My new sewing room!

Finally, the last room in my apartment has been painted: my sewing room! And it's, of course, the most important room. I don't know how it ended up being the last one painted, but thank goodness it is.

I spent the entire weekend cleaning, painting, cleaning after painting, organizing and reorganizing. It's about 95% done and ready to be a very functioning workspace!

Before, the white walls drove me insane! I hate hate hate white walls. The flow of the room was not conducive to my work routine. In order to work at home, I feel one must want to be in that workspace. Almost like it needs to call me in. "Sally, come start sewing, it's mooorning!" And then I jump out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, and get to work! The white walls were dreadful and not appealing. 

I don't know why I chose this blue, but I love it. While shopping for paint, I had about 5 colors to choose from. I had an elephant grey (ruled out because an old bedroom of mine was grey), lilac (too comfortable, makes me sleepy), turqouise (may be nauseating after a few hours), a darker blue (I crave sunlight, too dark), and this blue. It was definitely the winner. Using this and a can of paint the color of coffee with milk, I painted the room on Saturday.
I used the blue for the walls above the wainscoting and the cream color for the wainscoting, leaving all trim white. I didn't use any tape or drop cloths. I'm a pretty sweet painter, eh?

I love spending a day painting a room by myself. Maybe I'm a strange reclusive person, but I love to get to know the spaces in which I live. I spend so much time at home, I want to love every corner. By painting it by myself, and blasting Bjork all day, I get in my own little world and my mind is focused only on painting. And it literally took me all day. 

It was so worth it! I moved everything around. My cutting table now between the only windows in the room. I hung some curtains that I made from scrap fabric, and the curtains pulls from pink vintage trim. The fabric wasn't as wide as the windows, but I don't plan on taking them down from this position. They frame the room so well.

Ironing area and my Kenmore sewing machine. Far left, my things to sew before anything else. It's quite the pile! My Janome and other desk it against the wall to the right of this one, opposite the wall with windows. It's just not clean enough to take pictures. I'm still organizing, ha.

Since my cats like to be in the same room as me when I'm home, it made sense to move the cat bed to this room. I placed it under one of the windows, where it was sure to get some sunshine, and Clem was asleep in no time.

My darling Clementine.

My "to-sew" rack. Full of dyed and undied, unsewn pieces of lingerie, a few dresses, and a few skirts. I find it a lot easier to pick out my day's work from this rack, just rifle through it and it's so much more visable than things that are folded.

I reduced my fabric shelves from three to two. It's all cleverly hidden behind tension rods and curtains. I got rid of about 1/2 of my fabric and reorganized the rest so it wasn't just thrown into the shelves. The fabric I no longer want is going to be given to my sister, friends, the local craft circle I belong to, or donated to someone who wants it. Unless it's by the yard fabric, I fear giving it to Goodwill or Salvation Army, as they will probably just throw it away. A lot of it is scrap pieces, not perfect rectangles, old clothes that needed repairs so they became "fabric" on the shelf.

Tomorrow's entry. How to turn this pillowcase into a handy apron. New sewing room = new apron! Very simple and quick! Check back tomorrow for the full tutorial!

All-on-all I LOVE my new room. Total cost of painting = $15!