This is actually a duplicate post. However, it is very on topic for this blog and besides, several of you have asked about it! This room was one of the things I loved when I first saw the house. It is a sun room, but I immediately envisioned it as my weaving and fiber studio.
There is a set of French doors off of the living room.
These lead to a sun room, which will become my studio.
After thoroughly cleaning the kitchen, I decided to tackle this room next. I figured that this way, I could move a little of my stash and equipment with each trip to the house.
Here is a 360 degree look at this room. The windows on the immediate left look toward the back of the house.
One thing you can see in the above photo is the beadboard ceiling. The walls however, are smooth.
The circle on the wall in the corner is a stove pipe flue cover, leading to a chimney outside the corner of this room. Obviously a wood or coal burning stove once stood in this corner. I say coal, because one of the outbuildings has a room with coal all over the floor.
The circle on the wall in the corner is a stove pipe flue cover, leading to a chimney outside the corner of this room. Obviously a wood or coal burning stove once stood in this corner. I say coal, because one of the outbuildings has a room with coal all over the floor.
As you can see, there are lots of windows and lots of natural light, making this the perfect choice for my weaving studio!
The front windows look out at the front yard and across the street.
There is a closet in the corner. The other door leads out onto the screened in front porch. This is the only solid wall I have in this room.
The wood floors are in fair shape, and will be much improved with sanding and refinishing.
This closet was added as an afterthought to this room. Possibly to make it a third bedroom. For my purposes, I think I would prefer shelving here. The interior of the closet offers a peek into what the room was like before it was painted.
The baseboards were originally unpainted. The closet floor is darker than the rest of the room. Possibly it was stained or painted at one time and had been sanded after the closet was added(???)
When I removed the switch plate to wash the walls, I discovered the original wood of the wall, which had been painted twice; once a darker green, and later a lighter green. These same colors were used in several other rooms as well.
The double-hung windows are likely original to the house.....
When I removed the switch plate to wash the walls, I discovered the original wood of the wall, which had been painted twice; once a darker green, and later a lighter green. These same colors were used in several other rooms as well.The double-hung windows are likely original to the house.....
These operate with weights and pulleys; you can see the pulley rope on this one seems to be in fairly good condition. The ropes on some of the other windows are broken, and some of the windows are painted shut.
This room presents several challenges for me. The first is that there isn't much wall space, and I have a lot of stash, books, and equipment! DH says I could put shelving in front of the windows, but I am loathe to block any of that light.
Because of those windows however, and the orientation of the house (of which the front faces west), this room gets a lot of late afternoon sun. This in turn heats the room up considerably. While this will be welcome during winter months, it has the potential to be unbearable during the summer. I have this problem at our apartment, but I couldn't do anything about it! Now I can and I plan to plant a deciduous shade tree in the front yard this fall!
The last challenge is the size of the room. It measures 9' 3.5" by 19'11". It is the width I am concerned about, because of the size of my loom. My Glimakra Standard measures about six feet in width, so obviously the "getting around" room will be somewhat restricted. Depth-wise, my loom is about five and a half feet, not counting the bench. Even so, this is the perfect room for my studio!
Related Posts:
A Life Detour......
Unveiling My Studio Set-Up
This room presents several challenges for me. The first is that there isn't much wall space, and I have a lot of stash, books, and equipment! DH says I could put shelving in front of the windows, but I am loathe to block any of that light.
Because of those windows however, and the orientation of the house (of which the front faces west), this room gets a lot of late afternoon sun. This in turn heats the room up considerably. While this will be welcome during winter months, it has the potential to be unbearable during the summer. I have this problem at our apartment, but I couldn't do anything about it! Now I can and I plan to plant a deciduous shade tree in the front yard this fall!
The last challenge is the size of the room. It measures 9' 3.5" by 19'11". It is the width I am concerned about, because of the size of my loom. My Glimakra Standard measures about six feet in width, so obviously the "getting around" room will be somewhat restricted. Depth-wise, my loom is about five and a half feet, not counting the bench. Even so, this is the perfect room for my studio!
© 13 May 2009 at http://leighsfiberjournal.blogspot.com
Related Posts:
A Life Detour......
Unveiling My Studio Set-Up
17 comments:
So how excited are you?? A new house always stirs up an energy surge in me. I love the sun room. We have one but it's metal and glass. Not as nice as yours! I love all the windows. I know you are just so excited to see all this space. I can't wait to read and see more of what you have come up with.
What a great room with all of those windows. You could put shelves under the windows and remember summer is short its those long winters that you need that sun.
Great room, love the natural light. No wall space, but there is always the ceiling from where you can hang shelf like gadgets to store yarn. Think closet sweater storage.
Your view is SO lush and GREEN! It looks wonderful. And those vertical pane windows are very interesting.
For your space issues, maybe a set of built in window seats that also have shelves under some sections for books, and others with lift-up seats to use as cedar lined storage bins? (And, they could also be used as a loom bench?)
