Ikea Hack: A Sewing Desk

This was what my sewing corner looked like last week:

The sewing machines are on that same corner desk I've had for ages and never get around to finishing refinishing.  (Also it's missing a leg ever since we moved).  Next to it on the left there are two Ikea Helmer file cabinets which hold sewing and craft supplies.  You saw the new craft room last week; this is the story of the sewing desk.  So far it works really well and I LOVE using it. 

First: a can of Rustoleum's gray automotive primer: 

I used the same auto primer on an Ikea Raskog two years ago, and it came out really well.  The primer is made specifically for metal and metal paint, and that cart came out pretty much indestructible.  I wanted to use the auto primer again for this project because of all the abuse these Helmers take while I'm sewing.  

I also sprayed the handles gold (also R's American Accents): 

Once the primer was cured, I painted both Helmer units in Rustoleum's American Accents matte finish spray paint in Coastal Sage (sort of a blueish chalkboard-green color):

When both Helmers were painted and put back together, I purchased a 2x4' birch project panel at the hardware store and used it to create a desktop to go on top of them.  I raised the height of the desktop by placing a pair of 1" risers cut from an old shelving board on top of the Helmers.  I also used sections of clear Ikea Komplement drawer liner in between the wood pieces to keep them from sliding around.  

 So there's a new desk, for the cost of two cans of spray paint and a $26 piece of wood.  I turned two small pieces of furniture into one functional one, and moved a big, bulky, broken table out of the way.  Now I have a well-organized space that's comfortable and intuitive to use.  

Bonus:  my favorite part about my new sewing desk is the power strip on the right side - see it there, with the cords sticking out?  I have all the sewing machines, the light, the iron, and the pencil sharpener run through that power strip, so that I can turn the ENTIRE workspace on with one button.  Fwoosh! Ready to work.  The power strip even has USB charging ports, so I can charge my phone or whatever while I work.  Sweet!   

Making Over the Craft Room

It was time to do a complete overhaul of the entire craft room.  Here's what it looked like before:

Cluttered, crammed full of small furniture, and with a terrible, dark paint job.  We basically moved in, shoved a bunch of crap into this room, and never touched it again.  Bad. 

This little bookshelf wasn't being put to use very well - it was crammed up against the doorway and stuffed full of random crap that belonged in the closet.  

The closet doors were missing, and nothing in the closet (or out of it, truthfully) was very well organized.

First I set about organizing the room.  There were a couple of boxes which should have been stored in the garage that I moved out there;  everything else in the closet got reorganized and re-stacked, so that it would STAY in the closet.  Surfaces were cleared, things were put into plastic bins and stored on an Ikea Hyllis shelving unit in the closet.

Next:

1. I painted the room, in a color I mixed myself by adding some yellow-gold to the SW Silvermist I had on hand leftover from my bedroom. The resulting shade matches up to SW Comfort Gray, if you're interested.  
2. I hung curtains - I moved the white Ikea Matilda semi-sheers from my bedroom into this room, once replacements for the bedroom arrived in the mail (more on that later).  
3. I found the closet doors in the garage, ordered some replacement hardware for them, and re-hung them in the room.  The doors also got a fresh coat of white paint.  
4. I hung the ironing board on the wall behind the entry door, to keep it out of the way
5. I hung a pendant lamp over the sewing table, using an Ikea Hemma light kit and a glass sconce I've had for years.  It and the sewing machines are plugged into a power strip mounted on the side of the desk so that I can turn the entire sewing table on with one button.  
6. I moved a short bookcase from the door of the room over to the corner behind the sewing desk, and moved a small dresser to the door of the room, to hold the printer and printer supplies
7. I hung new art (printed from online) over the bookcase and art table in the rear of the room

Here's the whole room, more or less, in its finished state.  It's lighter and brighter, the windows softer, the furniture balanced and the floorplan open.  I rearranged the furniture and moved that little bookshelf next to the window to balance out the art table on the right side.  I LOVE my new sewing desk, and having doors back on the closet makes a huge difference in how clean and organized the room feels. 

The desk is made from a pair of Ikea Helmer file cabinets, spray painted in "Coastal Sage" (Rustoleum American Accents), with a 2x4' birch project panel across the top - up on 1" shelf risers to make the desk height the correct height.  I've got both sewing machines, the overhead light, and the pencil sharpener and iron plugged into the power strip on the right side of the desk, so I can turn EVERYTHING on at once with the touch of a button.  

