft cabinet using Pax closet pieces + some other IKEA items. I didn't link this exact one for you because it is too deep for your room (around 37" deep) - however, it shows you how creative people have been with figuring out craft storage ideas that work for their particular room. If you do a search, you will find many ideas.

People have used different pieces like the below (they come in various sizes/heights/# of drawers/etc.) and are offered by various sellers (Linon is only one seller - the below is from BBB's website). They are solid wood.

Some people used them to make an inexpensive sewing table.

People also have removed the casters and used them inside storage cabinets (some stacked them and or combined them with other sized pieces + moveable shelves for other baskets/storage containers/etc.)

Below is an example of a custom cabinet that you can have built for you - however, it is more expensive than if you just added your own storage pieces inside the cabinets you already have in your room.

When I read one of your comments about how you'd love to have a rolling work table - I immediately thought about this post on FB. Something like this could be added between your stacked cabinets (on either wall side depending upon how you decide to reconfigure those walls. It would be pretty simple to add between the lower and middle stacked cabinets.

Also, adding simple shaker style trim to your current cabinets + paint would have a huge impact on how the craft room looks (the cabinets would look more finished + you would be able to "brighten up" the room by using a pretty color on the cabinets).

Below is the link to the FB reel (I took a screen shot for you to show you the table when pulled out from the cabinets). While a home builder actually built the above cabinets w roll out table, the FB post is by Family Handyman. If you are unfamiliar with that website, it is a great resource for DIY projects. I assume that the home builder used a project idea from Family Handyman for its build.

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1896545017570533

One last thought - I think it would be a great idea to change the four floor to ceiling cabinets so that the bottom part is drawers + the next two cabinets aren't as deep (maybe 15-16" deep (depending on what would work based upon what you need to store). It would provide some extra counter space + the room would feel much less crowded due to not taking up 24" of depth all the way up that wall.

This was a quick photo I found to try to explain -

I would add drawers to the bottom (if that will work for what you need to store) + step back the depth of the two stacked cabinets above the base cabinets.

These give me a lot to think about!!! I love all the creativity. I’m going to look into some more of the IKEA cabinets with all the drawers. Thank you!

IKEA cabinets offer such versatility in storage options. And drawers offer much more efficient storage than cabinets.

Update: we did an IKEA field trip and found matching cabinets that are only 12” deep. I think that’s too narrow for most things I store (but I will have to use these over the computer because of the stairs that pull down.

I’m also playing around with the short wall (with computer), and trying to decide if I should maybe put the computer in the far left cabinet - so then I could have more counter top space. We won’t use the computer too much.

I drew out the wall to scale, which always helps me!

Also- does anyone know how tall the counters should ideally be?

I like your sketch! No sense having the computer take up counter space if you don't use it often. Do you want your counters to work as a tabletop? If so, 30" would work, unless you like working at counter top height, which is 36" like the kitchen.

I guess I’m not quite sure how I’ll use it. I think I might park my sewing machine here so I can quickly do mending/alterations.

So maybe 30”, but I’m so short I think a desk height is closer to 26” for me!

I'm a both feet on the floor kind of person so table height always works better for me. I think I would consider doing 30" for the sake of sticking with the norm. Perhaps a chair for you that is adjustable so you can raise it to whatever height is comfortable. You could always keep a little footstool under the tabletop to rest your feet! Although I guess you'd need to be able to get one foot on the ground to reach the sewing machine pedal ;)