Planning for an Improved Sewing Room!!!

We moved into our current house in 2013, and it took us a year or two to settle on a use for the giant room at the back of the house. One half of it was the Dining Room:

And the other half of it - intended to be a den when the house was built in the 80s - became my sewing area. Slowly, we added an area for my rulers, a design board, a rolling cutting table and a LOT of fabric. We figured it out, and we had a space that (mostly) worked for the purpose. 

But... it was always awkward to have whatever creative mess I had laid out visible from the dining room. Forget sewing to surprise a family member around a birthday or Christmas. Plus as our friends became parents around us, more frequent were the times I had to "hide all the sharp things" (and my machines) so we could host someone. 

We'd talked about separating the rooms for a while, but after a few particularly harrowing fabric-scissors-and-running-toddler incidents, We figured now was the time. I came up with a plan: 

A new wall, some craftsman-style french doors to match the rest of the house, new LED lighting to replace the track lighting that had forever been driving me crazy, and lots of new outlets so I could plug everything in. It took me over 3 months to line the contractor up, but about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving, we were off to the races! Committing so close to the holidays was kind of scary, but after so much time I was not about to push the project back any further.