Finally, the closet doors.  There's nothing remarkable about them, except that they're finally hung (it took some doing, and I had to buy all new mounting hardware), and they CLOSE and hide all the "organized clutter" inside.  

Tada!   

A Chair I Keep Changing

In 2011 I bought an Ikea NOMINELL task chair - normally $140, but I got it from the as-is section (a floor model) for $10. The first thing I did when I got it home was to destroy the back cover and make a copy of it. I did it again in 2015:

2011 Original chair                               2011 back cover                                    2015 back & seat

Over this past weekend, I changed my task chair again: 

This is the same peacock fabric on the back that is in the living room throw pillows, the seat of the KAUSTBY side chair, and the hanging on the fireplace.

I left the seat the original black, but gave it a thorough cleaning.  I'd read somewhere online that you can clean and restore microfiber fabrics with rubbing alcohol and a soft nail brush.  I'd never tried it, so over the weekend I tried it on this cloth seat and a microfiber office chair that belongs to my roommate - and let me tell you, it works GREAT!  This seat, and Sylvan's chair, look practically brand new.

You can't see it, but there's a 17" zipper in one side of the chair back, to make the cover fit tightly.  The bottom of the back cover has a drawstring that's tucked inside the cover once it's tight.

Now the only thing to do to this chair is take a knife to the wheels and dig out nearly 8 years of thread and pet hair that's clogged the wheels so much that they no longer roll!  Grosssss.


More stuff soon!

I Made A Thing!

Actually, I made a bunch of things.  I made my bedroom clean. (And re-arranged the furniture).  And then I made my sewing room clean. (And rearranged the shelving).   Pics of all that soon.

For now, though:  my sewing chair reeeeally needed an update.  I re-covered the back of it when I brought it home from the as-is bin at Ikea, waaaaay back in October of 2011.  The back fabric was still okay (aside from a couple of holes), but the seat had never been recovered, and it had definitely seen better days. It was covered with paint and loose threads, and the fabric had been worn shiny in a couple of large, butt-cheek-shaped spots.

Before: 

Oh, also?  It was...beige.  So office-y. 

After: 

Is that not some crazy grandma-riffic fabric?  Hee.  I've had this (printed, drapery-weight, cotton) fabric sitting in a bin for a couple of years, and though it's pretty horrible, I couldn't bring myself to get rid of it.  It's BLUE!  Like 90% of my stuff is blue.  And it's fun-horrible, tee-hee.

Both the seat cover and the back are just slip-

covers closed with a drawstring underneath.
Ikea's seat cover was permanently affixed to the
under-side of the seat.  I left the beige cover on
the back, because it was the only thing covering

the bare foam. 

The back also has a discreet zipper on one side

edge. When I made the original beige cover, I had

to slip-stitch the open side closed by hand (because the top of the back is wider than the 

bottom). This time I just happened to have a zipper

that kinda coordinated. :) 

The whole slipcover project only took me about an hour.

That was after an hour of ripping four years' worth of sewing detritus from inside the wheels.  It rolls again! Yay! Ew.

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OHAI I forgot.

You know, I was looking over my blog(s) the other day, and realized that I never actually posted finished pics of the new craft room (aka "Room of Requirement")!

Okay, so, you've seen the old version:

Which is now my bedroom:  

And my old bedroom, which in this picture is filled with stuff from the old sewing room, during the room swap.  I haven't been a "hanging out in my room" person since I was a teenager.  Who needs all this room to just sleep?

At first, Sylvan and I thought we'd put our work tables in the center of the room, like this: 

Before she'd even moved in, I realized how very, very much that was NOT going to work.  My sewing machine vibrated both tables so much that she'd never have been able to work like that; and also, since all my sewing stuff was jammed up against the wall behind me, but my cutting table was on the opposite side of the room, I kept having to get up and walk around while I was working.  

So we drew up a new floor plan that worked better for both of us, with each of us with a work table against a wall, storage around, and my cutting table in the center, which is easier for me to get to without having to stand up if I don't need to, and also so that we can BOTH use the cutting table as a large, open work surface if needed: 

(made with Icovia Floor Planner) 

And here is the finished Room of Requirement, and folks, this is about as tidy as it gets.

CAUTION:  WOMEN AT WORK!

It works great.  We both love it, and we're both enjoying spending time in there crafting together.  When she moved in, we put her TV in the living room, and put my [smaller] one in the craft room, so we frequently have a movie on in the background while we work (usually a Disney animated flick; though my go-to when I'm working alone is Pride and Prejudice, in case you're wondering.  When it's just me and just music, I listen to a lot of Chinese flute, for some reason. It's calming).  

