Sewing Room Refresh

My office / sewing studio has gotten out of hand.  I am one of those people who cannot work let alone be creative in a room that is cluttered and doesn't function.  Sometimes I feel like no matter how often I clean, the walls are still closing in on me.  I decided that it needed a refresh and a better way to store all my supplies.  Here's a lovely view of how my sewing room was before...

Why did I think an L-shape would work??  So much space is lost in that corner.

While my desk has been working out pretty well, I feel like it's taking up too much space on this wall with all the natural light.

Ok, so this is mid clean-out for this redo, but honestly, it normally doesn't look much better...

Off to Pinterest I went to find some sewing room storage inspiration.  There are so many cleaver ideas out there, but the one that stuck with me was after seeing this image:

Photo from Sew Caroline

Pegboard, the perfect solution!  Now all those things that are cluttering up my precious table top space will be gone!  And I can paint it in a cute shade of turquoise!  Ha, maybe not because I am impatient and want this project finished during my child's nap, so we have 2 hours!

The pegboard was an easy purchase from the hardware store and cuts pretty well with a circular saw (just don't cut thru the little holes unless you enjoy having debris thrown at your face.  Learned that one the hard way.)

We slapped it up on the wall and I just started to hang EVERYTHING I COULD.  I also did some serious decluttering and threw away at least 1 contractor sized trash bag full of half done projects and other random things.  Why did I keep so many empty plastic bags??   I moved my work tables over to the wall that originally had my desk and bookcases.  I ended up losing the smaller bookcase - I just didn't need it or all the things it was holding.

LOVE pegboards, I just may put them all over the house!

Sorry printer, you live on the floor now.

These pieces had to stay in their place, oh and don't mind my intern.

All in all, an easy project, more or less done in 1 afternoon, and under $25 for the pegboard and a hanging kit with all the little hooks and doo dads.





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Kitchen Remodel - Part 3

Our kitchen is finished!  Not that the actual construction wasn’t pretty, but I didn’t take a whole lot of photos, so I decided to wait until the end to post about that part of it.  Here is our kitchen after demo with all the cabinets constructed and ready to be mounted.

Not going to lie, I was freaking out at this point because the cabinets are HUGE!  Having done all the design work myself, I was seriously doubting the design and convinced that my kitchen was going to feel even smaller than it was before, but our contractor assured me it wouldn’t, but I kinda still didn’t believe him.

Giant boxes....definitely terrified.

Also, not sure if you can tell, look above the window...see that weird looking wood?  Yup, termites.

We were delayed about a week waiting on the countertops – the cabinets had to be set before the granite guy could come out and measure for the tops, and then it took them about 5 days to fabricate.  We went with a granite called “Dallas White”, which definitely looked much different in the showroom than it now does in my kitchen, but it’s close enough and I’m not going to freak out again when we got a great deal and a relatively quick turnaround.

Anyways, here is our finished kitchen!  The whole process took about 4 weeks from cabinet delivery to moving in plates and glasses.  Not too bad.  I’ve mentioned or linked all supplies at the bottom of this post.

Like those shades?  I made 'em myself :)

My new baking center!

My grandmother's recipe for Tuna Congealed Salad, one of the most retro things in her file I could find. 

Some fun kitchen art.

Cabinets - Ikea 

Granite - Dallas White 

Cabinet Hardware - Build.com knobs and pulls both in chrome.

Knife Block - M.O.C. Woodworks, ours is in walnut.

Fabric for shades - Fabric.com

New Dog Bed Inspiration

Since Pearl the pup has decided that current bed is no longer acceptable, I have decided to make her one.  This may or may not completely blow up in my face, and I will scream and yell if she destroys it, but she is my fur baby and I love her and want to make her something.

Poor thing...all alone and mushed into a corner.

