Background. I thought you’d like an update on the studio repairs. One of my recent surprises was a huge nest of termites in the studio walls. The sewing studio is a separate building, so the termites hadn’t eaten their way into the house. They have, however, destroyed about 50% of the studio walls. We began right away looking for other options. None were viable. Repairing or replacing the studio is just more than we can afford.
Two rooms with opening to form the sewing areas.
It took years, okay, decades to build and furnish the current studio. We were both working back then. Almost everything is second-hand, painted to look like it belongs, and built or installed by my husband and sons. They are handy guys.
Back bedroom to become the storage and cutting room. (Assuming everything fits.)
Few Options. Since we can’t afford to start over or to replace the building, Richard decided that we’d take half the house and turn it into a new studio. We don’t use most of it anyway. I agreed because the kids could rebuild what we are now changing should they want to sell the house when we’re gone. I mean dead gone. I’m hoping to remain in my home for as long as I can sew. Then it won’t matter where they put me. Okay, enough of looking that far into the future. It’s a little too much gloom and doom, right?
My floorplan before Richard modified it.
New Space. To make the new space work and give it some feeling of openness, cohesiveness and movement, we removed the doors, took out one wall and opened the closets to form a walk-through. This means the sewing area will be divided into two distinct spaces and the cutting/work area will be in a separate room altogether. I’m okay with the new setup. I don’t have too many options, so I’m making the most of this new arrangement. The drawing above is a basic floorplan that I’d put together. Richard has his hands on it now and has already made several changes. I’m not keeping up with him, so there will likely be some surprises. Let’s hope for the best.
It’s difficult to tell, but these are two closets back-to-back. They are opened up and I’ll have cubbies and shelves on each side of the doorways.
This is the original hallway from one bedroom to the other. On the left is the closet where I had my sewing space when we moved in. Now it serves as a small office.
And there we are. It’s slow, but I have two guys who suffer from chronic pain doing the work for me. Most days they can’t hold a hammer or paintbrush for longer than an hour or so. I’ll just have to be patient. (Not one of my virtues.)
Each room has one window, which means not a lot of natural light. Richard has promised to move my florescent lights from the studio to here. You don’t realize how many dents and bings the walls take until someone comes along and starts filling them. Adam is fantastic at these type of repairs and painting. So, when he feels well enough, he’ll be the paint guy. I just have to choose paint soon. I think I’ll go with a white to keep the rooms bright and let the quilts and fabrics be the stars.