Meanwhile, I haven't been doing much around the house at all for the past several months, because I've been going nonstop on the SCA stuff (which is all here at my SCA blog, if you're interested).  And then there was Raven, and some sitting around moping for a while, while I was processing.

Also, looking over this blog recently, I realize that I am utter PANTS and things like: 

• decent photographs of anything
• posting finished pictures and follow-up on previous posts

That's going to change, guys.  I hate looking at this blog and being disgusted with myself.  I had this same issue with my SCA blog back in September, made some serious revisions to my organization and self-management, and it's been working out great - I'm really proud of my SCA work, and my SCA blog.  This one?  Not so much.  It's going to get better.  

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Two Rooms (Both Alike In Dignity)

As much as I change my home - paint colors, furniture arrangement, the furniture itself, art and display - certain things never change.  My bedroom has been my bedroom for a decade.  My craft room has been my craft room for nearly as long.  I've mentioned that I was planning to swap the two spaces...it's begun.

I began with the closets: 

1.   First, I emptied my bedroom closet:

Ikea's STOLMEN post as closet rod:  great for a long wall;

although the rod is just a tad too wide for hangers to slide

comfortably. 

2.  Next, I started filling it, in order to clear out the closet in the sewing room.  I managed to get the ENTIRE contents of my sewing room closet into the bedroom closet, as well as the ENTIRE fabric wall, and, well, pretty much everything but my current sewing-in-progress and furniture.  Holy cow, this is a big closet!

Once the STOLMEN "rod" was down, I moved in the shelves

that once held fabric in my soon-to-be-ex-sewing-room.
(This closet is simply packed full;  actual organization
to occur at a later date). 

3.   That left me with an empty sewing room closet full of shelves that needed to be removed:

4.  Which was then fitted with a regular closet rod and wall brackets, and all of my clothing (which, despite this closet being the same length as my big now-ex-bedroom-closet, fits my clothes better somehow. It's a TARDIS.

*  I would like to thank, personally, both the inventor of the wheel, and my friend Debi for the use of her convertible dolly/cart, without which this job would have taken daaaays, and much back-breaking and expletive-flinging. 

And yes, that green box IS full of actual rocks. 

So now, both rooms are a shambles.  I can't sew until this job is done, but at least I have a space in which to sleep.  I admit, this project is so huge that it's been prohibitively daunting, but I feel good about it now that I've started.  Moving closets was a HUGE first step, and a necessary one.  You guys have seen my craft room - it was organized, but it was full.  Now there's room to move, and to slide things around in order to work on the room itself.

And I am somewhat pleased to report that during this process, I only walked into the wrong closet four times.

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Brainstorming the New Bedroom

I just finished redecorating my sewing room in January. 10 months ago, LOL.

This is what it looks like now (if you remove all the clutter and piles of fabric and five zillion projects going at once):

And this is where I think I'm gonna go with it.  I've loved the pale blues in my master suite, but I've recently fallen in love with a Sherwin Williams color called "Distance," and I can't help but think I'm going to end up sleeping here:

(made with Olioboard

Hm.  

Just thinking. 

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Chuggin' Right Along

Things I've gotten done this week:

First I cleaned the sewing room.  

Then I emptied what was my "art space" (read: "storage

 pit"), except for a few items which are staying in the 

room or just couldn't be moved elsewhere. 

Most of what was in the "art space" got moved into

 the sewing room; but the actual ART stuff I moved into the 

"music  room" side of  my looooong living room.  

It's a bit of a clusterfuck.

Then I moved this little white ceiling

fan, which was WAY too small to do 

much good in my 16x18' bedroom...

...into the 10x11' ex-art-space, which 

works MUCH better. 

Then I took this old ceiling fan, which HAD been in

the "art space" (and was originally the living room fan

when the house was built in '04)...

...took it apart and spray-painted the entire thing

(props to Pretty Handy Girl, without whose blog I

wouldn't have been brave enough to try lots of things)

...and put it into the master bedroom, which needed 

more air flow.  The fan is still dated and ugly...

but at least it's not bright brassy gold anymore. Eugh. 

Oh, and I also spray-painted this $1 Ikea clock gold. 

I hate it. But whatever, LOL. 

More soon.

P.S. ...

Have I mentioned how much I HATE the
Ikea flooring I put in the side rooms because
it was cheap?   I dropped this screwdriver from a
height of about 8'.  IT STUCK IN THE FLOOR.
Buy the real flooring, kids.  

