In Progress
To paint, or not to paint?
The basement guest room is progressing very slowly. I still need to buy sheets for the beds, but I am not sure exactly where I’m going with it, so I don’t want to rush and make poor design decisions.
This week’s big accomplishment? I’ve hung this vintage mirror in the guest room - and I rescued it from my parents’ basement. The plan was to paint it a nice warm yellow, to add some contrast to the space. But now I’m not so sure. Should it remain the way it is, with a vintage bronze-y feel? Does everything really need a coat of paint?
Ponder that, would you, and let me know what you think. In the mean time, I’m heading out of town for my bachelorette weekend. Can’t wait to have so many of my closest friends in one place. That’s a very rare occurrence!
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Update on The World’s Biggest Sewing Table
Well, friends, the “world’s biggest sewing table”, which I impulsively started to build last Sunday, is almost done. I’ve trimmed the sides in decorative molding, sanded it down, stained it, and applied many coats of polyurethane. The house is nice and stinky, we’ve surely lost a few brain cells (who needs them, anyway?), but as of this evening the surface should be dry enough for me to set my sewing machine down and give it a go.
The legs are not staying the way they are. I don’t like how stark white they are against the pretty wood top, but I still need to decide exactly what I want to do about them. The tiled floor is uneven, so I need to add legs that are adjustable, or else modify the current legs to be so.
Any suggestions?
Basement Makeover, Part 4: “Mapping” the Color Palette
Weekend realization: the design process is so much easier when you have a color palette to base your plan off of.
One reason our basement makeover was lagging behind (aside from the sewing studio changes) was our lack of a color palette. With just some mid-century wooden furniture and a dark gray sofa, I felt overwhelmed with choices. Anything goes with dark gray! Where to start decorating?
Thankfully, an “aha” moment came during some blog reading last week. Designers commonly build up a color palette around an inspiration piece early on in the design process. Why don’t I? Surely I know better.
Still, we had to have somewhere to start; and that somewhere came in the form of Ryan’s vintage pull-down school map, a Christmas gift from me to him last year, courtesy of Just L – our favorite mid-century modern shop.
Did you spy it hanging on the far wall of the basement in yesterday’s post?
I hung the map on Sunday night, and we realized that it offers a great selection of colors that all pair well with the dark gray couch. Brightly colored accents are a must in a dark space like a basement, I think.
Above you’ll see the color palette that I came up with. When I asked Ryan about using the Tiffany Blue and the Orange as the main splashes of color, he said that he was OK with it, as long as we used more of the blue and less of the orange. I don’t blame him; with a color that bright, a little bit goes a long way.
There’s a lot of other greens and blues, and I think we’ll use them sparingly as well. I’m excited to have so many options to play with.
One of the neat details are the apparent cruise liner routes marked on the map. See how it says “New York to Southampton 3595″ along a dotted line? These lines cross all over the bodies of water shown on the map. It’s amazing how much things have changed since 1956, the year this map was printed.
So much to see, I could stare at it all day. I’m really excited to have the map hung. Now why did it take 14 months? Oh right, we were trying to figure out a design plan for the basement. How funny that this map was the very solution, right under our noses this whole time.
Building the World’s Largest Sewing Table {Sewing Studio Update}
Why does every one of my construction projects seem to turn into an adventure??
Sunday morning found me revisiting a favorite old hobby: waking up early to quietly rearrange and redecorate a room, just like I used to do when I was a little kid. In this instance, it was my basement sewing studio that fell victim to my early-morning inspirations. Fortunately I’m all grown up now, so there were no parents around to wake up and grumble “go back to bed!”
You’re probably wondering why I was, yet again, rearranging the studio. The answer is simple: It wasn’t finished.
After moving the sewing studio from my office to the basement in January, the basement makeover project stood by as I got settled in the space. I set my existing tables and supplies in the form I thought best suited the space, with no attention to aesthetics, so I could quickly get back to sewing and filling orders. I’d just added my first custom dog beds to the shop, and the many orders were keeping me busy.
It’s good to work or live in a space before making any big design decisions. After using my new sewing studio space for 3 months, I came up with two functional issues that had to change.
First: The L-shaped tables had to go.
I can’t have a table directly to my right when I’m sitting at the long table sewing. It keeps me too far from the wall where I like to have my supplies hanging. That way I can grab the scissors or thread that I need, use them, then put them back straight away. And trust me – if I can’t quickly and easily put things away, then a mess results.
Second: A much wider single sewing & cutting table was needed.
For smaller sewing projects, my 36″ x 24″ cutting mat was fine. But as I started making more XL dog beds which were 44″ wide, I was frustrated by the lack of workspace. I was using the ironing board to help me roll out and drape yards and yards of fabric.
When I realized that my inefficient workspace had me dreading dog bed orders, it was time to super-size the work space.
