I didn’t post much this summer for good reason. A renovation project consumed the last three months and my make-shift sewing area in my dining room was worse than my original sewing space! So, my pace for completing projects was drastically affected. Let me tell you what has been happening.
With my love of all types of sewing and having equipment, notions, and projects for each, my sewing space became cramped. Bringing a longarm into the room two years ago started the issue. Add to that, my daughter and her friend started sewing together and the three of us squeezing into the space was not ideal. So, I began to imagine a nice space where multiple people can sew at once and not be cramped together! Somewhere I would have room to longarm and also sew.
Check out my original sewing room tour here:
Last October, I started brainstorming ideas of how to get more space. Ideas of additions, knocking out walls and completely switching rooms were all entertained. In the end, we decided the best option would be to stay in the current room and finish off the screened porch attached to the sewing room into a four-season room and remove the wall between them to make one large room. We found we weren’t using the screened porch very often (a few times each summer) and it was completely useless during the winter! This would mean a 10′ x 17′ addition to my 11′ x 14′ room!
Screened porch:
After signing a contract with a remodeling company in January 2022, the waiting game began. Due to supply chain issues, we found out ordering windows for the new room was going to be our biggest hurdle. It didn’t make sense to start the project until the windows arrived, so that set the project timeline. We were quoted a 4-month lead time on the windows and sure enough they arrived at the end of May 2022 as expected.
The Plan
The plan was to frame the new walls in the porch, install the windows (11 of them to keep that sunroom type of feel!), and then tear down the wall between the rooms. The same luxury vinyl plank flooring from the existing sewing room would be used in the porch area and both rooms would have the same trim and paint. Electrical outlets would be added in the porch as well as can lights to match the existing room.
I created a floor plan to determine how I would use this new space. As you can see, I have more than enough furniture to put in it! We’ll see how it turns out when the project is complete, but these are my thoughts:
- Original room will have the longarm in the same location, but since there will be more room I can extend the frame from 7′ to 12′ so I can quilt larger quilts.
- Existing closet will remain the same and an additional storage cabinet will be added on the wall next to it.
- The new area will hold all of the sewing stations (4), corner computer desk & work station, cutting table, and ironing table.
Renovation Tour
It’s now September 2022 and the project is still going… We’re in the home stretch and I’d like to think there are only a few weeks left but everytime I say that something gets delayed! Enjoy the following tour of the renovation progress so far:
January 2022
We determined the best way to heat/cool the new room would be to install a Mini Split heating/cooling unit. The existing sewing room didn’t get much heat or air conditioning because of its location in the house, so this unit would greatly benefit both rooms. We had it installed near the wall that was going to be removed so it would be in a central location to both areas. We did this in January since it wasn’t dependent on the rest of the construction.
June 2022
Construction begins!
At this point I took the longarm out of the room. Yes, it’s in bunch of pieces now and it’s going to be an adventure putting the whole frame back together eventually!
July 2022
Besides the 12 outlets I had them add (I think they thought I was a little crazy!), the electricians also added some ethernet ports which will be a great improvement over the ethernet cables I previously would run across the room to my computer!
August 2022
September 2022
So there you have it! This is where we’re at today! Next up is paint (white for trim and Sherwin Williams “SW 6764 – Swimming” for the walls), finishing the electrical installation, finishing the siding and painting the siding.
I’m anxiously awaiting the day I can move in!
Sew Happy by Sarah 