Sunday, June 7, 2009

My Sewing Room

Here are some pictures of my sewing room. It's a work in progress, but I'm pretty content with it the way it is now. There are a few things that need to be tackled. My Rosie the Riveter picture needs to be raised a bit. Stuff like that drives me crazy. I am uber sensitive when it comes to spatial relationships, and I’m pretty sure this is a genetic trait handed down to me from my father. With their many nail holes and patches, my walls are proof of this quirk.



I made my cutting table. The base is two wooden Ikea desk bases/shelves placed back to back. The nearest Ikea is in Atlanta (please Ikea, come to Knoxville), so I had to order the bases via the internet. They were unfinished and I painted them poppy red. I found some 6” table legs with a retro vibe and attached them to the base. This raised the table to a comfortable working height which allows me to cut fabric without stooping over. The top is made of two 24” x 48” pieces of laminated pine that I got from Lowe’s. I glued them together to make a 48” x 48” slab (which I cut down ever so slightly on one side), then I mitered some 1” x 2” pine and framed it. It probably should have used a single piece of 4’ x 8” veneered plywood and had it cut down, but as I don’t have a table saw, that would have required a trip to the shop at the local lumber yard. I wasn’t feeling up to it at the time, and I didn’t think I could make a straight cut with my circular saw. Despite being clamped in its construction, it didn’t take long for the top to crack where I glued the seam. One of these days I’ll fill it in with wood filler and paint over it. There’s a wooden ledge supporting the table at the wall. The table is very sturdy and doesn’t vibrate if I use it for sewing.



The desk area along the opposite walls is composed of two pieces of stock countertop supported on some heavy duty shelf standards and brackets. I’ve built desks out of countertop numerous times. It’s an economical alternative to custom countertop, looks clean and uncluttered, and is totally functional. I’m all about function.



Big Lots was the source for the small rolling chest of drawers under the countertop. I use it to hold notions. It was $50. I really didn’t think was worth it since it’s made out of some kind of funky manufactured wood (read particle board), but it was just what I needed and I didn’t want to go the plastic route. Plastic carts are just as expensive and not very attractive. Of course, shortly after I bought the Big Lots drawer cart, I spotted a really cool metal version on Ikea’s website (in red, my favorite color, no less).

The bookcase is a Kmart special that I got on sale a few years ago. Actually, it’s part of a collection of Martha Stewart furniture. With sliding doors, it makes good storage for fabric and patterns. I would have preferred for it to be black, but for $150, I wasn’t going to gripe. I guess it doesn’t bother me enough that I’m willing to take the effort to paint it...at least not yet.





I have a dress form and a Shaker step stool in the corner near the closet. I use the stool to reach the high shelves in the closet. The dress form is a recent acquisition.



The closet provides lots of storage. I had loads of shelving standards, brackets, and laminated shelving that I put to good use. I managed to take a picture of one side of the closet. The other side looks much the same way.





A fluorescent fixture equipped with full spectrum bulbs hangs from the ceiling. Light is a huge consideration in a work space. I'm still working on the lighting in this room. I am natural lighting's biggest fan, but if I only worked in available natural light, I wouldn't get a whole lot done.



There’s one window in the room, which gets the morning sun. It’s a cheerful place and I spend quite a bit of time here. As a testament to my love of color is the selection of objects on the wall and the rug. To temper the color, a huge black and white piece hangs over my cutting table. I picked this up at CB2 online at a huge discount. The shipping actually cost more than the picture. The artwork was picked randomly. There’s a house in this month’s Architectural Digest that I love. I subscribe to the owner’s method of choosing objects for decorating.











I’m getting nearer to the point where I’m satisfied with my house. There are still things that need to be done, but at least the anxiety inducing issues have mostly been addressed. I can now walk through my front door and feel at peace.

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