A Place to Create

My painting is finished! It took 2 weeks, but every wall and every ceiling in the house has been painted. I haven’t touched up any spots, but you know what? I am so sick of painting that I don’t care if they never get touched up!

Now that the painting is done, my brain has shifted gears. But it’s not thinking about packing, moving and unpacking. It’s not thinking about how I will decorate the kitchen, living or bedroom. Nor is it thinking about the ton of shelves and cubes that need painting, the curtains that need sewing, or the headboard art installation that needs to be created. No no…my brain is obsessing about the craft studio…aka the sewing room (can’t really call it a sewing room because it’s so much more or will be when I’m through with it). I’m thinking about how I will set it up to maximize the space and minimize the clutter. I’m thinking about what else I should buy or make to add to the organization of it.

I’m a big fan of the Cloth Paper Scissors Studios magazine. While I should subscribe to it, I tend to pick it up at the local craft store with a 40 or 50% coupon (I’m cheap, so sue me). It greatly inspired me when I revamped my mother’s craft room last summer for her birthday (as seen here). So I picked up the summer issue today and have been flicking through it to come up with ideas. I have also been scouring the internet for inspiration. My craft studio is only a small space, and I have a LOT of stuff, meaning that I will need lots of storage! I have 3 of those fabric cubbies like in Mum’s quilt room, 2 stackable Closetmaid shelves, 2 bookcases, a desk and a sewing table that used to be the kitchen table. I’m going from a former dining room in the middle of the downstairs of my old house (where my stuff was hidden away in an armoire, spilling out of an old built-in china cabinet and mounding on the dining room table) to this tiny bedroom with a slanted wall, so I have to make use of wall space…which will be tricky, seeing as I want the flat wall as my quilt wall.

This is the bedroom before, when the previous owners still lived there and it was their boys' room.

I did get smart today and solved my ironing board issue, though. I was thinking that I just won’t have the space to set up and leave an ironing board in the room. And I didn’t want to have to lug my ironing board up two flights of stairs from the basement (where the washer and drier are) every time I wanted to iron fabric…so I bought an over the door, folding ironing board for $20 at Target. It’s wide and folds flat when the door is open!

Lighting will be another issue in this room – there is no ceiling light. It’s the only room in the house without a ceiling light! To whoever built it, what were you thinking? “Smallest room in the house, only one window…nah, we don’t need a light in here!” I know that one could be installed by piggybacking off the hall or my bedroom light, but that would require crawling through the tiniest hole in the ceiling of my closet to get into the tiniest attic/crawlspace on earth where wasps have made their home…I don’t think so!

I need to organize my thoughts and get them down on paper before I forget my ideas and inspirations that I have pirated from others. Good thing to do while I’m just sitting here!