Studio sewing table/ inspiration board

To brighten up this corner I made this area as white as possible ~ 

considering the walls are dark cedar. 

 I really wanted a big sewing table. When our son moved out, he no longer wanted or needed the very large desk. I was going to have it hauled away, but once again out came the white paint! I also replaced the knobs at a sale cost of 90 cents each. They were an ugly brass color so I spray painted them "pewter".  This room (like the rest of our home) was decidedly masculine. Wood ceilings, wood walls… I craved something feminine and girly. MY space!!! The boys really don't feel comfortable with the all white anyway. :)

 As you can see in the below photo, I had to work with some difficult areas.  The recessed openings were because at one time, these were french doors that opened up onto a patio. We added onto the house and had to close off these doors. That is why there is the strange recessed box around the desk.  I couldn't paint these walls, because the upstairs is an "open" loft to the down stairs, the wood walls are visible from both areas, upstairs and down. Dilemma, what to do with these spaces???  

Egads it was dark in here.

My solution was to make an inspiration board to fill the space. 

Make it white and bright!

The banner hanging says "Aetlier D' Art". 

Or 'art studio' in french.

I'm not french.

The lamp on the right was straight out of a garbage/dumpster dive, but once again, painted white. I made the lamp shade out of old pieces of lace, burlap, ribbons, etc… covering a shade I already had.

My Genie sewing machine sits proudly in the middle of the table. I bought it when I was 17, or my mom did… (can't remember) I just remember taking some sewing classes with my mom. That makes this old machine over 40 years old. Wow! Almost an antique!!!

This picture below is one side of the banner. The paper birds are part of the
Christmas decorations I was putting away after Christmas.
"Hey!" I said to myself! "These would look cute holding the banner!"  
 I white washed it and brushed clear glitter on the body and wings.

This the the paper bird on the right side. Because the inspiration board is made with
'instillation foam board' from Home Depot, I just attached the birds with pins.

Speaking of the inspiration board, I made this one to fit into this space. I bought some pretty white fabric $8.00 (50% off Joannes), instillation board $10.99 Home Depot, and door and floor molding.

Again out came the white paint for the molding, which my husband miter cut into a picture frame shape. I cut the instillation board into the right shape to fit into the frame. I spray glued the instillation board and attached thin batting to it, repeated the spraying and next attached the white fabric. Next I worked the board into the frame. 

I won't kid you, this was probably the toughest project I took on.

Not as easy as I thought, but well worth the effort.

It's big, cheap, light and bright and works GREAT!

This (below) is the left side of the sewing table. It has another dumpster dive piece. This was a lamp that had 3 cherubs on it. I took it apart, attached the 3 angels to a clay terra-cotta dish that is made to go under a planter pot. I attached them with a "2 in 1" very heavy duty glue. Next I attached a PLASTIC terra-cotta dish to the top.  I primed it all and painted it rust color. Next came (you guessed it) WHITE (!) paint. After it dried I sanded it down in places to see the rust coming through.

I use it to hold my sewing notions.

Cool.

:)