1.23.2013

making room(s) volume one: and then everything was better

you guys remember my current sewing area, right?

as seen monday morning, 1.21.2013

it was never ideal. it was never something i was super proud of. it was something that had to happen for a moment in time. (one moment= 23 months, btw)

you may remember that we have a teensy 3-bedroom house. when layla stopped sleeping in our room around 4 months old i had to give up the "extra room" as my sewing room and make a (somewhat spectacular) nursery out of it for my little ladyface. 

this pushed the sewing area into our chronically unused dining area off the side of the kitchen. i took the table for my own, pushed it up against a wall, ditched the chairs, added pegboard and shelving for pure functionality and just resisted the urge to melt down in aesthetic horror

no matter what new shelving or storage i got for this area, it just was NOT going to look right or good.

what, your dining table doesnt look like this?


the view from the kitchen. pure culinary peace at every turn...um...no. (sometimes jesse models).


but it was a decidedly worth-it trade off to create what we felt was a magical nursery of perfection for our baby chick-a-dukes:

oh so magnificent. (full tour here)

but some things happened (marvelous, fantastical things) that allowed us on monday (MLK day...i had a dream too and mine and his both came true!) to take back the 3rd bedroom as sewing room, office space, studio extraordinaire and general creative refuge. and since i have had an utter style transformation of the brain since i "designed" my last sewing area, this one was able to hit a whole new level of function and beauty (credit where credit is due: i was almost 100% inspired by raechel's studio. she's my muse. #inspiRAEtion).

some of said things are a secret that i will have to keep quiet for now as they havent been finished or photographed, but one of the biggest things was securing an instant (note: dad is the one to hit up for money) loan from my parents to go forward with this project rather than saving up and waiting another few months. perhaps the room should be called the "Lee and Genia Vincent Center for Adults Who Dont Focus So Good and Thus Need a Special Work Room." 

i'll have a plaque commissioned for the door.

i made a trip to IKEA without jesse but WITH judah on monday 6 pm. this would turn out to be my magnum opus of all IKEA adventures. there was sweat, there was stress, there was even spilled elderberry juice that spelled like the inside of roadkill...but i prevailed.


okay so just to remind us all of my past sewing areas:

2009-2010 in the 3rd bedroom. this makes my brain try to crawl right out of my head.

2011-2012 in the dining area...looking better and more organized than it ever really was.



and now, are you ready for how it looks now? i mean, seriously...gird up your loins, because they might leak:














OMG this is a big deal. i just want to make sure you are emotionally prepared for this moment.












do you think i am building it up too much and it is going to disappoint?



 IT'S NOT!!!



TA-EFFING-DA!


even after spending hours in this room last night making it look this way (reorganizing and stowing bits and bobs) i am having an intense emotional reaction looking at this weird MC Escher bendy panoramic shot of the room. getting choked up over a sewing room...what have i become?!?

obviously the shell of the room is still very layla's nursery-esque. but you know? it kind of works as a creativity-flowing sort of decor. i do plan to at least repaint some day, but let's just pause and take in how much better, brighter, bigger and ballsier the room itself looks


i mean...which seems like a better area for NOT having a lobotomy?


SO much table top space for cutting, prepping, dreaming.

all the sewing little knick-knacks stowed away in their places and only pretty things visible among the gorgeous white space of the VIKA table system (this whole combo was $250).

plenty of room at the window table for jesse to use as his office for planning worship, writing sermons, doing quiet time, etc (his chair was out of stock but is coming soon)

a chunk of floor space for bigger projects that require me to spread out lots of fabric.

more under table space if i need to add another fabric drawer set (fabric is my love language)

and there is even enough space along the other 2 walls for the ironing board and for a kids craft area if they ever prove themselves worthy of the arts (jk...but seriously: fools are messy and distracted right now).



those drawers not being pushed in for the picture is really irking me. but, oh mercy, they hold ALL THE THINGS!! and one white drawer and a few red ones are still empty.

the bigger stuff is stowed in the closet to the left (with a knob that escaped my oil rubbed bronze conversion).

dont you just want to roll around on those glossy white table tops of perfection?

AHHHHHHHHHHH. i'm so buzzed on this room.

but trying to move on...if you are a clever bird this transformation leaves some questions. some spatial reasoning quandaries.  alas, i will have to leave you puzzling because the hour is not yet nigh. soon though.

for now let's all just pause in reverence to chaos redeemed and clarity recaptured.

and we saw that it was good. amen.



*and for all the worries that layla is roaming the streets, take heart! here is where she landed.*

7 comments:

  1. That looks awesome! Now when you will actually have alone time to go in there? Ha! Tell the secret, I can't take suspense.

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  2. I LOVE IT. I also envy your tabletop space!!!!! So awesome.

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  3. Love, love , love it! That would totally get my creative juices flowing. You sew, girl! ..cause sew rhymes with go. Ok, whatever. My dining room table is my sewing area also. But I'm so against the eye sore, I drag everything out of the closet and put it back each time I want to sew. It becomes a chore instead of a hobby.

    So, Layla is sleeping in the kitchen now?

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  4. Oh gosh, I hope this means what I think it means! I'm so pinterested in the other not-yet-pictured secrets I can hardly handle it.

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  5. This is my dream. Someday i'll have a long table for rolling on and cutting my pretts fabs.

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  6. Amazing transformation!! but yes where is Layla?!?!?

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