Oh I love it! This should be fun! I do NOT think you should cover it up with fabric!! The piece is too pretty to hide! I think I would put your sewing stuff mixed in with some bigger more "eye appealing" items. My mom also was a seamstress and she had a china sewing machine. Something like that mixed in with figurines, etc. to take away from the sewing items and bring the eye to the "put about" items. A collection of thimbles would be neat to some how display in it as well. Please do not cover that beautiful wood or glass with fabric! I love your piece!!

If you are going to keep the wood finish, I'd just put some edge banding on that shelf. I wouldn't cover up the glass--I'd just put baskets on the shelves to hold the less beautiful items.

you could find baskets or pretty boxes to sit on the shelves inside the glass to store your less than beautiful sewing objects..then they would be pretty to look at..you can take any cardboard box and cut it down and rebuild it to the size you need with a razor knife, and then cover it with fabric or paper..or measure and go to Walmart or another store and look for those lined wicker baskets to fit on the shelves..i have used those for a lot of those uglies in my house.

i would say you could also hot glue some lace or trim along the shelf edges..or make them really fancy with some fring trim or beaded trim..all kinds of sewing room ideas.

also some of the stores sell really pretty colored plastic storage units in the storage areas, i got a group of pastel lidded smaller boxes at Meijers and then larger document and shoe box size boxes from current online..several places sell them..you can almost see thru them as they are opaque but not see thru..pretty colors..you can also find beautiful photograph boxes all over that are grea, and Joanns fabrics sells a ton of boxes that are beautiful

I also would edge the one shelf and not cover any of the shelves visible through the glass.

Another idea if you need all the storage space is that piles of neatly piled fabric can be visially pleasing.

Have fun with your piece!!!

I wouldn't cover up the glass either. I would love to see stacks of fabric (if you sew you must have stacks of fabric LOL I think everyone who sews alss has an addiction to collecting pretty fabric for projects that may not get done LOL). It is a wonderful use for a beautiful cabinet.

Maybe one shelf could hold fabric lined, wicker baskets of sewing supplies - would help keep you organized and still look great.

Personally I wouldn't add non-sewing items as suggested - just my own bias, I prefer just seeing sewing related items attractively but functionally displayed.

Sky

Oh my gosh, so many wonderful responses!!! Thank you so much. Well, so far, it's unanimous that I should leave the glass door alone. Perhaps not finding any fabric I liked at the fabric store today was a sign that the glass door is meant to be uncovered.

gracie -- I have a collection of thimbles! That will definitely go in there. I also have a few sewing related figurines I can add, too.

writersblock -- I have several other baskets besides the one already in there that may work. I'll dig them out.

ronbre -- love your idea of adding some trim to the edge of the shelves and covering boxes with fabric or paper.

betty -- I'm going to get some of my fabrics out of the boxes its stored in and see how that looks on a shelf.

skypathway -- fabric and baskets - always a great combination.

I will play around with all these great idea tonight after dinner, see what I come up with and try to post another picture tonight. Thanks again.

OK, I'm back with a little progress. I've added some decorative storage as well as functional storage which is pretty much hidden away on the sides. Once the door is closed, you can't see much on the sides. You can see some of the things on the left side because of the angle from which I took the picture. I was trying to avoid any glare from the flash on the glass.

And here's a close-up of the decorative ceramic boxes I added. I've had these forever and finally have a nice way to display them.

And as long as I'm showing my sewing room storage, I thought I'd share the other piece of furniture I recently added from my mom's house. It's an old phonograph cabinet. I'm not sure what the open area on the bottom looked like originally, but it's perfect for storing my serger (under the cover I made). The top opens and is used for hidden storage.

I think it looks great. You're on your way to having a really cute and useful sewing room.

it is wonderful, that bottom shelf should hold something HEAVY to balance out the top, how about a stack of sewing books???? or craft books or whatever..i think you did a great job..love the beautiful things you have displayed so far..can't wait to see it all done

You did a great job! I also think folded fabric on one of the shelfs would be really pretty, and make anyone want to sew.

Can I have your phono cabinet? :)

Thanks for the compliments. I'm pretty happy with the top two shelves, but still need to work on the lower two. I have some books I can add to the bottom. I'll get those out this afternoon.

Instead of just adding trim to the edge of the shelves, I'm now considering covering all 3 shelves with a pretty paper or fabric. If I go that way, any ideas on what color I should use? The walls in the room are RH Butter.

Here's the latest arrangement. I added some sewing books to the bottom shelf, along with a blue Ball canning jar filled with buttons. I removed what I had on the third shelf and will, hopefully, find some time this week to look for some more pretty storage for what I had on that shelf. I have LOTS of embroidery floss. That's what is in the case I had laying on the third shelf.

I still want to add some fabric, too, but most of what I have is scraps, so I'm still trying to figure out a nice way to store/display it.

My mom was over today, so I had the opportunity to show her what I've done so far. She's thrilled that I'm using the cabinet and had tears in her eyes when she saw it.

I would move the basket on 2nd shelf down to third shelf so the baskets are not that close to one another. Nice cabinet!

You might like to put some wall paper on the back wall of it. I put it in my similar hutch and I used a grass cloth. It brightens up the entire piece. You could use any pre-pasted paper. It literally took me fifteen minutes and it was done. The shelves come out.