Room of the Day: A Craft Nook for Sewing and Crocheting
A New York City couple turns a hallway niche into a craft center for making baby bonnets and toys
Penelope and Andy Morgan bought their home in East Harlem after they married, and they were determined to maximize every inch so that it could work for their growing family. That meant using two niches in their long hallway as efficient work centers — including one as a dedicated craft nook for Penelope.
Andy, an architect, created this drawing of the apartment’s floor plan. Toward the top is the first hallway niche, where the Morgans created a built-in home office complete with double desks. The craft nook occupies the hallway’s lower niche. Two closets occupy the space between the niches.
This photo shows the craft nook and a view to the end of the hallway. The dark blue wall at the end is adjacent to the desk niche; you can just see the chairs peeking out.
“When my daughter was born in 2015, I was thinking about starting a handmade business,” Penelope says, so she and her husband designed the craft nook and he built it out. “It had been wasted space before,” Penelope says. Now she uses it to sew and crochet baby toys and bonnets, as well as do the occasional clothes alterations for friends and family.
“When my daughter was born in 2015, I was thinking about starting a handmade business,” Penelope says, so she and her husband designed the craft nook and he built it out. “It had been wasted space before,” Penelope says. Now she uses it to sew and crochet baby toys and bonnets, as well as do the occasional clothes alterations for friends and family.
Just about everything in the space came from Ikea, including the chair. The buckets, baskets and hooks on the wall also came from Ikea and are part of a kitchen organization system; Penelope uses them to store supplies such as scissors and spools of thread.
Andy installed the recessed lighting seen in this photo and put the lights on dimmers. The task light clamped onto the shelf (also from Ikea) can be moved as needed.
Penelope uses the shelves to hold more supplies; the boxes contain parts for baby rattles as well as her crochet hooks. The file boxes hold craft and crochet magazines, as well as her patterns, including those she designs for toys and crib sheets, plus vintage patterns she uses.
“One item I really enjoy making are 1950s baby bonnets,” she says. She has purchased vintage patterns on eBay and worked to restore them, strengthening them with contact paper.
Butcher block countertop: Ikea
Penelope uses the shelves to hold more supplies; the boxes contain parts for baby rattles as well as her crochet hooks. The file boxes hold craft and crochet magazines, as well as her patterns, including those she designs for toys and crib sheets, plus vintage patterns she uses.
“One item I really enjoy making are 1950s baby bonnets,” she says. She has purchased vintage patterns on eBay and worked to restore them, strengthening them with contact paper.
Butcher block countertop: Ikea
One clever touch is the power strip installed vertically on the wall. The Morgans simply took the back plate off the strip, screwed the plate into the wall, then slid the power strip back over the plate. It’s a useful feature that allows Penelope to plug in different appliances — the sewing machine, the serger, the iron — as needed.
A favorite feature is the pullout ironing board, installed beneath the countertop.
Though Penelope still has two under-the-bed bins for her fabrics, just about everything else she needs is here in the niche. “I’ve really enjoyed having it there,” she says. She’s used the space for wrapping Christmas presents, as well as for doing some organizing for the second baby the couple are expecting.
This is the view out the window of the craft niche. Central Park is about 15 blocks south, with the Midtown skyline beyond.
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Who lives here: Andy and Penelope Morgan and their young daughter
Size: 13.4 square feet (1.2 square meters)
Location: New York City
Before the couple created this craft nook for Penelope, she used the dining room table for her projects — but that meant constantly needing to clean them up. Now this niche is her dedicated space for making or designing things. “I love to make my own patterns. I crochet, knit, embroider and sew,” Penelope says. “I can do everything there and everything is within reach.”