Sewing Room Makeover, Part 1

Thank you, once more, sweet sewingly lovely readers, for your comments on those Vogue tops.  I tried to reply to your comments but either Blogger or my computer won't let me publish a reply.  But I do appreciate each one.  Sewing can be such a solitary hobby and it's a treat to speak to one another, even if it is only "virtually."


So, are you a "Pinner?"  My new unproductive passion, Pinterest, continues to inspire me with pictures of beautiful rooms, smiling children and delicious plates of food.  Now I realize that all of those are merely photographs and that reality is far more complicated, but those pictures do mesmerize me at times.  But this blog is not Pinterest.  No pics of beaming grandchildren on vacation with me, nor do I have a food stylist present when I'm dishing up dinner (even if it is scrumptious) and my pictures of a room in our household always seem to include some electronic charging cords and the rear end of a dog or two.  But I know that we are all nosy about one an other's lives so I'm going to share some of my ongoing summer sewing room improvements.  It's a work in progress and I'm happy with the progress I'm making.
It started this year with a change in lighting.  Just last year Mr. Lucky (my DH from henceforth called " a saint) replaced an '80s overhead fan and hanging light fixture (yes, with classic frosted scalloped globes) with this cool looking set of five lights that I found half price at Home Depot.  Ah, the reason it was half price must have been that it only gave off half the light I needed to find my way around this room.  Dim, full of shadows and the lights kept blinking off on their erratic power strip connection.  So this year I knew I needed a huge increase in wattage just to make this room really usable and enjoyable for these aging eyes.  Mr. Lucky spent one entire day re-installing new ceiling lighting for  me, a genuine headache because we have old wiring and he forgot to write down the connections when he took off the old.  Up and down, basement to second floor to turn off the power, turn on the power, turn off the power and try another combination.  He worked it out eventually and now there's a not as attractive but marvelously bright 4 "sunshine bulb" fluorescent box in that ceiling.  Oh my gosh, the difference is has made is almost indescribable.  Colors are clear and realistic, no more shadows and I love working in there any time of day or night.  I'll post new and improved lighting pics in the future.

Former hip but impractical celing lighting fixture

Next thing was a need to pretty it up while making it function a little better for me.  I saw this delightful "Tres Chic" print at a home dec store in Winchester, VA during our sewing retreat.  My second favorite fabric store, Fabric.com, had a sale earlier this spring so I got four yards of it for window toppers and some other sewing room accessorizing.  No window toppers yet but here's how I've used it so far.  

Ikea cabinet full of knit fabrics that constantly distract me with possibilities 

"Tres Chic" fabric focuses my attention on the fashion project at hand

The Saint recovering and reassembling my Ikea chair

Voila!

Now let's turn our attention to that large cutting table and pattern storage arrangement smack dab in the center of the room.  It's been put together rather makeshift and functions nicely, just looks awful.  (They are old greeting card drawers from the business that closed down the street about 8 years ago.)

Usually it has little post it notes with the pattern info in each drawer

One of the frequent techniques showing up on Pinterest has been simple instructions to make chalk paint in any color.  This room could use some color so I decided to put it on these drawers and make them into something useful.  Pink paint to the rescue.  I used a coordinating pink from the fabric colors, almost Pepto Bismol like.  

I chose Pink Cafe from Behr paints

Did a primer all around the drawer cabinet and applied one coat of the pink to all four sides.  

After that base coat I filled an empty sour cream container with my chalk paint formula....one cup of paint mixed with 2 T of unsanded grout that I lightly mixed with water.  I applied two coats to the drawer fronts and to one side of the cabinets.  


After the paint dries, rub chalk over the entire surface to sort of prime it and then use it as a chalkboard.

Now I can easily see what patterns are in each drawer and change the info when needed

On the cabinet side facing the window and ironing board I also painted chalk paint and use that side as a memo board for things I need to buy on my next sewing shopping trip.

I loved my new chalk paint so much that I made a little extra gift for a dear friend's birthday party last wek.  Yes, you can apply chalk paint to glass....and change the message any time you like:

Back in the sewing space... I made a stencil from  a metal decorative dress form that I bought on Etsy a few years ago....aren't these three cute?

This side of the pattern cabinet faces a wall and my dressform so it is just decorative. I love the stencil image welcoming me I walk in the room.

Third side of the cabinet

The back of the cabinet faces the long wall where my sewing machines are.  Mr Lucky again came to my rescue and installed pegboard on the last side of the cabinet.  I'll be installing hooks and dowels and putting my ribbon collection there.  Ah, my ribbon collection.....that's a whole other story.  

I'm loving the aesthetic improvements in my sewing space and have been sewing up a storm in the last week.  Thanks for stopping by.  Now I'm going to take a blog tour and visit some other sewing rooms around the world.