The Sewing Room
Even after moving the non-sewing storage out of the sewing room area of the basement, I realized that I was constantly cleaning down there because the open joists above meant dirt and dust were constantly falling onto the work areas below. And the room was pretty dark; the walls were dark and the joists swallowed up the light. So to help with both problems I decided to bring in a beadboard ceiling. I had no plans to formally finish the room; just put up enough of a barrier to make for a cleaner work area.
Here are some before pictures.
Keep an eye on that metal cabinet in the left corner of that last picture; you'll see it again.
The first thing I wanted to do was brighten up the walls. The old white paint was dirty and peeling in places so I scraped where necessary and dusted and vacuumed the walls and then painted the cinder and red bright a light creamy yellow.
That was the easy part. :) Adding the bead board was labor, but I think it did the trick. (I used a ladder with a box inverted on top of it to add height to hold up one end of the pieces of beadboard while I attached the other end.
With the ceiling in, it was time to work on layout. And to unpack an Ikea Expedit (2x4) shelving unit with a desk attachment. I'd already brought in an Ikea kitchen island as a cutting table/ironing station.
For a more close-up view:
The Work table where I can clean and restore machines:
The "old ladies"--a work area of my antique Singers:
And the desk for my modern machine. It also shows my cutting table/ironing station with the ironing cover on it. It's just a rectangle of fabric, pinned at the corners with batting underneath. I have two other covers, so I can swap them out to wash.
Two parlor cabinets with treadles inside and the metal cabinet, all spruced up and ready for my fabric stash.