 Her bed must have offended her, judging how she drags it around and simply leaves it in strange places.  I’m almost positive her attitude towards it would sound like this:  “Ugh, you nasty bed.  How dare you make me drag you around, rip out your insides and leave you in places where I would never sleep.  And you have the NERVE to show back up in my spot??  That’s it! Grrrr!”  And then I look up from my desk, find the pitiful, lumpy bed askew in the corner of my office with piles of olive green stuffing everywhere.  How is there so much stuffing in one bed?  I’ve been picking it up for weeks now.

Anyways, the new bed will be constructed with love and much more durable fabric.  But alas, what design to go with?  There are so many cute DIY’s and tutorials out there, but I think the one I like the most (because I love piping!) will be from Design Sponge.

Box Cushion Tutorial from Design Sponge

 See – adorable right??  And that sweet puppy would never eat that pretty bed, no way.

Love this one.  I love stripes (obvi) and labs, and it gives me a little glimmer of hope of the tranquility that may exist in my house once her perfect little cushion is made.   Thanks Elle Décor for the false sense of serenity.  Maybe in 5 years…

Love the size and squishiness of this one.  I may try to do this while still using a box cover pattern.  This exact bed can be purchased at BaxterBoo.

I love pugs.  But I can tell you I have never known a pug that would sleep on its own bed all alone.  This bed is similar in shape to the one above and is available through the Pampered Puppy.

Alright, got some ideas, and fabric has been ordered – I went with Premier Prints Flynn in navy blue.  I love navy, and I have a yellow dog, so that wasn’t the smartest decision I’ve made today, but hey, I’m only human.  I’m thinking some bright contrasting piping will definitely be necessary, unless that will attract the little puppy teeth even more…

Any spoiled pampered pooches in your home?  

Construction Junction

What’s your function?  Just kidding, but I can’t help humming that song from everyone’s favorite, Schoolhouse Rock (and I know those aren't the real words).  Our den has been demolished, kind of.  All the furniture is now in the center of the room and the entire house smells of really intense paint fumes.  Our den originally looked like this:

Awesome right?  Old carpet and dark wood paneled walls.  So the carpet came out the day we closed on the house so the last 5 months or so it has looked like this:

 Ah much better.  Moo moo Mr. Cow.  Currently we have 2 cow hides in this crazy long room, one came from Scott’s Antique Market here in Atlanta for a very reasonable $250 and the other apparently lived with my brother at Auburn and has seen some rough nights.  I believe he told me one of his friends slept completely wrapped up in it, let’s just hope this friend had clothes on…

So now our den is a crazy mess, but I am hopeful.  All the trim has been ripped off and what hasn’t come off has been primed to be painted white.  Yippee!  The trim was actually really nice, super big and thick and original.  The paneling on the other hand is incredibly cheap and flimsy and was not worth saving painting. 

 

Photo from Houzz

This is roughly the color scheme I am going for.  Dark navy walls with bright white trim and fireplace.  This room is much more formal than ours, but the colors seem spot on.

On to the accessories!  I promised my husband an oversized ottoman, so I like the style of this one and I think it can be made using a coffee table.  Don’t worry, tutorial will come with that. 

 

Originally an older post from Joss&Main, shoe painting similar here.

And here is my other upholstery project.  

Original image from Style Me Pretty

I already have the wing chair, it is currently taking up way to much space in my office.  It came from my grandmother’s house, so I love that I will be keeping it in the fam.  The fabric is from one of my favorite sites, Spoonflower, and you can find this exact pattern and it’s wonderful designer here.  I look forward to adding this to our den with its height and fun pattern.

Light fixtures from Shades of Light

Lights.  These are actually already hanging, and I love them.  I love them so much that I will most definitely be taking them with me us when if we move.  They’re great and big and at night create the most beautiful light effect on the ceiling.  Kinda romantic, if you’re into that sort of thing.

And here is the room today.  

Don't judge all the piles of stuff.  But do admire the lights in action!  Oooh aaah.

Til next time (when hopefully all this will be finished!).