As we entered spring of 2006, it became readily obvious that the company had outgrown the space we had in the trailer. The kids and I put the trailer up for sale and began searching for a home to share with the company. In July, we bought a beautiful duplex (circa 1913) with a big, fenced-in yard and attached carriage house (which many of you have heard me call “the barn”). Due to some crazy contractor issues, renovations didn’t begin until October. Fortunately, it was a mild winter, as the inventory had been previously housed upstairs in an unheated space. When it got cold, the sewing was moved into the kitchen. Shipping was split between the barn and the living room.
However, once I found a great contractor, friends and family helped with the construction and things moved quickly. On January 5, Gypsy Mama moved into the 570 sq. ft warehouse. Although the trim is not up and floor is not yet refinished, it’s a wonderful, spacious, beautiful place to work.
I went with standard lumber, drywall, and paint, but I decided to invest a little extra into eco-friendly insulation materials. Not only does this conserve energy, but the materials are good for the environment, too! In the walls, I used spray-cellulose, which is made from recycled newspapers, and in the floor, a soy-based (rather than petroleum-based) spray foam. You can read about these products here. I did reuse the fiberglass in the walls (it was only R-11) by doubling it up in the ceiling. The upstairs is not yet insulated, but the roof and walls will be done in soy foam, so the fiber in the ceiling is only to hold heat in this winter and eventually will help with soundproofing when the upstairs is finished.
Here are some before photos you can enjoy:
Contractors put in the new bay window (purchased from a yard sale at a great price) and door, and my dad helped me board up the old windows. The back door goes directly into our fenced-in yard, so the kids can play outside safely and I can watch them play while I work.
Here’s Isaac, squatting at the bottom of the new door (before the stairs and landing were built).
The landing was built a month or so later.
My dad (thank goodness he’s tall!) filling in the old barn windows.
Here’s the space where the shelving is now — these are the antique windows after boarding. This corner doesn’t have any windows, so the merchandise is protected from UV rays. Getting the massive workbench out of this corner was a real project!
Here’s the same space, photo taken through the new staircase that divides the room in half.
This is the old staircase, original to the 2.5 story carriage house. They were steep, the upstairs will eventually house bedrooms, and I wanted the room divided into useable spaces, so I opted to demolish these. The antique barn door orginally slid behind the staircase. I added a kneewall to separate the sewing space from the entry doors, and now this is where the sewing nook is located.
Here’s how the staircase looked after demolition, before the kneewall.
The new staircase remains unfinished, though the wall between is done. It was inspired by the layout of a friend’s house, and it easily divides the open space into clear “areas.”
Finally, here are some shots of the space as it is now, in its nearly-finished state. The paint was inspired by the sunrise, and it energizes and invigorates me. Several afternoons found me standing in the streaming sunlight, yellow paint swatches in hand against the primed walls. My dad spent half his vacation painting the walls with me, which friends helped me sheetrock. The following week my mama organized things while Dad and I did the grunt work of the move. I’m so happy with all the sunlight in the new space; there’s room to expand, and I kept the original carriage house door with its antique roller, so in the summer I can open it wide while I work, and it’s easy to receive pallets of freight as they can roll the pallets right into the barn!
Here is the computer armoire (which was perfect when the computer was in the living room, but I’ll be getting a real, workhorse desk from a friend soon!) and shipping table, scavenged from the Second Chance Shoppe at our local Waste Transfer Station. The bay window looks into the children’s play area in the back yard. Having everything located near the carriers is a wonderful change!
This corner’s not done yet. The kneewall gave me a world of trouble — making it rigid seemed an impossible task. We did it using an “L” shape at the end of the wall, which actually lends a nice aesthetic to the space. The floor definitely sags in the middle; the sewing counter (made from scavenged kitchen cabinets and plywood I covered with castoff wallpaper 5 years ago) is shimmed 3″ higher on one side than the other. The pink on the wall was meant to be a deep sunset red; when I finish the painting, I’ll go over it with something darker, and of course, the painter’s tape (blue) will be removed. The orange walls lend great creative energy, making this the perfect spot for creative ideas to happen!
Here’s a shot of the new warehouse space. The big wooden shelf was designed and built by one of my younger brothers when I was still in the trailer, and it proved a perfect centerpiece for warehouse corner! The carriers stack nicely on it, although you can see in the photo that stock is getting low. The good news is, more inventory is being made as I type this, and finally I have the space to keep everything well-stocked!
This was a huge effort, and the final costs ran about twice what I had originally anticipated, but it’s so worth it! I love working out here, and my children are happy to be able to walk through the house again without bumping into things, and they love the openness of the space and play happily in the corners while I work.
There is still much to be done, but now I can take a breath and get back to business, as the renovations took nearly all my spare time for the last several months! I feel so blessed by all the help (and grateful, deeply grateful, to the many people who stepped up to hel!) I’ve received these last months. The last renovations I did happened while I was still married, and I underestimated how difficult the work would be as a single parent! I am also really glad that the brutal cold snap we’re having now waited until I was settled into this nice heated space. 
Thanks to you, too, my customers, for being so patient during this time! I couldn’t have done it without your support.
