My New Creative Space

Any of you who have followed my blog for sometime know how much I love to sew and create.  Over the years, my sewing machine "Mr. Janome",  has had many landing spots inside the house - like the kitchen table or a large table in our bedroom.  Because we have a three bedroom house, and my boys occupied two of those rooms, my own sewing space was never an option.  Now that we are empty nesters, my husband and I both agreed that I should have my own creative space.  We decided to use the smaller of the bedrooms as my sewing room (which had been the red and white guest bedroom) and made the larger bedroom a guest bedroom now.  I will share that room soon.

The process was a bit tedious.  Had to box up 20 years of "stuff" that the boys had accumulated over the years and put a lot of it in a secure place.  It was bitter sweet.  That part took me a long time because I read birthday cards, found a little black book of "cute girls" of Jordan's and combed through the binders of class room assignments with artwork created in the margins.  Art that only a mom would appreciate knowing their children's sense of humor.  

Boxes upon boxes upon boxes of sewing fabrics, trim, buttons and other various things one collects to create were also organized, boxed up and arranged in a semi-organized affair inside the closet.  Stacks of linens and fabrics were sorted and only the most cherished pieces remain - others were taken in to sell at the shops.

The walls received a fresh coat of Soft Chamois paint, Benjamin Moore, and the 20 year old Berber carpets were removed.  We decided to use the same flooring that we had installed downstairs, which is a Mannington Hickory laminate in a Butterscotch color.  We had to have a section of the floors redone (as you will see in the photo below).  The installer had a piece of metal on his knee pad that somehow got there when he was installing our floors.  Thankfully it was at the end of the job.  I taped off all of the scratches for them to see when they came back to look at what happened.  It looked like a crime scene!  They felt really horrible about it and I felt sorry for them - but they made it right and in two days the problem was fixed.

 I ordered a natural fiber rug to go under the sewing table and Duhgall's cushion is there for him to have a comfy spot to rest while I sew.  (He likes to be near his people!)  I found darling floral curtains at Ikea and took down the checked panels.  The yellow dresser is tall enough for me to use as a cutting table - I just have to remove the things on top first.  Hubby still needs to put large caster wheels on my sewing table to lift it up in height.  My long legs barely fit under it.   It is not a comfy spot to sit for very long.  I am also going to get a good chair to sit in with lower back support.  Ikea has a cute checkered one that I am thinking about buying.  I LOVE Ikea!

The white cabinet use to be in our bathroom to hold towels, etc., but now it holds my favorite collections in my sewing room.  I will share more about these collections in another post.

So here we go....my little corner to create.  The second photo is the former guest bedroom, which I did really like, but that is ok....I have something better now.  It is a cheerful space full of the whimsical stuff and gifts from friends that I hold near and dear to my heart.

 

And yes, I have actually sewn in my new room and made the Valentine hearts that I shared in a previous post.  Now that my taxes are all done to turn in, I need to make a date with Mr. Janome.