Author name: Karla Nathan

Some of the spaces in my studio are blessedly simple.  This cabinet holds very little. A stack of cake plates topped with tiaras, is all it needs. 

On the bottom shelf, is an assortment of boxes.  Some are even empty!!!! I will either fill and label them as needed, or sell them later.

Very few things were hung on the walls.  I'd found an old watercolor in a drawer and put it up by the doorway.

It is really nice to have the office area all spiffed up too. The walls used to be brown. 

Do not ask me why.

I don't remember, all I know is that it was a bad choice, and that space was too dreary, even with the blue bird painting in there.  

I also don't know how long it had been since the Mac had been unhooked, and dusted under.  Having a clean office desk has been a big perk of this redo. I even bundled up all of the trailing cords and tucked them away.

My office isn't as pretty as some of the room, but it is slightly hidden behind barriers and I don't mind.  I could add curtains to the glass doors of the corner cabinet to hide my supplies and throw something over the pink tub.  

Maybe I will.

But for now?

I am going to enjoy every corner of this space I have custom crafted just for me.  

So far, I've been very happy with my redo. While it was a big job, with all the heavy lifting, cleaning, and painting, pausing to do little projects helped break up the job.  Like cutting up an embroidered runner to make a curtain for this cabinet, and adding flowers to it.

And tucking millinery  into this chalk wall pocket.

And re-hanging some banners in the window.

Sorting hats by color was so entertaining. I could have played with them all day.

Odds and ends that I care about from around the room were gathered together on this vision board that features a gorgeous needlework piece by Beth.

And I looked through old scrapbooks and albums as I sorted out the bookshelves.

Some things I liked as they were, and rehung similar to the grouping they used to be in, just on a different wall.

I even slowed down and plucked some old hats to refill a couple of the jars that had been dipped into for projects.

In this punch bowl, I placed a stack of rose covered hats and sat it on a mirror, whose frame I broke while moving it.  The mirror makes a pretty tray.

Over all, I am very happy with all of the small changes as much as I am the big ones.

One thing that came out exceptionally well and was a bigger change for the room, is the sink area.

See that stained glass door with the iris on it? That is where the sink is. The door itself was the original kitchen door of our farmhouse, and the "stained glass" is actually a painting that I did onto the window.

Here is what is hiding behind the door.  It is still a messy, studio sink, but it is much more organized and tidier than before. And it has lighting! That was a dark hole back there, and now is well lit. With extra shelving.

The door keeps it hidden away from the room, and the window lets in some light. Plus, I added two lamps.

Cute shelving!

There is a cabinet that faces the sink, and I have arranged supplies in old drawers and pretty boxes. (The fabric in the foreground is my apron, hanging on the door)

The biggest improvement was sorting through dozens of old cans of paint stored below the sink.  Now, only necessary colors are kept there, and they are stacked neatly. 

And when I need to rinse out a brush or wash my hands, I can see what I am doing, the lights were a major improvement! 

When I began my redo, I thought I was going to move every single piece of furniture into a new location for a complete do over.

But sometimes, moving it around just for the sake of moving it, isn't the best idea.  Some things belong where they are for a reason.

The Treat Cabinet was one of those.  I moved it, took everything out, washed it down. After painting behind it, put it right back where it had always been.  The spot it sits in just makes sense.

I did treat it to new (old) wallpaper, though. And am glad I did!

My jewelry cabinet also stayed in the same spot.  I wanted to sort the rhinestones but did not get to that chore.  But compared to all of the other projects that got done, this one was pretty low on the list, and I am not too upset about not completing that small task. 

And you know how life is, if you don't do something at the time, you tend to just live with it as is, right?

There is a large, glass doored hutch, that forms a wall that creates my office space behind it.  I didn't move it but I did take all of the displays out, and cover the back wall with wallpaper, then replaced the goodies onto different shelves.

After so many big jobs and painting the walls, I was happy to have a fun little decorating endeavor to tackle.

I had planned on getting rid of some clutter but ended up not needing to.  The plan was to use this space as more storage, and cover the glass with curtains to hide it all.

But redoing the rest of the room and the base of the hutch helped with the storage issues quite a lot.  So, I changed my plan and didn't give up my glass shelves to storage.

Reorganizing the contents of these shelves went a long way in making them feel less cluttered.

Well, to me at least. I am sure that there are people who look at this and are horrified at the sheer volume of doodads I have accumulated.

As I get older, I like things more streamlined, but I still like layers of stuff.  Having it purposely placed has made me happy.   Over the years, these shelves had become stacks and piles of things added as I got them, not coordinated as they should have been.

And many of the pieces I have on display are sentimental, or things from classes I have taught or attended.  They deserved a special place to enjoy them.

The closet wall by the door also stayed as it was.  While I wanted to brighten the room and have the walls the same, light pink, I wasn't ready to cover up my hand painted roses.   Some things don't need changing.

