Small, dim, unfurnished bedroom with white ceiling fan, gray walls, and two windows with wood-look blinds.
family fiber art home projects

Presto-Change-O! A Fiber Arts Room

by Mary

Work continues in the house.

The latest project completed this week was the transformation of a bedroom into my new fiber arts room.

I’ve never had a room devoted solely to my fiber arts storage and activities. Instead, in our old house, I tucked things in corners and used an open hallway for both sewing and my office desk. At one point, I had a floor loom in the dining room, but I could never effectively use it because we had cats who would play with the yarn. There was no place in the house where I could shut the door to keep it safe from the cats.

Now I’ve got a dedicated room with a door. 🙂

Like my office renovation, Erik and I painted, took out the ceiling fan, and ripped out the carpeting. We kept the wood-look blinds because I like how they look.

I had in mind that I wanted a light green paint in this room. Before trotting off to a paint store, I thought I’d check the paint on the paint shelf in the basement. What do you know!? There was an unopened can of paint from 2017 that was the color green I had imagined. As I was painting my fiber arts room, I wondered what room the paint had been purchased for originally.

While the ceiling appeared to be a light color, I decided to paint it white to make it even brighter. It made an appreciable difference in the feeling of the room.

After painting, I questioned whether I wanted to take out the carpeting. When I brought in my blue, metal storage locker, I discovered that it wanted to fall over on the carpet. I had inherited the locker from Erik’s Grandma Lillian and used it for my fiber arts supplies in our old house, so in choosing the carpet or the locker, the locker won. The carpet had to go.

The hardwood floor wasn’t in as good a shape as the floor in the office. Eventually we’ll want to have it refinished, but a yellow-and-white striped rug will do the trick until then.

We installed a period-appropriate light fixture, but it isn’t quite bright enough. I’ll be changing out the bulb, but I also brought in a couple of lamps Erik had found during his picking trips for the furniture restoration business we used to have. One of them is a heavy dental lamp, perfect for task lighting by the sewing machine.

I needed a chair for sewing. We found one for $20 at an area ReStore.

I’d like to add a shelf for the other lamp and my fiber arts books and supplies, plus a couple more pieces of art on the walls. Other than that, the room is finished and ready to use. I’ve already mended a pair of pants in my new fiber arts room. I couldn’t be more happy. 🙂

Before & After

Of course I have Before and After photos.

BEFORE: Small, dim, unfurnished bedroom with white ceiling fan, gray walls, and two windows with wood-look blinds. The carpet is a camel color.
BEFORE: Small, dim, unfurnished bedroom with white ceiling fan, gray walls, and two windows with wood-look blinds. The carpet is a camel color.
BEFORE: Prepping to paint, the carpet is covered with a white drop cloth. The room is much brighter when the sun streams through the two windows during the day.
BEFORE: Prepping to paint, the carpet is covered with a white drop cloth. The room is much brighter when the sun streams through the two windows during the day.
AFTER: The wood floor has stains that I could not remove with a good scrubbing. I tried using vinegar on what appears to be old adhesive, but it was removing some of the finish. You can see the blue, metal locker in the upper right of the photo.
AFTER: The wood floor has stains that I could not remove with a good scrubbing. I tried using vinegar on what appears to be old adhesive, but it was removing some of the finish. You can see the blue, metal locker in the upper right of the photo.
AFTER: The fiber arts room is finished. It has a plastic table and blue chair on wheels under the window on the left, as well as a dress form and the dental lamp to the left of the table. The blue locker is to the right of the table, on the adjacent wall. Beside this are some fabric and yarn storage bins with a lamp on top. There is a Balans Kneeling Chair on the right side of the photo. The rug is has yellow-and-white stripes. There is a bin of completed fiber arts projects inside the door on the bottom left of the photo.
AFTER: The fiber arts room is finished. It has a plastic table and blue chair on wheels under the window on the left, as well as a dress form and the dental lamp to the left of the table. The blue locker is to the right of the table, on the adjacent wall. Beside this are some fabric and yarn storage bins with a lamp on top. There is a Balans Kneeling Chair on the right side of the photo. The rug is has yellow-and-white stripes. There is a bin of completed fiber arts projects inside the door on the bottom left of the photo.

Do you have a room devoted to any of your pastimes? If so, share about it in the comments.