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A Drumroll, If You Please...

THE SEWING ROOM IS FINISHED!* 

Yes, it's pink.  I don't know what got into me, but I love-love-love it.  So much.  I mixed the color from paints I had on hand; but it's an exact match for Glidden's "Pale Red Dust."   I left the same 8" drop around the top of the walls that I've done for the ceilings in the rest of the house.   The pendant lamp is a $6 Ikea kit with the marbled glass shade I took out of the kitchen not too long ago, and it's already proving indispensable as task-lighting.  I have it and my primary sewing machine on a surge protector under the table, so that I can sit down and turn both on with my foot at the same time. 

The sewing table, which is just painted white, and the legs black (it was gray and silver), was going to be découpaged with old pattern pieces, but I decided against going that kitschy.  Because of the amount of work involved, the difficulty of un-doing it if I ended up hating it later, and also because, as my BFF pointed out, "But what if you end up making the same pair of pants over and over again by mistake?"  Heehee.  Actually, she made a great point:  I'd lose pattern pieces on it, and pins, and god knows what all else.  

One day I'd like to fill the walls of this room with my artwork, but for now there are two pieces up, my SCA AOA award, and some random stuff printed out from the internet.   

The big shelves were also painted white, the hardware black, and the whole shebang was moved low down on the wall and towards the closet.  Most of the fabric boxes have been organized into the closet itself, to make room for a bit of display, and a bit of usable space on the shelves.  

The file cabinet, which will one day go into the closet, I think, is sitting where one day there will be a pretty dressmaker's dummy in the window.  :) 

BAM.  Organization. 

Holy crap, I love this paint color.  So much.  

50-c Ikea shelf brackets, and some spare plywood bits I had laying around in the shop.  The chalkboard is a corkboard painted in black chalkboard paint, so I can use it for all kinds of things (and I do; I've had it over my sewing table for years, and I couldn't do without it).  

One of my favorite things about this room is the way the morning sun shines through the sheers.  Day or night, it's private as can be, too - there's a sheet of bubble wrap across the bottom half of the window, which insulates against the summer heat a little bit, but mainly, blocks view from outside while still letting light in - and it's invisible behind the sheers.  It's a trick I picked up from a friend a few years ago, and it works GREAT.  

*  Okay, it's not entirely finished.  I still very much want to re-cover both ironing boards, and the task chair, all of which have seen better days (rips, burn spots, etc).  I don't have the money right now for the fabrics I need, but I'm hoping in February.  :) 

Also, the ceiling isn't actually painted yet, because I'm out of the color I use for the ceilings.  Again...February. :) 

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DOUBLE ACK!!!

GAAAAH THE SEWING TABLE!!!  No, but seriously, it's actually done, I just haven't set it up yet, and therefore have no pictures.  YET.  I will.  Soon.  I swear.

Meanwhile, a good friend recently gave me her old metal artist's easel, and her taboret, for which I am VERY grateful, and with which I am VERY pleased!  The blue cart I was using was fine for a while, but I found it too short for working standing up, and I could never find anything in the drawers - and I had to work with the drawers open in order to see my paints, and I kept banging my knees.

right there ^

This, on the other hand, is taller, more versatile and organize-able (is that a word?  It is now), rolls more easily than the blue cart, and is open so that I can see everything that's in it.  The drawers come completely out, and you can hang them off the sides of the top, for easy access. 

I haven't got a picture of the easel yet - it's pretty much easel-like, LOL, but it's height-adjustable, with clamps at the top for securing larger canvases.  I already love working on it.

The art room itself is pretty much a complete shambles; I've got to set up the sewing room, then get sewing for SCA Candlemas, which is on the 1st (!!!), and AFTER that I can screw around with the art room if I wanna.  :)

Sewing room soon, I promise!

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ACK!!

Freaking sewing table!  AURGH!  

The sewing room has been finished for like a week, guys, seriously.  FINISHED.  Except for the sewing table itself, which I've painted TWICE now.  The first time, it was *done* except for a protective clearcoat - what, three days ago?  And then I got this fabulous idea...and, um, yeah...shouldn't have done that.  So I had to start all over again.  Don't you HATE that?  GAH.

So, it's nearly finished again, and the second it's done and IN the room, I'll post.

Meanwhile, I'm painting paintings!  And cut out a whole new outfit for an SCA event coming up that I can't sew yet!  GAAAHHH!!  

Here.  Have a picture of Rory in the sink:

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