Feels Good to be Back

Aloha Everyone!

Boy have I missed being a part of the online sewing community these last couple of weeks.  I had a wonderful short trip to the mainland where I found a few treasures in a couple of "new to me" fabric shops.  Thanks Mom!  And I will enjoy sharing those finds with you soon.  But the main reason I had to take a break was to focus all my attention on remodeling my sewing/homeschooling/home office area.  For the most part this room is finished, but I have a couple more things to do to finalize everything.  One is the flooring.  Wouldn't you know the local home improvement store didn't have enough flooring to finish the project, so I will have to wait about 5 weeks for the ship to bring some more.  I just have to laugh, that's Maui for you!!!

I have been wanting to show you this beautiful piece of sewing art made by Sue of Things Be.  I received it as a gift during the Pay it Forward 2011 event that took place a few months ago.  Thank you so much Sue.  I knew right away I wanted to build my room around it.  If you haven't checked out Sue's blog you should.  She is extremely talented in many different areas including, but not limited to, knitting, sewing, and photography.  With this particular piece I am amazed at the tiny little hand stitches in the embroidery and the intricate bead work.  I eventually want to have this professionally matted and framed.  For now, I did my best to create my own matte using fabric and cardboard and refinished an older frame with glossy black paint to display it in.  I love how it looks, and as I mentioned it is the inspiration for the whole room.

Now for the BEFORE pics.  Keep in mind this is a double car garage that had been converted into living space by the previous owners.  When we moved in, a lot of stuff got relegated to this room for storage, but I carved out a little sewing space in the midst of the clutter, and did my best to stay organized.  The walls had plenty of holes, the lighting wasn't ideal, the floor was commercial grade indoor/outdoor carpet, and glass block made up one wall of the room where the garage door had originally been.  The carpet is terrible for being able to clean up scraps of thread and fabric, and the glass block wall is west facing, so in the afternoon, the room heats up like an oven.  Both these problems would need to be solved!  Keeping our small budget in mind, we went to work.

Lights removed, holes filled.

The first task was to choose a paint color.  Remember how I joked about wanting to paint the room fuchsia?  I really did want some kind of pink or coral color.  I love all the soothing blues and aquas you see in home decorating these days, but I wanted this room to have an old Hollywood feel, and I loved the colors in the framed embroidery.  I originally chose a peach color thinking I should keep it light, but in doing so I went against my natural inclination for darker hues.  Sure enough when I did a couple of test patches on the walls I hated it.  I had already bought 2 gallons so I had to figure out what to do.  Thankfully, I had nearly a half a gallon of red from my red wall in the dining room which I mixed into the two gallons of peach.  I actually needed to buy two more quarts of red and a 1/2 quart of yellow to get a color I was satisfied with.  I don't recommend finding your perfect paint color this way, and I had one gallon of paint leftover!  But in the end it worked out. Phew!

DH being a good sport and helping me with the cutting in.  Besides helping me with the painting, he installed the new lights, changed out all the electrical outlets, and got a start on the flooring.  What a guy!

Sewing the drapes in the mess.  I can sew any where! Just give me a machine and a power source.  Notice the white trim on the windows.

The new ceiling lights.  There are two of them.

Close up of curtain rod and Hawaiian bark cloth I used for the drapes. 

My home office.  The glass block wall  on the left has two layers of fabric.  The first is a sunblock material, which you can't see, the second is cotton drapes made from white sheets bought at a discount department store.  My DH made the gigantic curtain rod for me.  It spans nearly 25 feet.  I've separated that wall of white with a black patterned drape just to kind of divide this space from my sewing space.  I love what the wall art says, at the right of the desk: "Know first who you are then adorn accordingly".  I also made the tablecloth for the glass desk to warm up the space and pull in a coordinating color from the drapes.  This is where I blog, but also where I keep up on orders for my Etsy shop.  I will update this picture when the flooring is finished.    

This is my new sewing space.  I used a gorgeous short pile, leopard print, microfiber fur, to drape over the table.  I've had this cut in my sewing stash for ages.  I acquired this table and the glass top for free from a renter who left it behind at the last house we rented.  The landlord said we could take it with us...Score!  I painted it white to cover the damaged wood and to match the sewing space.  As you might have noticed I bought two more cube storage units for my fabric.  I haven't finished putting all my fabric away, but I hope to have most of it fit in this space.  This room does not have a closet.  Any leftover fabric will be stored under my bed!  I also bought a rolling stool.  Now I can scoot to each machine, rather than stand up and shift my chair.  So much more efficient!  and believe me I get enough exercise going up and down the stairs that lead to this space.  It's funny the first house my DH and I bought was a tri-level, and I swore I would never have another.  Guess what...this house is a tri-level too.

I have two more corners of this room to show you, but I will wait until the flooring is finished.  In the mean, time I look forward to jumping back into seeing what you all have been up to and getting back into garment sewing!  Woo Hoo!