Saturday, June 11, 2011

Sewing Room - under construction

Okay, so I got a little flack for not showing "before" pictures of my sewing room. So how about some "during" pictures. Maybe you all can give me some feedback and ideas and inspiration. Do you have any favorite home dec blogs that you read?


I've decided to keep my sewing room in the dining room in this house despite the fact that we have a guest room I could share with the queen bed. These are my reasons:
  1. This is a big room!
  2. We use the dining room 1x a year at Christmas. And we may not do that anymore now that we have a big kitchen. So I like knowing the space is used.
  3. I worry about waking a napping child if I'm in the guest room since they share walls.
  4. I like having my stuff on the first floor so I can run in there when I have 2 minutes.
The challenge of course is not having the room look like a mess. Everyone has to walk through it to use our powder room. And of course if we do use the dining room I don't want it to look like we are sitting in fabric! So this is where I can use your help. Here's what I've got in mind so far.

This is the current chaos. This wall is pretty much useless because of the two doorways (with steps) and the fireplace. Currently in front of the steps is my Ikea Expedit shelf (because every crafter has these shelves right?). It's laying flat instead of upright. I've got my fabric drawers and then the cardboard boxes are full of china and miscellanea for the china cabinet.

There's a weird little hook (like a Shepherds Hook) hanging from the brick. I have the little dress I made Samantha hanging on it in this photo. What would you hang on something like that indoors?



Moving to the right a bit, here's the room. You can see where I'm thinking of hanging my design wall. I don't think it will totally fit, but maybe if I fold it in half I can put it there. Also not sure what to do about that chandelier. It's very country chic. But then again, so are the exposed beams and the brick fireplace. I'm afraid a mod chandelier which is more my taste, will look funny in here.

All of the furniture in here is hand me down. Eventually I'd like to update it. So what's going on under that window?


The black shelves are just in here temporarily. They have no home at the moment. The server stays and I think will be used for sewing storage. I need to line the shelves though, they are a little rough. Got any good tutorials??

Moving further to the right...

Right now we have the china cabinet centered. I'm thinking of moving it to the right more and then putting my Expedit shelves upright on the left side. I'd like to get some shelves that have doors on them eventually. And in a dream world I'd like to get this corner desk.

Which brings me to the china cabinet.
I really want to do something with this. I'd like to replace the hardware and paint it. But I can't decide on a color. It can't be white because the walls are white! Maybe blue? I've selected this blue fabric for the curtains. So maybe a deeper country blue?

And the final shot, from the other side of the house.

Yeah, that wall is kind of useless too. Between the sliding door and the fact that it's a high traffic area (leading to power room and garage from the rest of the house) you can't really put anything there.

So - I really wish HGTV would come help me with this! But since that's a far cry, I'd love any ideas you have! And please, don't judge me by my mess.


9 comments:

Deborah in Atlanta said...

This may be a totally stupid suggestion (but I really suck at decorating/organzing), but see the wall where you have the words "design wall" written on? You've got a window on that wall. Well...my sewing room is in the second bedroom of my 2-bedroom condo. There is a bedroom suite in there, and I have no room at all for a design wall. So - the double window had floor to ceiling curtains. I took batting and pinned it securely to the top of the curtains from one side to the other. And that's what I use as my design wall. It works just fine. And when the sun shines through the window (my curtains are white), it's almost like stained glass windows. Anyway - not sure how critical that window is to the light in your room. But like I say, it's worked wonderfully in my second bedroom.

Sara @ Sew Sweetness said...

Design wall, yeah yeah yeah!!! And I love that you used the words 'powder room'. :-) I think it's great, how lovely to have such a big area for a sewing room!

Monica said...

Red...paint the cabinet like the red in your fabric.

SplendidlyImperfect said...

Okay, if it were me, here's what I'd do. First, spray paint the chandelier white, then top the lights with clean black shades. You'll get a nice combo of modern/vintage look there. I'd scooch the china cabinet over closer to that doorway, and use the big wall next to it as your design wall. I'd sell the big Expedit on Craigslist and get two of the narrower 2 x 4 ones to flank the window. Heck, if you could swing it, I'd put a third to the right of the patio door too. The china hutch is going to be a beast to paint, because of all the detail. While I'm sure it would look awesome in red, red has a tendency to be a color you get tired of after a while. You don't want to have to redo that in a couple of years! I'd go ahead with white, and maybe paint the wall behind it that pale blue in the curtain fabric, sort of as an accent wall. While you're painting, I'd paint over that brick on the fireplace too. A coat of white will do a LOT to help minimize that "country" feel and get it to be a bit more modern. Cover your ironing board with the same fabric you're using for the curtains and hang it on the wall where that iron hook is. You'll always have it handy, but it will be out of the way and function as decor. Finally I'd get rid of all the plastic drawers and cheapy shelves. All they're doing is making your space look cluttered. Put things in the hutch, in the expedit, in that ADORABLE (seriously, I want it!) buffet under the window.

And that's my way more than 2cents. :)

felicity said...

What a fabulously open space! I agree with everything Miss M! said. Seriously, we're design twins. I might also move the dining chairs out of the room - into the guest room if it's not used regularly? - to open up the space around the table more so that you can use it as a cutting space, etc.

Another option for the hutch is to paint it grey. Then you wouldn't need to repaint any walls.

Denise in PA said...

Wow, that's a big space to work with! I'm so not good at decorating ideas but I love seeing the before/during/afters!!

Katy Cameron said...

Fabulous big space, and next time I want to redecorate, I may have to just ask Miss M, great ideas!

Linz said...

Woooo! I love your space! So big! So versite!! You are going to have a blast in there! Anyway - my thought with the china cabinet is to pain it black. It's versital and will really showcase the cabinet, but also draw attention to the colors behind the glass. (I assume fabric is going in there?)Good luck with everything!

Angie said...

So exciting - love the large room! It looks like it also gets a lot of natural sunlight too :)

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