new space(s)

This is my attempt at an artsy fartsy photo of homemade pita bread.

I have mentioned in passing that our house underwent a large remodel over the last several months. It was all the things you expect a renovation to be - expensive, disruptive, stressful, 3 months longer than predicted - but it was also necessary. The kitchen, especially, was in dire need of expanding and updating. You can read more about that and see some "before" pictures in this post from last fall on Madtown Mama.

This is what the kitchen looks like now, messy countertops and dirty pans and all:

The change is pretty dramatic, isn't it? I'm thrilled. We're all thrilled! And I'm sure that future out-of-town guests, such as my parents who are planning a trip here next week, will be thrilled not to be crammed into that old tiny eating space any more.

Below is a photo of our dining room. That was added onto the back of the house, and if you look in the upper right corner of the picture, you can see where the outside wall originally was. I think we added about  250-300 square feet in total.

We had a full basement room built under the dining room. It's unfinished, but insulated, and that's where we cooked and ate our meals from Thanksgiving until the week following Valentine's Day. Daniel nicknamed it "the concrete chamber." The Concrete Chamber is a nice big room, if not especially lovely, and I recently decided to commandeer it for my sewing space. 

I did clear this with Stuart first. He had joked about making the room into a man-cave at one point and I wanted to make sure he wasn't serious. (He wasn't).

There are no windows and thus no natural light. The walls are covered with OSB and the floor is just poured concrete. The ceiling is unfinished, though we did have can lights put in so the artificial light is pretty good.

See? Not too pretty.

The important thing is that it's mine. The setup I had before wasn't bad, but it was in the main finished area of the basement, where the TV lives and where overnight guests stay, so I couldn't always use the sewing machine when I wanted to. Now I can go make noise and make a mess and it won't bother anyone!

I found a carpet remnant from when we had the basement finished several years ago and unrolled that in the middle of the room. I also removed all the hardware from the old basement door and laid it across a pair of sawhorses for a work table. This is my favorite feature of the room so far! 

I thought about finding a way to plug the hold where the doorknob was, but it turns out that's a handy place to hang scissors when I'm not using them.

Ordinarily, I would not have had time to do lots of crafty stuff on a Monday, but I was home all day with sick kids. I managed to get some actual work done, after which I puttered around in my new space for a while. I assembled a paper pdf pattern (Lullaby Layette from Oliver&S, in anticipation of my new niece due next week!!!) and sewed up a skirt; the pattern is Everyday Skirt by Liesl Gibson, and now all it needs is the hem.

I confess to feeling some guilt about this. I have yarn that takes up space. I have fabric that takes up space. I have sewing equipment and tools that now take up a lot of space. It all feels so indulgent, almost greedy. I have far more than I need. I don't think I would feel this way if I was making some things to sell or running a creative business, but I'm already running myself ragged with performing gigs and I'm not really the entrepreneurial sort. Essentially, I feel like I don't quite deserve it.

I showed you mine. Now you show me yours! Creative spaces, I mean. Do you have a workspace like a craft room or knitting corner? Where is it? What does it look like? Put a link in the comments so I can have a look!