Karen is hosting the Where Bloggers Create studio tour again, and of course, I had to participate! I adore my studio and can't believe how lucky I am to have it.
The blog hop was a good excuse to get the room cleaned up for one thing, and for another, its a bunch of fun to surf through all the links and see all the creative spaces.
The nice thing about a blog party, is that you can take your time, look at a couple here and there, then the list will be waiting for you to come back and check out a few more later.
Beware, this post is a LONG one.
I took over 200 photos of the studio. Don't worry, I'm not posting them all. And I promise, I shut up about half way through and just start posting pictures.
My own studio is all about the things I love. I like to have them out where I can enjoy them, not packed away waiting for some future use. Someday, I might make something with these vintage dresses, but for now, they are curtains.
I'm also all about re-purposing, and salvage. And finding cheap stuff!
This table was a dollar at a garage sale because the veneer was a wreck. I covered the top in textured wallpaper and painted the piece. (you can find custom painting tips and how-tos on my side bar under Tutorials)
The drawer was saved from an old wallpaper chest that had too much water damage to keep. But I love the drawers for holding special tidbits.
Wallpaper chests are one of my favorite storage items. I never pass one up. Even when I come across one that isn't all that pretty, I get it anyway and add different paper to the front of the drawers, like the dark green one with silver paper.
And when my husband got a new desk for his office, I moved his filing cabinet to my studio and covered the drawer fronts with some pretty wallpaper to girly it up a bit. The top is granite, but was actually free! When our kitchen was being remodelled, the guys cut the counter tops wrong and had to replace a piece. They gave me the incorrect one, so I use it as a table top over the file cabinet.
This spool shelf was from a garage sale too, and was cheap as can be. I painted it white, set it on the granite table top and then stuffed it with supplies. This sits right behind my work station so I can wheel my chair around and have everything within easy reach.
The spools of ribbon hang from a ribbon tied to the shelf. It works great till there are a bunch of empty ones, then I have to untie it, to slide them off and put it all back up again. Seems like the empties are always dead center, never on the ends. Still, its worth the effort, I like having the ribbons on display and handy.
This is my desk top. The shelf on it lets me have even more supplies right where I need them, so I don't have to get up and hunt.It doubles my table top storage space, but is low enough that I can chat with friends across the table on craft day.
I'm a big believer in pretty storage! Teapots, floral mugs, old boxes, and other garage sale goodies are put to work all around the room.
This old hanky box is full of ink pads. I like the 99 cent ones from the bin at Michaels. I buy handfuls when I have one of those 25% off your total purchase coupons.
And this little wire plant stand is perfect for keeping a selection of glues and glitters upside down. I store all glue, Stickles, and paints that way, it keeps them fresher and easier to squirt out.
The table itself is not very pretty, but sometimes I'll glue things I like to the edges of it.
This is my glitter storage cabinet.
Because having plenty of Sparklies in life is important!
Besides the large folding tables from the hardware store that I cluster around to use as work spaces, this glass top table is the only new piece of furniture in the room. The rest of the things are from yard sales, auctions, and fleas. I've painted most of them white, like I did this table, so that they have some flow in the room and all the different styles aren't as distracting. Some have rosy wallpaper borders like I added to this one too.
Here is a close up inside. I have plates and bowls filled with different types of jewelry:
- clear rhinestones
- colored stones
- pearly things
- porcelain or enamel flowers
- buckles
- cameos
- lockets
- figural pieces
- hearts
- brass charms
- and probably some other crap
My friends get tired of seeing me perched over the Dollar Jewelry tables at flea markets, but I find my best stuff while sifting through the piles there.
Its good to have big bowls of flowers nearby too. I tend to buy a lot of hats.... and while most are stored away as is around the room, I do try to pluck a few so that this big punch bowl stays full.
There is a glass front buffet (I got for $40 and fixed up) that I store hats in, but it overflowed, and there are hats everywhere waiting to be plucked.
And birds. I have little birdies everywhere. I set them out for Birdsong and haven't had the heart to put them away.
Seems like flowers have found their way to most of my lamp shades. This lamp shade is an old hat itself. I've just punched a hole in the top to attach it to the finial.
And there are bowls of flowers in the cabinets too. They might be needed someday for a project, but in the meantime, I want to be able to see them and love them, and wipe drool off of them every once in a while. I can never get enough old millinery blooms.
The buffet on the back wall is the one full of flowered hats. I didn't get a close up of the hats themselves.
My studio is one big room, almost 1,000 sq ft. (yippee!) One side, is set up for every day work. The other has two dining tables in it that I use for company, they can be pushed together for parties. But normally, when the studio is not cleaned up (which is most of the time) one table is full of things to photograph and add to my Boutique, and the other is covered with sewing things.
See all the hanging birds? I really need to get a ladder out and get those down, or they will be nothing but dust balls soon.
This bench was made by my son from an old head board, and I painted it.
Here is the view from the dining table side of the room into the working side. The tables there aren't very nice, but they are versatile and can be moved to different configurations. Plus, I can spill paint and glue all over them, slice with exacto blades and not care.
There is a central support beam that we turned into a column, and I've grouped storage pieces and old doors around it to create a divider.
The old doors are hinged together and make great fake walls. Especially the screen and glass doors, they divide the space up while still letting the light come through.
I've used old doors to section off my computer/office area.
The doors also provide spaces to hang more stuff! LIke my great Aunt Caroline's clock and portraits of my grand fairies.
The office space sits inside this room built of doors. (the rug is hand painted vinyl flooring)
Sugarwings has her own area, and these hold all of her art supplies. (but she prefers mine)
Behind Sugarwing's supply chests and work table is this closet. Its overfilled with shipping supplies for my store. If I ever disappear from this blog and you don't hear from me, it will be because I opened that door and was buried in an avalanche of packing peanuts.
This table is actually a pretty antique, but I have so much junk on the shelves below it, I made a table cloth to fit it and hide them.
The door is an original door from our farm house that I painted an iris on.
The metal chimney cabinet is filled with old books.
And the wallpaper box is filled with lace.
This room was built as simply as possible, a cement floor, and dry wall. I've stained and painted the floor, and tried to foof up the place with my pretties to make it feel like home, not a big square space.
Adding vintage chandeliers has helped the room not feel as new as it is. Our cottage is around 100 years old, and I didn't want this room to look blindingly brand new when we added it.
I've also tried to keep everything functional while still being things I liked to see around me. Each cabinet has a purpose. Its pretty well organized, and I can find what I want when I need it. Unless I've set it down somewhere as I walk through the room. Then, its hopeless. I usually have piles of projects all around the room, its easy to lose stuff in them.
Well, I've probably done enough blathering. I'll finish with some closeups around the space, and inside some of the cabinets.
And maybe of a friend here and there around the room.
Thanks for stopping by!
