Studio Reorganization: Day 1

I cooked up a grand scheme to rework my house before the holidays.  I was ready to tackle it all and have it done by morning.  In my head.  I had some good ideas and when I shared them with my son yesterday he thought a few of them were more work than they were worth.  And, by the way, aren't you a little broke?  Well, he had a valid point.   Back to rearranging instead of tearing down walls.  😀😀

Mostly what I have is a bunch of mismatched furniture and storage I am not using well.  I've had my large space (the living room of my 1800 square foot house) as a main studio space for 5 years.  Moving back here in 2014 was stressful and I did what I could to make it work then.  For the most part, it is working but it needs to be tweaked.  [For instance, I'm tired of stubbing my toe on the sawhorse legs of my work table.  Little stuff like that.]  I also need to tweak some of my "put it in a pile" habits.  I have some heavy cabinets and some built in cabinets that are not being useful to me.  I dread going through them and looking at the UFOs and supplies but I'm determined to "shuffle them elsewhere".

It's also embarrassing to have clients come here to pick up work and see the room.  I'm never sure if the "Oh My!  You really have a set up!" is a good or bad comment.  OK, time to make it happen!  😎

What's my plan?
1.  Move my 3 IKEA cabinets to the kitchen eating area.
The Pros:

•  it will free up an alcove I changed in 2000 when I bought the house.  It was originally a wet bar.   At that point I was using the living room as a living room & I housed the TV, stereo in the space.  It worked nicely then, 
• the  "new" space can become a design/photography/video space.   It's been very difficult to photograph my work without a dedicated space,  
• having my work photographed will propel me closer to having a website, Patreon site & more commercial sites in 2020 (which is a Major Goal),
• I can clean out the remaining Poshmark merchandise and get it photographed & listed.
• With the cabinets in the kitchen, I will have a nice space to display my Madonna figurine collection.  
• I will have an easier access to my table linens. 

The Cons:

• I have to find new homes/spaces for the items in the cabinets.  (It already feels like the tumbleweed rolling along is getting bigger . . . . )
• they will take up wall space in my kitchen where I have some artwork I enjoy seeing.  They will need to be moved.  A lot of it is my ever growing vintage needlework collection.  I'm looking for ideas to display it.   Yea, I'm on Pinterest.  Nightly.  We have a standing date. 
• I have to move the cabinets.  Although IKEA is not Ethan Allen, it does serve a needed purpose.  One advantage is the scale is much smaller for smaller spaces.  In this house, that's been a huge advantage.  

The Alcove with the cabinets.  I probably haven't cracked open most of those books in 5 years.  They may just get donated to the library.  In the past I haven't had much success selling needlework books on-line.  But, I may give it another shot.  I just hate figuring out postage.  

I used to have my embroidery machine in there but I think I have found another space that will work as well for it & its supplies.

Both sides of my fireplace are flanked by built-in shelves.  I use one side for my desk.  The shelves do not go to the floor.  I'll be eliminating the guest room & turning it into an office.  I have guests so seldom & I need the space more for my new goals.  The desk and computer will go into that space.

As you can see I have lots of space here.  My collection will go to the kitchen and be more protected from dust.  I'm a pathetic housekeeper.  I just don't have time for dusting.

This is my kitchen eating area.  I love the cozy feeling here.  I've been eating here more lately.  It's been fun to photograph my Beautiful Salads I fix nightly.  If you follow my Facebook feed, you've seen my Apple and Salad shenanigans.  

The IKEA cabinets will go on either side of the doors (which have been distressed by my pit bull . . . ) and the 3rd cabinet will fit on the wall opposite the table. 

I plan to either reupholster this Goodwill chair myself or splurge and hire someone to do it.  It fits so nicely in my kitchen I may just leave it there.  I'll be using my raw edge fabric yardage.  The bell in the seat is to keep my pit bull Elvis out of lounging there!  

Please Join the Conversation!

What new ideas do you have for your working space for 2020? 

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