I second Dave's suggestion of storage boxes under the windows. As for shielding direct light in the summer time, you could use roller blinds, venetian blinds or Roman pleated blinds that you can raise or lower as needed. (An alternative is an awning on the exterior, but interior might be easier and cheaper)
You could always turn your loom at an angle in the room. It's the modern way to do room arrangements so you'll be up to date.
Perhaps your books can be shelved elsewhere in the house. All that wonderful light isn't really good for the books anyhow.
Question: where's the stash going ?
Great weaving room!
:) Susan
Perfect weaving room. You can do what I do, store all the stuff you don't need immediate access to while weaving in another room(s). An awful lot of my weaving activity is not at the loom at all and doesn't require the presence of the loom. I read, warp, design, finish elsewhere so actually, having those relate things elsewhere is actually helpful. Of course if you have an absolutely HUGE room, which not many of us do have!, things are different.
I've been thinking about this - since my study and workroom are about the size together as your new study. I like the concept of turning your loom at an angle. I also like pleated blinds - and you could leave a transom at the top for continuous natural light while keeping some privacy. I have a baker's rack in front of one south window - with magazines etc stored under it and plants on the shelves. The other south window has a worktable underneath it. If you placed a worktable in front of a window that doesn't open, you could put a backing (possibly heavy bead board to match your ceiling) on it (and the bottom of a baker's rack) to store books etc.
I'll have a fine time watching you nestle into your new space!
Oh - and since my rooms are just under 10' wide - I found that putting furniture on wheels works really well when I want to move things around. I bought old furniture that has wheels at flea markets. The drawers work well to stash supplies and some yarn. I thought a tall bookshelf protruding into the room from your one available wall could work - especially if it was on wheels so you could move it if necessary.
Of course now that I have all that wheeled furniture I never need to move anything. :-)
I agree with Dave - my first thought was benches that might hold books, etc. - you could also do a shelf about 1' down from the ceiling around the room - it'd cut into the windows though which would be bad... another thought would be to do the same type of treatment on the solid wall but I have a feeling you'll end up with a lot more book cases on that wall... what about making that entire wall full of bookcases? (cubbies?) - look at IKEA - they have a bookcase called the expeit that's beautiful and would work great - if you built around the door leading into the studio )not sure how much room is above the doors but every inch can be used!) - then paint the set of bookcases whatever color you want... I'd probably find a nice durable finish and paint the wall and bookcases the same... then the walls under the windows satin or matte (flat)...
you're going to make it gorgeous - I'm beyond envious of you and this amazing space!
oh and for that cute closet - I'd probably cedar line it and store my most prized yarns there... when they weren't on display hehe
A weaving Shangri-la! What a wonderful room with all that light. I have to be careful with what goes in front of the window since the sun will bleach whatever it is, but it sounds like you're already on it. Congratulations!
I'm so excited for you, Leigh! What a wonderful space to sit and work with the natural light. So very cool!
Leigh, your sun room is superb! and I don't see that much of a problem with shelving. you could fix deep shelves to the wall and put movable shelves in front of them, like in large libraries. this would give you at least half a wall of extra space! with the high ceiling you'd need some steps or similiar, but if you put shelves on one wall you'd need them anyway!
happy decorating - it's really exciting to start anew, especially if you have more space than before!
You all are brilliant! What fantastic ideas. The biggest item will be placement of the loom. I have found some narrow shelving to fit against that wall for yarns, but being able to get around the loom will trump everything. As Peg said, some stash will probably end up being stored in another room, possibly books too, as well as my computer.
I love Dave's idea of making storage seats under the windows. I like Kyle's idea of shelves above the windows too, but am not certain about cutting off the light at the top of the window. However, I can see hanging some things from the ceiling as Laritza suggested. And Cathy, I love the idea of storage items on wheels!
Susan, the room originally had wood slat venetian blinds, which I took down because the are in need of repair/cleaning. I will have to consider if I want to put them back, or perhaps try one of the other ideas you mention.
You all are so encouraging as well as inspiring! Thank you for your enthusiasm. I love the fiber blogosphere. :)
Leigh, if you possibly can, make room for either your spinning wheel or a knitting chair. Both if possible. I suspect you might enjoy the room more while knitting and spinning than while weaving. At least I would. I can look around when I spin and knit; not so much when I weave. I'm NOT saying, by the way, that the loom shouldn't go there!
That is a fabulous space! And I think that some of the challenges it poses are part of the charm. You will be so happy working in there!
Your new studio looks quite fabulous and I love all the light so don't listen to DH and put any shelves in front of the window. I can see when the floor is sanded and the walls painted it will be a fantastic creative place to work.
How about planting a birch, the shade it gives dappled shade and the sound it makes moving in the wind is soft and gentle. The leaves give a dye too.:)
Hi Leigh
how lucky you are and it looks like you've a fabulous view through your window as well.
BTW I've nominated you for a Bella Award. See this link: http://willingtonweaver.blogspot.com/2009/05/bella-award.html
Best wishes
Alison
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