Studio Makeover

Hello lovely creatives!

Those that have been following me for a long time may remember, that we've been fixing up, renovating and generally updating our house, including the garden. To date this has been our biggest project. We started with the garden in 2018 and apart from planting some shrubs and flowers, we are pretty much done now! Our main goal was to make it low maintenance.

Here's the view from my studio:

The house, which was built in the 50s is another matter. The last time it was renovated was in the 70s, complete with 70s decor! We've been updating the upper rooms slowly for at least a decade - then last year it was finally time to relocate my then studio to a new space downstairs. This coincided with my transitioning from fabrics/sewing crafts to mixed media art and developing and teaching private workshops. The designated space needed new flooring above all. I found some suitable floor boards in a vintage grey, which are durable and easy to clean. In the below pic you can see how it looked before and after. The door was still missing in the second pic.

I'm super pleased with the flooring, but of course, most of all I'm loving the big garden-facing windows, letting in so much more light than in my previous space upstairs.

The two white cupboards above are the only furniture items that I bought. I was lucky that they had been on sale at the time! I placed a bookcase in between - it's a bit shorter, but overall it doesn't look too bad. All other furniture is from my old studio and/or repurposed from other rooms. The big work table used to be my cutting table from when I still had my shop. Now it's perfect for my art making, as I prefer making art standing up. Plus it's where I make video tutorials for my YouTube channel. My set up is really simple, but it works just fine.

As you can imagine this is my absolute favorite place to be. I like to sit in the chair in the corner by the window in the early mornings with a cup of tea and look out into the garden, listening to bird song. It's here that new ideas form. Below is a short clip of my art studio. I've hung some of my abstract pieces on the walls.

And this final clip is from my beloved Leo, two weeks before he passed. He used to hang out by my studio. I miss seeing his cute, fluffy face.

I hope you enjoyed a behind the scenes look at my new studio. I've been told mine looks very clean and organized :) Well, I don't believe artist's studios necessarily need to be cluttered, even though that is the general vision people have. What's your take? Tidy or messy?

Wishing you a beautiful weekend, wherever you may be.