This brings us to Sunday morning. I’d finally figured out how to build a simple, enormous table. I just had to move everything out of the way, measure out the space, and head to Home Depot.
The messiness of the studio mid-construction.
I didn’t count on Home Depot having a broken plywood-sheet-cutting saw, but you should know by now that I’d never let something like that stop me from sticking to my plan.
“Ok,” I thought. “I’ll just buy the whole damn board. It’s only 8 feet by 4 feet; surely it will fit in my wagon. Everything always fits in my wagon, and then we can cut it at home.”
*insert error buzzer sound here*
The plywood did not actually fit in my wagon. That’s a first. So I tied it to the roof of the car and drove home at approximately 5 miles an hour, one arm out the window gripping the board for dear life.
Ryan . . . well, after Ryan recovered from the shock of seeing what I’d brought home, he helped me cut it down to size and all that jazz. That board was a beast, unweildy and heavy, and much grouchiness ensued. I had to run to Home Depot a second time for better screws, but then I got the legs attached. Time to add the trim, and sand the baby down for staining.
But I realized I needed a third trip to Home Depot. Nope, not gonna happen. I put down the tools, stepped away from the saw, and realized that it was 5 o’clock somewhere.
By the end of the night, at least the studio was tidier.
This didn’t end up being a one-day project after all. Although right now it’s just a massive red-oak-veneered plywood board with six legs, I can already tell it’s going to be utterly heavenly – and so worth the work involved.
I can already envision the fun crafting parties that this will enable – like sitting around the table with friends, all sewing or scrapbooking. I mean, it is a 4 ft by 7 ft table, after all.
Of course, it was really worth it just to see the horrified “What is she doing now” expression on Ryan’s house when he walked into the front yard just in time to see me rolling down the street. As it turns out, he couldn’t see the clear twine that tied it to the car, and he actually thought I was JUST HOLDING THE BOARD ON TOP OF THE CAR.
What does he think I am – completely nuts? ;)
Finally! Guest Bedroom Sneak Peek
Finally, I have made more strides in the guest bedroom makeover project.
They’re baby steps, mind you, but at least they’re steps of some sort. It took me forever to complete the refinishing and painting of the twin bed frames, simply because the weather was tricky and I can’t spray paint inside the house. Yesterday afternoon, when the gray clouds rolled away and the humidity decreased slightly, I ran outside to apply the final coats of polyurethane. They dried just in time for us to bring them inside late last night, and I couldn’t help but snag a quick phone photo of them sitting in the guest room.
A few notes:
The side rails of the frame may look unfinished to you. That’s because I have grand plans for disguising them. Also, the issue I’m pondering now is the blandness of the white frame-on-white wall situation. I’m wondering if I should paint the other walls a dark teal to tie in with the Tempaper accent wall, or if I should paint them a different, lighter color. Maybe a bright gold? Or a pale gray? Decisions, decisions. Maybe I’ll finish putting the room together, and then decide on a wall color at the end.
The Waiting Game: Furniture in Progress
It just hit me: The arrival of February means there’s a few carpentry projects that we’ve been chipping away at for over a month now.
Exhibit A: a lovely table that I built from scratch. I won’t tell you where it’s going just yet, but I’m too excited to not to give you a sneak peek at it!
This beautiful piece is simply waiting for a few coats of polyurethane sealant. I’d hoped to do that yesterday after work, seeing as it was a gorgeous 67 degrees and slightly light outside when I arrived home from work. Alas, I went to the basement to grab my supplies, only to find a nearly empty can of Poly. This is why you check your supplies *ahead* of time, people!
Exhibit B, the twin bed frames for the guest room.
After I spent hours applying primer, with a brush, to all the nooks and crannies in the turned posts, I realized that spray paint was the way to go. But spray paint = Jane working outside, and the weather has to cooperate for that.
And here’s a lesson learned: If you apply two coats of Zinsser Oil-Based Primer to furniture that’s in your basement, your house will reek for days. . . and you’ll probably lose some brain cells in the process. That’s a mistake I won’t make again.
Hopefully I can get these two projects wrapped up over the weekend. I’m ready to put them in their places and move on to building our much-needed basement bookshelf!
State of the Studio
Do you remember when I was pondering if I should move my sewing studio? As soon as Ryan woke up that day I asked him – I just couldn’t wait – and he was totally ok with it. I dove straight into that switcheroo with gusto, let me tell you. Anytime I have a chance to move furniture around or rearrange a room I get excited.
It’s times like this when I have a pang of envy for full-time bloggers who can start a project and just tear through it in a few days. I started moving the sewing studio to the basement on New Years Eve weekend, and it took until this past weekend to get to 90% completion. Because this project would directly affect my business, we made it a top priority, but it still dragged out.
