Wednesday 20 June 2012

I had an idea…..

dresser

Last year I bought an old dresser at my fave vintage shop & had planned to paint it & put it on the back verandah but then I thought it would be nice in my sewing room. I also decided to repurpose a chest of drawers that was in my sewing room & the dresser would fit there. But then of course they both needed painting first & while I was at it I might as well paint the other 2 chests of drawers in there………

chest of drawerschest of drawers sm

So fast forward a couple of weeks & all the sanding & painting is done, rather a slow progress at this time of year with cold wet days ganging up on us, but we got there. So then I started thinking about the fact that the sewing room is not really working for me & I’ve done the usual thing of dragging projects off to other rooms in the house to work on them. Of course the result is lots of messy rooms & I can’t find anything when I need it. So when I couldn’t sleep what else to do than start moving furniture in my head.

fabric shelves

Next day the fun??? begins as I have to unpack all my shelving, which was across the back wall, so it can be moved. By turning the shelves into the room this freed up some badly needed wall space. I decided to put the dresser there. bench

The extra space also meant I was able to bring in a counter I’ve had for donkeys years & set it up for cutting & ironing.

table

I was able to move a lot of the stuff out of the middle of the room & bring in our old dining room table which gives me lots of work space.

The pieces of timber leaning up in the background are going to be shelves in my bedroom. Another project on the go. I realise looking at this I may have to paint the table white.

shelves new

As luck would have it I got an email from IKEA with some shelves on sale that would work brilliantly above the counter. We headed off to IKEA but then found they were stained & I’d have to strip off the varnish to paint them, ugh. Then I found some great unpainted brackets which would do the trick. So I bought some timber, painted it & the shelves look great.

leadlight windowpatchwork curtain

Meanwhile we finally put up an old leadlight window I bought a few months back. I decided to hang it at a height I could enjoy but it  left a gap at the top so I made these patchwork curtains  to fill the gap. It was great having the counter & the table to work at where I was able to spread the squares out & arrange them.

2nd curtain2nd curtain closesewing table2

I was so pleased with the patchwork curtains I made another one for the window/door on the adjacent wall. Then as I had some squares left over I made them into a bag.

patchwork1patchwork2pink poodles

Then I made another bag, as you do. I picked up this cool fabric at a vintage shop.

trolley

I found this fantastic trolley at a vintage shop, it’s ideal for storing all my fave fabrics.

zaphod

Zaphod thinks it’s a great spot for a nap. He hangs out like this & grabs my legs while I’m at the bench.

curtain

I bought this fabric ages ago to make curtains for the shelves & hadn’t got around to it. It was so quick & easy to make, I made them for all the shelves.

curtains

pinboard

I made the noticeboard smaller & recovered it to fit on the end of the shelves. I need to make a curtain to go under the pegboard to neaten this area.

thimblesthreads

I bought these printers trays over 20 years ago, they are fabulous to display my thimble collection & house my threads.

So it’s all working really well & I just love being in my ‘new’ sewing room.  We bought a digital radio last month so I’m enjoying the SBS Eurovision channel. 24 hours of Eurovision, no ads, no talking, just music.

6 comments:

Love Bears All Things said...

I love it all, I've bought a shelf to go in mine, I think I need two like you have yours.....this week I made curtains to go around one of my tables and used velcro, unfortunately the sticky side doesn't want to stick so I guess I'll have to staple it on....You have a huge room there and a great view......been quilting at the machine this week and Smokey has been under the sewing table batting at the part that is hanging down...I'll have to run a lint roller over it when I'm done....
Mama Bear

Joy V said...

Love what you have done with your room. Especially love your printers' trays. I have one also for my collection of thimbles and like you I have kept mine in it's original condition. Must get another one for my threads, great idea.

Julie said...

What a fabulous sewing room makeover! It must have taken you hours of hard work! Looks great!

Anonymous said...

Great room .... absolutely great!

I'm sure it wasn't too bad before, but it's super organised now....... well done!!

:-) sue :-)

FlourishingPalms said...

How timely! I'm getting ready to set up my new sewing room, in our new house, and I'm soaking in all ideas. Thanks for this great post! I love seeing your space and how you've made everything so pretty. I too need to paint some wood furniture, to make it white. Do you have any tips for doing it successfully? Like stripping or sanding first? Any particular paint? Oil-based? Did you use primer? Did you clear-coat varnish afterward? All advice appreciated!

Polly Dolly said...

Jan the sewing room looks great. We do have similar styles although you do have a lot more space. Love the patchwork bags you made, very pretty xx