Sewing Room Glimpse...

Anyone who knows me, knows that my sewing room is usually a real disaster, I'm a very messy worker and don't tend to clean as I go. But on rare occasions(like today), I get the gumption to clean it up(at least so you can see the floor, just kidding, it's never that bad). My real problem is -- Practical vs Pretty -- . When I try to make a "pretty" sewing room, it loses all its function and I find it hard to work in, but it can be quite lovely to walk by ;) But when I go strictly for "practical" functioning sewing room, I can't stand to work in it because it is so ugly! You see my dilemma? Am I crazy? Ya, probably am, but that is another post :P

So here is what my sewing room looks like at the moment(and probably won't change until after the holidays). And for those of you who haven't read my blog for ages, my sewing room is right off the kitchen in our former dining room(never ate in there, it was just a wasted space). I put up the old farm screen door in the small doorway to the kitchen and then my dad built a beadboard wall in the large opening between the room and the front foyer(in the pics, that is the blue wall behind the roll top desk).

Welcome to my world....(or at least my little nook in it)....

I kept my "little golden books" and my Strawberry Shortcake dolls from when I was little, not so prim, but full of sweet memories.
Corner bookshelf with my collection of picnic baskets, they make for great storage too.
Opposite corner of shelving with my books and magazines, some select fabric(most of my fabric is in the basement at the moment), misc. stuff, and baskets on top full of yarn, rug hooking supplies, and future crafts.
Roll top desk that needs to be organized and turned into my office area(it's a work in progress). The wood sewing cabinet that is open on the top of it is from my grandmother and is full of vintage spools. The old looking radio was a recent church sale find for $1, and it works!(it's playing as I type). The corner unit is a "married" piece(dresser and shelf top) and I use it for storage and to hold more of my basket collection.
Where I sew. The two front windows look out to my garden and give me a view of the front yard. My sewing machine sits on an old treddle sewing machine that I topped off with the stove board that my dad made me(it was just too big to constantly remove every time I cooked, which is daily), it works perfect for my machine and gives me more space. My spools of thread sit on a reproduction spice rack and YES, that is a Dr. Pepper there, one of my pitfalls.
Mason's swing sits next to my sewing area, and next to that is my huge French laundry basket that I bought when we lived in Texas. It's huge and I absolutely love it. It's full of wool at the moment. And NO, it's not neatly folded, it's a complete mess from me digging through it(and that's not even all of it).
My embroidery hoops, I collect them and I'm not even sure why!
And last but not least, some things I'm working on...
Hope you enjoyed a little glimpse into my work space. Any suggestions on how to make it functional but still appealing to the eye would be greatly appreciated.

Have a fantastic day,

Tiff