Even though I tried to have an organized, efficient move, it caused some upheaval – mainly because some of my storage system didn’t fit in the basement, so I had to pack most of my stuff into boxes until we had storage figured out. It definitely caused some disruption with Janery business, but the upside is that, in the new space, I think I’m positioned for super organization and efficiency of operations.
Storage Decisions & Delays
The cabinets pictured below above are three Ikea BESTA units. I had the bottom two in my upstairs studio, along with one tall unit. The tall guy didn’t fit under the lowered ceiling, so he went away courtesy of Craigslist.
It was annoying to have to sell a barely-used piece of storage furniture. However, the space against the wall, where the lower ceiling limits use, really was the perfect spot for fabric storage and ironing. It’s so awesome that the ironing board finally has a home to call its own, rather than being in my way in my office/studio/dressing room combo that I had before.
In the photo below, please also note that there is an electrical outlet right where I need it. It’s these little things that you think nothing of until you become a regular ironer-of-fabric.
But back to the BESTA part. Having lost the tall guy, I needed more storage. Off to Ikea I went, with measurements in hand. Home I came with a BESTA unit that would fit on top of the first too. Until I opened the box and realized that I’d bought the wrong color. Crap.
Having to drive ONCE down I-95 to Ikea in Woodbridge, VA is a problem. Having to go twice = Disaster, and all because of traffic. I’ll leave it at that. Long story short, we eventually got the cabinet returned and brought the right one home, and finally my stuff got organized.
For now I’ve hung my thread/scissor storage frame on the wall above my sewing tables, along with a cork board. I’m not in love with how it looks, though, so it will probably change.
But this, right now, is the state of the studio.
PS: Silver lining of the move - My computer is now upstairs, so if I get distracted and want to hop online, I have to run up a flight of stairs and across the house. Guess who’s not getting distracted very often when sewing? Either that, or my butt and thighs are going to be rock solid.
Guest Room, Part 3: Temporary Wallpaper for an Accent Wall
Do you ever gather the supplies needed for a DIY or decor project, then procrastinate on tackling it out of fear that it won’t go well? That’s exactly what I did with the Tempaper that I ordered for my guest room makeover . . . way back in October. Then late one night during the holidays, Ryan and I cleared out the room and I determined that it was time to dive in. After all, that paper wasn’t going to hang itself!
Have you heard of Tempaper, a temporary removable wallpaper? I thought it would be good to test out a roll of it in the house, since it appears to be an excellent temporary wallpaper option for renters.
I pulled Ryan away from the new Star Wars game just long enough to help me clear out the room, then I got to work.
For the guest room I ordered one roll of Tempaper’s Edie pattern in Frosted Teal. I hoped the single roll would cover the small back wall (left wall in photo above) of the guest room, creating an accent wall behind the bed frames.
I laid down my large sewing cutting mat, and used my rotary cutter and clear ruler to cut the Tempaper. The combo of the cutting mat and long clear ruler helped me to measure and make super-straight cuts.
A note of caution: Either I received a defective roll, or the Tempaper material scratches easily, because shortly after rolling the first part out flat to cut, I noticed this long white scratch on it.
I started hanging the Tempaper on the right side of the wall, working my way left across it.
After the first length was successfully hung, I got worried that the single roll may not cover the entire accent wall. (Yes, I should have figured this out before starting – it’s just that the wall is so small that I was sure one roll would be enough!) Knowing how long the first piece was, I did some quick measuring, and found that I would come up about 3/4 of one strip short of covering the whole wall.
Crap. I was determined to get the Tempaper hung and done, and more importantly, I wasn’t going to shell out another $85 for another roll, most of which I wouldn’t need.
The solution? I decided I could stretch the single roll of wallpaper and make it work.
Two large headboards of the two beds I’m modifying would be sitting against this accent wall, and there is no other possible furniture layout for them in this small space. Therefore, I wouldn’t have to totally cover the parts of the wall that would be blocked by the headboards.
I measured the headboards, and the areas that they’d cover, then marked it on the wall with painters tape.
I hung the second sheet of wallpaper and stopped at the tape line – which saved me a good 20 inches of paper.
In the photo below you can see the part of the wall that is not covered by the second Tempaper strip. However, when the mattress is on the bed frame, the blank area won’t be visible.
I continued the hanging process until I covered the entire wall – or the entire exposed area, at least.
I know the exposed areas are going to be covered by the headboards, but I have to admit – the incomplete wall coverage is driving me crazy every time I see it, and every time I look at these photos! I wish the roll had been just a bit longer. Is it too much to ask that one roll cover a simple 10 ft x 8 ft wall?
I’m going to post my official “review” of the pros & cons of Tempaper, but I want to do that separately from this guest room progress update.
Have you ever used Tempaper?
