New Studio/Workshop Before and After

Hey everybody!  I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends.

I spent lots of time working on my new "studio" which is in the back of our new shop that we are currently designing.  It's so nice to have a warm place to make my bread boards now instead of using the gravel carport behind our house.  I know this is nothing that exciting but I wanted to show you how it looked before I worked on it.  

In a word, gross.  This place use to be a taxidermy business so there was all kinds of this and that splattered on the walls and floor.  I'm not sure what it was and I really don't want to know either, I'm just happy it's gone now.  First thing I did was pull up the floor.

Then I replaced it with parquet wood floor tiles.  Next, the ick splattered cabinets had to go.  I gave them a good cleaning and coat or two of Kilz, then, another three coats of Valspar Ultra White paint in semi gloss.  I'm thinking about adding knobs, just not sure what kind yet.  Then I sanded down the wood countertop and put a coat of Minwax Special Walnut stain.  The doors also received a coat of ultra white and the walls are painted with
Elmira White by Benjamin Moore.

I still need to add a few more things and install baseboards at some point.  

Here's what it looks like now.

I also brought in some personal things to make it feel homey.  I know it's just a workshop but I really believe in surrounding yourself with things that make you happy, especially when working.  I also brought in this stainless steel table which is so perfect for working on.  The stool was left behind so I cleaned it and recovered it with an old coffee bean sack.  

I am so happy with the entire room and it really inspired hubby to get to work in the other rooms.  

One really special thing I wanted to share about this place is that it's right across the street from my dad's old office before he passed away.  I just think that's pretty cool since this all happened because of my bread boards, which were inspired by my dad.  That makes me smile and I know he's smiling, too.

Can't wait to share the rest of the place with you soon!

Have a great day!

DIY Smocked Burlap Curtains

Hello!  Anyone else ready for Spring as much as I am?  Winter always makes me feel a bit lazy because really, if it's brutally cold, which it has been, the only thing there is to do is sit around and stay warm somehow.  So, what better time for a sewing project.  Especially one that will take a lot of time  And this one did.

I've seen these smocked jute burlap curtains floating around blog land for a while now but seriously, $150 for ONE panel??  No thanks.  I would never spend that kind of money for one curtain panel, I don't care how much I loved them.  And boy did I love them....

I wondered if I could make them but smocking fabric sounded hard and looked time consuming and I would need a lot of burlap for my tall windows.  Well, the opportunity presented itself recently when last week a friend and I needed to purchase a lot of burlap to use as a table cloth and decor at a Homecoming banquet.  Here's a pic of the gorgeous barn where the dinner was held.

It was so much fun!  Anyway, we had all that burlap left over so we split it and I decided to make the curtains with it.  The burlap we bought was perfect, not too thick and not too thin.  Just right and just right in cost, too.  It can be purchased here. 

Now, I had no idea how to smock fabric so I looked for the best possible tutorial I could find and did I find a great one.  Click here for that.  I probably wouldn't have been able to figure it out if it wasn't for that step by step.

So, I grabbed by burlap, got cozy and warm in a chair with a good movie playing in the background and sewed for hours.  At first it takes forever but once you get the process down, it goes so much faster.  By the time I made my second panel, it was going a lot quicker.  I am so happy with how they turned out and can't believe I did that when I look at them.

Call me crazy but I actually like the look of wrinkled up burlap, especially with these curtains, so I wadded up the panels when they were finished to make them look a bit more casual and rustic. 

I love these so much that I just might have to buy more burlap and make some for our bedroom.

The sun was shining so strong in the window and I loved it.  It's the first time the sun has been out in a week or more.

So what do you think?  Are you going to make some too?  Send me photos if you do, I'd love to see them!

Have a great day!
Diana

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