Here is a photo of the center of the room after it was redone. It was a big job, but worth every minute my helper and  I put into it.  

(I am just humoring Twinkle, she thinks she helped quite a bit, but honestly, she wasn't as hard of a worker as she thought she was. Although her company was appreciated.)

After all of the walls were a blissful pink, and I thought I was done, this column in the center needed a little something more. So I tore a sponge into a rectangular shape and quickly faux painted the drywall to look like bricks. Then, I liked it so much, I decided not to cover it up with too much stuff, and only hung this painted plank on it.

There are books from all of the swaps I hosted on the side of it.

This is the same column from the front  of the room.

Inside are my art journals. 

  These are my Florida albums.

And these are family photo scrapbooks with a couple of sentimental items in front of them.

Around the corner is the glitter station and some more storage.   There is room for boxes under the table cloth. This area isn't as pretty as some of the room, but it is functional. There is also room for more on the shelves, and a couple of the boxes there are empty.

When I host Birdsongs, I will be able to shift some furniture to the garage and this area can hold a work table.

And the room is always prettier when filled with my Peeps!

 

 

It is done! 

That was a big job.

Here is a before picture.  I love my studio and am thrilled to have it. I really had no complaints beyond my own messiness.

Here is another before.

Now, most of the messiness was every day work, that just happens.  But some of it was from years of accumulation, of piles forming in spots because that spot was empty. Of things hanging up because there was a nail in the wall, not because that was a beautiful place to put it. 

And there were years of dust behind large pieces that hadn't been moved in a decade. 

So, out it all went! I started at one side of the room and emptied all of the cabinets, piling the loot on tables in the garage.  

Then, I piled up some more.

And some more.

I moved the large pieces away from walls, then rearranged them to a better location after painting, and moved on to the next section of the room.  To handle soooooo much stuff, I divided the space in thirds. It reminded me of doing one of those little slide puzzles, where you have to manipulate squares from one area to another to create the picture.

This is the color I chose, I wanted an almost white, barely there pink.  

Behr is such a good paint, that it covers in one coat with slight touch ups.  Even over the areas that were a darker color. (This room was many colors, and I wanted it more uniform, so it would feel bigger, and less broken up).

Menards sells a glitter additive for paint that shows up wonderfully and is a decent price.  You are supposed to add one bag per can, I added three. And the sparkle is spectacular! I wish it showed up in these pictures.

That was a splurge, but worth it.  I could have gotten cheaper paint, but would have needed more to do a second coat. I could have gone with less glitter, but the glimmers on the wall make me happy, and only cost an extra $28 for the extra smiles.

While I was painting, I did a lot of cleaning too.  And even repainted the trim and baseboards a bright, glossy white.  

The interior of each cabinet got cleaned out too.  The hats in the buffet are all resorted and stacked now.

And these jars were emptied and washed before refilling.

The glass jars hold a lot of things that are used on a regular basis, and while they are now on the other side of the room away from my desk, they are still easily accessible.

Boxes of things that aren't used as often are stacked inside this cabinet.

But my favorite part?

I gathered all of my collection of wallpaper cabinets, hat boxes, and storage pieces together in one area behind my desk.

These had been scattered around the room previously, and were nice, but I feel like they are more of a statement when pulled together.

Plus, they are pretty functional.  I have them labelled, if needed.  Well, in my own way, there are labels. A fairy on one drawer means there are fairy related items, the flower means this is full of petals and leaves, and the top two are full of birds.

Each hat box has a tag on it and they are stacked up according to how often I have to get inside of them. Rarely used items are on top of the cabinet.

When I moved these two pieces of furniture to the wall behind my workspace, I thought they looked too ordinary, so I covered the doors with more vintage wallpaper.  

I did the same with the pink, wooden cabinet on the top of this stack on the far right.

Some drawers don't have labels, because they contain the same supplies that they had for years and I am used to them. Anything that was newly moved was labelled for sure, though. And so far, I have been able to find what I need.  By emptying the room, and putting things away carefully and thoughtfully, the places I put them made sense.  Before, there were supplies stashed wherever they fit, not in the 'best' place for them.  

Surprisingly, I didn't have to get rid of any furniture to achieve my more spacious look! And the room really does feel bigger and lighter, even though it still contains the same stuff. I think that being more organized and putting the pieces in better spots where they fit together just right has helped. I had to use a tape measure to get the right configuration of this wall. And that is not like me, I am not quite precise in the things I do.  I don't use recipes when I cook, or sketch before painting a big mural.

But these lil cabinets had to fit with precision, and all were slightly different sizes. 

Hopefully, I will be able to keep up my new rule of a place for everything and everything in its place.

There are still some empty boxes and cabinet drawers, so as I collect, I can fill and label those too.

As much as I love the new, calm vibe in this room, I have a feeling I won't backslide into heaps again.

I have a lot more pictures of the rest of the room, that I will post later.