The Great Sewing Room Reveal - Part I

Another thing that happened at the end of last year was that in late October, following a lovely visit by Simon & Simone, Bill decided he was ready to tackled re-decorating my sewing room. I was rather nervous about this, but I was determined to have it more how I wanted it than it has been the last 15+ years. As usual, I've captured it in the beginning of disarray - even more than the usual state of this room... 

The main thing I wanted to capture was Bill's version of 'coffee and cream'. It's my fault for not being more specific and for leaving him to choose the colours. Also my fault for just living with it for all these years. I thought it was so nice of Bill to do all this painting and I couldn't bring myself to ask him to change it, though he certainly would have - with very little grumbling even.  Anyhow, I meant to have something like the colour coffee with a lot of milk in it (cafe au lait? taupe?) and a sort of creamy off-white. Instead I got what I would describe as custard yellow with chocolate woodwork. Truly hideous in my opinion. In addition there was some ancient green carpet that had suffered over 20 years of use and abuse. It wasn't expensive to start with so I can only describe it as extremely flat.

So, we had to empty the room enough that Bill could do some painting. You know how you never realise how much stuff you own until you move? Well, my sewing/ crafting/ miscellaneous stuff took over the the dining room (same sized room below this one), the tops of the wardrobes in our bedroom, and most of the upstairs landing as well as the bathroom (some of the drawers ended up being stacked on the rim of the bathtub). 

I knew I wanted a very pale pink - just a warm white, really, and grey (currently one of my favourite colours). This pink-ish colour has worked well in the dining room, but did I go get the colour code off that can in the garage? Heavens, no. The first coat of paint was a truly icy shade of icing white pink (think 1960's lipstick). I don't know how a warm colour can be cold but, trust me, it was. I did what I should have done to start with and we made another trip to the DIY store. 

I had envisioned some other shades of not-quite-white on various parts of the walls (to coordinate with the various shades of linen scraps I was thinking of for curtains) but didn't have a definitive plan so ended up with the single colour pink on the walls, white woodwork and a very dark grey ceiling, all the way down to the picture rail. I know coloured ceilings are weird, but I love to play with my 10' high ceilings and since the walls are light and the floor and ceiling are both dark, it makes the room feel even larger than it is (something around 12 x 15 ft).  My mom showed me that trick when I had my first house that had 12' ceilings. (It also had French doors between the living and formal dining room, 10' high windows, and more than one door in most rooms, all of which were way fun; sadly it was in a really bad neighbourhood, so not a smart buy. I definitely learned a hard lesson there). 

I had never seen the wood floors before this and I did think they were lovely (well, potentially). However, we live in a semi-detached house, meaning it is attached to another house, sort of like a two-story brick duplex in American terms. In spite of the brick walls and double glazed windows, the chimneys help convey sound from one side to the other. I also know from hearing some former neighbours having noisy afternoon sex - but stopping when I called out to Bill - that neither side has much privacy if one takes up the carpet. I lost no time in informing the new neighbours of this when they came to our last Thanksgiving party. I figure if I don't want them to have bare floors I shouldn't either. They haven't heeded this request entirely - we hear every one of that child's temper tantrums and I guess they get to hear me coughing all day.

I kept the large mirror, but put it on the wall next to the sewing machine in hopes of reflecting more light.

The windows face East and while the back of the house is quieter than the front, I like to sleep in on those long summer days when the sun is up at 4.27 AM. I can't remember the last time I sewed much before noon, but I was always looking for ways to string up the curtain completely away from the window to maximise the light on my work. For this reason, and because I'm lazy and this is a low priority for me, I've yet to select or make any curtains, there is only the roller blind and it's never been pulled down, unless by overnight guests. I like the view from the window as well as the light that comes in. 

I'd never seen the tile hearth of the fireplace either. I hadn't realized it was actually set into the wood floor; I'd imagined it had been a marble block like the ones downstairs and that that it had been removed. The upstairs fireplaces were one of the 'original' features that I loved. The black part is painted, but it is actually cast iron so that when the coal fire was lit the whole structure would radiate heat. The tiles are quite Art Nouveau and you know I adore that style.  

The lighting in the pictures of the fireplace demonstrates how dependent the room is for light from the windows. I never much appreciated natural light until coming to Britain. I knew a lady in Oklahoma whose office had no windows and she thought it had the benefit that she always assumed the weather was good (she is ever the optimist, Doris). I don't know much about local authority (sort of a town council) planning rules, but I believe that a room without any window is not considered inhabitable. 

Of course, either side of the chimney breast are alcoves, just over a foot deep. In my first house the fireplace in the living room was flanked by bookshelves with glass doors and small windows above. 

I thought that was fabulous, but the this wall is against the other house so windows aren't possible and I don't like to pin myself down with built in bookshelves. Even I don't need floor to ceiling shelves 4 and 5 feet wide (yet). Especially when I already had a wall of shelving.

When I bought the house, this wall had shelves and hanging space with sliding doors in front, one of which was a full height mirror. The closet was great except that the depth was determined by the door frame and it wasn't deep enough for a grown up's hanger with clothes on. Being petite and narrow shouldered, I find that children's hangers work fine for me and so I gradually took this closet over, pushing Bill into 2 wardrobes in other rooms (but only after we had moved out of this room into the front bedroom).