Backyard Sewing Studio

It's been 5 years since I first renovated our travel trailer (See blog HERE).. She ended up being my backyard sewing studio rather than a travel trailer... I had decorated her in a pretty Coca Cola Theme 5 years ago, which was great when we were planning on using her for camping.. But since I've been using her for sewing for 4 years now, I've really wanted to redo her again and turn her into something really pretty and more sewing room friendly...

I've been trying to get done with her all summer but just couldn't seem to find the time.. I just finally decided I was going to donate an entire week to work on her, and she's now finally done...

I turned her into a very pretty and relaxing place to work... I'm not really sure what you'd call my style.. I love cottage chic, country decor and shabby chic, but I've never really followed trends.. I look through a lot of styles and seem to just pick out things I like and incorporate them into my own style.. I don't think I really have a specific style, but rather, a Karen style....

I started by ripping down the old wallpaper, took all the cupboard doors off to be repainted and got started... I was really surprised at how well the old wallpaper had held up... I had to really work to get some of it down.. I had planned on painting the walls, but decided last minute to use a roll of wallpaper I had purchased from Lowes a couple of years ago on clearance..

Before re-wallpapering, I painted all the wood walls and cupboards cottage white.. I also painted the cupboard doors cottage white.. Since the doors were coca cola red, I used a primer first to block the red.. It worked better than I thought and I only had to add a couple of coats of the cottage white..

I distressed each cupboard door to show a bit of the red underneath the paint.. I had removed all of the white knobs from the doors and I replaced them with some shabby pink glass knobs I had purchased from a seller on ebay.. I love these glass knobs.. 

The wallpaper I used match the glass knobs perfectly.. There's not much of a pattern to the wallpaper, but it's the perfect shade of pink, and since it's sometimes pretty tricky finding the perfect color of pink in paint, it was a great alternative..  

Not wanting to go so far as to remove the refrigerator, stove, sinks or toilet, I found ways to hide them... 

I removed the door to the fridge and planned to just use the shelves for storage, but the inside of the fridge was a kind of a golden color and it just looked icky with the pretty cream and pinks on the walls... So I decided to use modge podge and coat the inside of the fridge with crinkled tissue paper... I used white paper thinking it would mute the golden tone and it would end up looking cream... I ended up liking the kind of paper mache look, but not the color.. It just looked like white over gold and wasn't pretty.. So I waited a day until it had dried really well, then I painted it with the cottage white paint.. It turned out looking really neat! 

I don't think it would have worked very well to just paint the inside of the fridge, as I suspect the paint would have been scraped off really easily... But the paper mache affect created a perfect surface for painting.. I cut out some flowers from an old wallpaper border and modge podged them here and there.. It ended up looking like an aged cabinet and I really like it.. 

 I added a tin sign I found at Hobby Lobby's over the control panel at the bottom of the fridge to hide the knobs.... 

I covered the stove and sink with a 1" thick piece of mdf and covered that with my cutting mats to use as my cutting table...

 I had a pair of white lace curtains that weren't being used anywhere else, so I stuck them in the washer with a little bit of tan fabric dye to create an ivory color.. It worked great and once they were dry, I cut them to fit under the cutting board to hide the oven and cupboards I never use.. I have a large amount of a really unique ivory and pink lace, so I decided to trim the curtains in it... 

I've had my eye on a certain fabric on the Hobby Lobby website for quite some time, but didn't really have anywhere to use it.. I decided it would make perfect curtains for the Sew Sweet Cottage, so I ordered enough to make curtains one week when they had free shipping plus 40% off the entire piece of fabric.. 

cha ching!!!

I made curtains for all the windows and topped them with the lace valances I had already been using on the windows before the redo...

For the last 5 years, I've put plastic on the windows for the winter, but it's kind of a pain! I recently read about window quilts, so I'm going to make quilts this year for the windows that will be attached with velcro to the window sills (on the inside)... I'll be able to remove them in the spring and store them until winter... I'm crossing my fingers this will be a good option to help insulate the windows. 

A lot of cold air gets in through the doorway in

the winter, so I made a curtain for the doorway that I can keep closed in colder months.. I attached it to a thermal drape so it will really block out the cold..

I covered the red leather couch with a quilt I've had for awhile that I no longer used in the house.... 

I've had a hanging light fixture stored in the garage for quite some time with no where to use it.. It was just a plain clear glass globe and not that great looking... I wanted a light positioned near the couch so I can have a nice cozy place to read... I made a lace cover for the lamp out of left over lace from the curtains..I just sewed a simple hem in the top and laced a pink ribbon through it to tie tight around the top of the globe. It was simple to do and adds the perfect light for reading....

I had bought a mason jar lamp kit quite a long time ago but never had anywhere to use it... I have a small collection of the old green mason jars, and this  is one of the huge old jars... I bought the lampshade on clearance at dollar general for $4.. It makes a nice little lighted area in the corner near my sewing machine...

My sewing table is a desk we found set out by someone's driveway with a FREE sign on it.. Love finding stuff like that!

I use my older Singer machine out here.. I have a newer machine in my sewing room in the house, but have to say, this Singer is one reliable machine! 

Half of the floor is done in carpet and the kitchen area, which is now my sewing area, was done in a vinyl floor.. There was really nothing wrong with it other than I just didn't love the color, plus the previous owner had taken out the table that came with the trailer, which had left a large round area with no vinyl on it.. We had some peel and stick tiles we had purchased years ago for the house, but then decided not to use, so I decided to use some of them on this floor... 

What used to be the bedroom is now my fabric room... We had already removed the bed to add a cutting table before this redo... Since I moved my cutting table to the other end of the trailer, I was able to add more shelving and store a huge amount of fabric in this area of the trailer... 

I took down the folding door that came with the trailer and spray painted it ivory... It turned out looking kind of like a big gingham print.. I was going to spray it with another layer, but decided I sort of liked it the way it looked, so I left it that way... 

I can store an unbelievable amount of fabric in this room! With the doorway closed, it will stay dark in this room, which will help keep my fabrics safe from any light damage... There is a toilet, sink and shower in this room (that we've never used), but I've placed shelves so that every space available is being used to store fabric and the sink, toidy and shower are completely hidden..

There's a little cabinet under the window that has never really made much sense to me.. lol.. It's built over the wheel well, but it's really narrow so really doesn't work well for any type of storage... I decided to use it to display my 1954 Brother Sewing machine.. I was born in 1954 and my husband and I found this machine at a garage sale for $7... It still works, actually, I'd say it works better than many newer machines on the market today, but it does need a new cord, as someone had spliced it two or three times.. 

hmmmm....That reminds me, I asked John to replace that cord for me a couple of years ago. lol.. 

Guess I need to remind him.. 

I love the color of this old machine! There's just something very neat about old sewing machines..

My son in law is career military and is stationed in Germany right now along with my daughter and three grandkids... My daughter found a really old German machine for me at a garage sale and sent a picture of it to me telling me it's my Mothers Day/Birthday Present.. The only problem is, it's heavy, and will cost a small fortune to ship home, plus there's the danger of it getting damaged... When they come home, so will my vintage machine.. I can't wait to add it to this little cabinet area...

I love old machines! They were built to last and are just so neat looking!!

I've always loved this saying, and in fact, it's part of my logo on my Karens Kandles website.  

I bought this wall decal sticker on Amazon..It's vinyl lettering that you press onto your wall, and then pull the backing paper away... It took a bit of patience to get it on there, but once it was on, it's there to stay... 

What can I say? 

When I got all done with the inside, I decided to paint the outside! 

But that's a blog for another day.. It's past my bedtime and I'm getting very sleepy!!