Sewing room reno update

Sewing room reno 02

I used to be a DIY addict. When my husband and I bought our home, it had pretty much stood still in time since 1980. There was a lot of work to be done and we did it. Kitchen renovation, new flooring, tearing down walls and gallons and gallons of paint.

Five years later, we’re nearly finished, but having a baby has slowed down our progress significantly. Our sunroom has been a construction zone for more than a year after storm damage forced us to hire a pro to tear it down and rebuild the outside frame. We planned to save some money by finishing the interior ourselves, and while we have saved, it has taken forever.

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But the wait has played in my favor. When we had Angela, I lost my sewing room to make way for a nursery. Since the house just has two bedrooms and the basement isn’t finished, that meant my dining room became the sewing room. I’m sick of it looking like a quilt shop threw up in there and with the possibility of Angela learning to walk soon it, quite frankly, is dangerous. My husband is also sick of the mess and the potential hazards, so he agreed the sunroom would make a perfect sewing studio/office.

So we’ve been hard at work finally trying to finish this room. Last weekend was a major work weekend. My parents came out, my dad to run electrical and help answer few of our finishing questions and my mom watched Angela while we got our hands dirty.

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When the room was rebuilt there was no electrical added. Not great considering I needed more than one plug and it wasn’t up to code. Since the drywall was already up, my dad installed plug molding. It sits on top of the drywall, and while it isn’t ideal, once you’ve caulked around it and painted it the same color as the wall, it blends in pretty well. Plus now I have five outlets for all my sewing gadgets, office equipment and studio lights when I shoot my video tutorials.

We also chose to paint the wall and ceiling with texture paint. It was messy. I was nearly as speckled as the wall when it was all over with. But it hid the flaws in the drywall seams that weren’t as flat as they could be. The decision reminded me of a phrase free motion quilter Angela Walters uses, “If you make a mistake, make it again a few times and then it is a design choice.” So we’ll just all the texture paint a design choice.

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Unfortunately the texture paint we chose only comes in a few colors. So now I’m in the process of applying the first coat of our finished paint, Valspar Signature Paint + Primer color matched to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Provence. I chose that color along with Florence and Paris Grey to be the three primary colors for my new logo and website and now the sewing studio will match to create a cohesive look for all my video tutorials. Basically, I’m unifying the brand, but that’s the marketer in me talking, not the quilter.

Once the first coat is up, then we’ll apply trim, do a final coat of paint, install carpeting and then I’m ready to move in. Well, almost. I also have to buy new furniture and repaint a hutch I found on Craiglist that will serve will serve as storage/awesome backdrop for video tutorials. I’m hoping to be able to debut the new sewing studio in my May Block of the Month tutorial.

How about you all? Do you have a dedicated sewing space, or does your dining room table also look like a quilt shop threw up on it?

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Comment (6)

  1. Your sunroom is looking Great!!!!! Now your dining room has had a lot added to it since I was at your house two weeks ago. I was working in my sewing room today trying to clean it up. good luck!

  2. Like you, I also have a sunroom as my sewing room. The room has been added to the back of my 2 bedroom house and I also have a toddler living with me (as well as her mother). We have to be very careful when using sharps and equipment, but she loves old fabric scraps and cotton reels. Its a very tight fit here. I see your sunroom has lots of windows, too, just like mine, so I am eager to see how you solve the space/storage problem with all those windows occupying potential wall space. I just love the paint colours you chose (and their romantic sounding names).

  3. Oh I feel your pain.. my sewing studio/office was given to my son when he arrived and my dining room is my sewing room now. After 7 years I still hate it there but I don’t have a sun room or any other space available to use instead. So for now it will have to do.

  4. I turned my formal dining room into my sewing space a few years ago and was quite happy with it. Then my grandchildren came along and I turned It into a playroom for them and their toys. So I moved to an upstairs bonus room that already had some built-in cabinets and a computer desk. It has worked out really well for me and I love “getting away” to do some sewing!

  5. I am very lucky. We had a new home built 11 years ago and paid extre to have a full basement. We now have plenty of room for our exercise equipment and all my quilting supplies. A few years ago I went on YouTube to find out how to make my own sewing machine table, using foam insulation. I have a straight stitch machine on that table and a computerized sewing machine on another. Then since my knees were giving out kneeling on the floor to pin my quilt sandwich, I have 3 other tables set up to use to mark my quilt. I do all my top quilting on my home machine. I make king, queen, twin, and lap quilts. I also do art quilts and now I am into modern quilting. I have been sewing since grammar school but new to quilting. I did make a few quilts in the late 60’s when my kids were little. That was before rotary cutters and mats. My kids and I still have those quilts. Then life got in the way and I stopped sewing.
    I needed a bedspread for my new bedroom in the new house, so I got a book on quilting and started. That was about 8 years ago. Now I am retired and my kids have all left, so I built a house twice the size of my old one. Before, like you I used the kitchen table and had to put everything away, so we could eat.
    Good luck on your new sewing space.

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