This room is without any before pictures. Because really, there's not much difference. I patched nail holes, touched up the white trim, painted all the doors, touched up the walls (all with paint we already had) and thoroughly mopped and repainted the floor ($30!!) And set up my sewing stuff down there.
That's right. My sewing stuff had worn out its welcome in our bedroom. Husband was tired of it always being out and in the way. And I was tired of always having to pack it up when I was done and unpack it when I wanted to sew. Something had to give.
That was actually how I pitched the whole "Let's fix up downstairs idea," after we found out Husband didn't get the Mobile job. "Love, if you help me clean up and fix downstairs, I'll move all my sewing stuff down there." That's all it took. We started the next day. And I was grateful for his help. I did lots of little stuff, like cleaning and painting the doors, during the day while he was at work, but I really enjoyed those full weekend days of working together. Even though we never really worked in the same room at the same time, we were close enough to talk.
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| 4 of the 6 doors I cleaned and painted. crazy that we have 6 doors down there. And I still have the exterior door left to do. |
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| This is the door that goes to the cellar. I'm telling you, the biggest favor the previous owners did us was leave most of their paint behind. With some cleaning, sanding, and a fresh coat of paint, this door looks fabulous. A great pop of color in a very neutral room. |
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| The windows are previous exterior windows. They now give a view of the drywall room. The boxes are fabric and batting that's still packed up. The beautiful cellar door is next and the shelves ... |
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| These are 2 of the 3 fold up bookshelves I used in college (the third one is under the stairs). $3 worth of white spray paint and $16 for 20 of those lidded shoe box sized containers and I was ready to store fabric, scrap fabric, thread, and most everything else of my sewing supplies. Plus my iPod and dock. It's my main source of entertainment for the moment. The door to the right leads to the under-the-stairs-room |
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| my rulers, cutting boards, iron and board. I thought I had enough rulers until I started hanging them ... clearly, I need more to fill empty space. And even more clearly, I'm ridiculous. |
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| my current sewing setup and design wall. |
The design wall was my most exciting purchase when I made it. Now, I'm pretty much over it. It's a felted table cloth. Table cloth side tacked to the wall. And it cost $5. I thought it was fabulous. Until I started trying to put my Skill Building Sampler blocks on it. fail. They stick ... mostly. If there's the least bit of moisture in the air, down they go. I've thought about quilt batting, felt and flannel. But JSS suggested I get what she has, a felt design wall that is marked with lines for measurement. I trust her judgement and I've seen hers in action so that's probably what I will end up upgrading to soon, coupon in hand.
Everything in the sewing space just has the feel of temporary. The design wall will be in the same place, but needs to be changed, the sewing table is definitely not going to be there for long term use, but I do like the placement of it in the room, the shelves are great, but I already have more stuff than that space allows, so while I'll leave that I will also have to add more storage to it. And I have no idea what yet.
Also, ideally, I'd like to get a cheap television set and dvd player for down there. But, again, that's a long term goal and nothing I'm even actively shopping for now. The iPod is keeping me moderately entertained.
Also, since I took the pictures I've put up the other set of gifted curtains Tiffany sent. They warm up the room. I really love the space. It's nice to go downstairs and sew while the kids play downstairs (or even better, nap upstairs). Plus, I have the satisfaction of doing the job (mostly) by myself.
2 comments:
So glad to see you use a tv tray as a table because I was wondering how that worked. I had thought about making a space upstairs or downstairs and taking using one of our tables. My husband was getting tired of the sewing machine being on the kitchen table so I cleaned the kitchen closet out and put it in there.
love it! and it is SO satisfying to do something like that yourself! three cheers!
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