Studio Reorganization: Day 4 Results

This Studio Reorganization is really turning into a whole house reorganization because, after all, the stuff has to go somewhere if it is leaving the studio!

The kitchen is just about finished.  The armchair still needs to be reupholstered.  The Big Leaf Philodendron will return to the outside courtyard when I'm sure winter temperatures won't kill it.  I haven't decided which artwork will hang on the only blank wall.  I've picked a selection of my own work as candidates.  I've added the '50s nightstand because I like a lamp in the kitchen.  I also added one of my favorite pieces of art, a clay pot/vessel.  My 1st husband gave it to me for Valentine's Day in the early 1990s.   It's special to me because those were the days when we were so broke, raising 2 small boys on his income & he spent money on a piece I had admired in an art gallery. 

This is a little rescued table with a marble top.  I thought once the chair is reupholstered it would be cozy place to sit and read.   I have a very nice floor lamp behind the chair.  

I really love this whole area.  It's so peaceful and serene.  I have some devotionals and a little collection of mementos I love on my table. 

My front sitting room is the house's original dining room.  I have tried various furniture configurations to transform it into a living room. It has some design issues I have trouble overcoming.  When Brent and Laura lived here they used the room as a dance studio.  They installed a huge mirror.  It's not my 1st choice for the wall but to have it removed takes effort I'm unwilling to spend at the present.  In a way it helps open the room so it has its small merits.  

I planned the glass front cabinet to be a display/dresser in one of my bedrooms.  I had Gene's help yesterday to finish up some projects.  We couldn't get the cabinet to turn the corner in my hallway.  That was the 1st disappointment of the day.  I hadn't planned to put it in the sitting room but that's where it has landed.  It's taken the space of a nice display wall so the pictures originally on that wall will have to find a new space.  

Yea, the tumbleweed is gaining momentum! 

My most beautiful Madonna that Wes gave me is in this cabinet.  I knew I wanted Her in that cabinet no matter where the cabinet landed.  She's very special to me.  I knew he made a real effort to buy something I adored to gift to me.

The sitting room is the first room when you enter my home.  It's to the left of the narrow hallway.  Straight ahead is my studio (which is the house's original living room).  I want the sitting room to look more presentable and inviting especially when clients or friends come to visit or pick up quilts.

There is a nice large wall (the back of the kitchen wall) and then the mirrored wall.  The 3rd large wall has a window which needs to be replaced.  It overlooks part of my courtyard.  I do have plans to redo the courtyard this spring.  I have a locked gate across my courtyard so it's a very private area.

My furniture arrangement options are fairly limited.  My usual style is to have too much of everything in this space.  I'm planning to dial back that tendency.  I'd like to have a loveseat or small couch in the room.  I can either put it on the mirrored wall and look at the courtyard or put it on the kitchen wall and look at the hallway wall. 

One of my objections to the mirrored wall is it doesn't have any clearance at the room's opening so the furniture would be butting up to the opening.  It may be OK. I don't know.  I don't even have a couch.  So I am probably overthinking this right now.  And then, who puts a couch in front of a mirror? 

I'm happy to say my jeans are falling off.  Unfortunately, I'm still not in the next smaller size so I'll wear them until I can wear smaller ones.  I have a nice stack of the smaller size waiting in my closet. 

The view to the smaller part of my courtyard.  That window is 70 x 70 inches so it's probably going to cost me a fortune to replace it.  I need some commissions to come through my door soon. 

Brent and Laura hung that rod.  It's useful but I may want to remove it so I can hang pictures instead of a wallhanging there.  I'm clueless where the room paint might be if it even still exists.  I painted the room in 2002.  I'd like to repaint now but not until I replace the window.  Yea, there goes that tumbleweed again!   

I like the wicker chairs.  They came from the Bentwater house which could accommodate larger scale furniture.  They are probably too big for this room but they are the only "stuffed" chairs I have (other than the one in the kitchen needing reupholstering).  I'll make them work for now.  The round table is from my '50s period.  It's gotten shabby over the years (and not in a good way) so I usually have a tablecloth to hide the bottom section.  The little vintage hand built table is one I bought this year. It's charming and I love it! 

Those 2 thrifted foot stools are candidates for my raw edge fabric upholstery.  Like the kitchen chair they await finished results.  I can see the spring may be devoted to upholstery work.  It's been awhile (20 years) since I upholstered anything.  Gracious!  I'll climb the ladder and clean the ceiling fan.  I might even get some drapes hung at the window today.  

The 1st big news in the studio is the empty alcove.  I'm excited for the photography space.  It's a lot of open empty space.  I have to remind myself it's not wasted because I need it for photographs.  Retraining my brain is going to be a challenge! 

The 2nd big news is the work table is finished!  It was not without its challenge.  When Gene and I placed the top on the very tacky glued legs, he didn't get his end on the marks.  So the dresser underneath is off by 2".  I just pretend the slanted dresser is an optical illusion.  I'm reminding myself in the big scheme of things, it doesn't bother me (I'm lying) and it's inconsequential to my workflow (it is).  The excellent news is that all the parts were reusable and I wasn't out any money.

These drawers are currently housing some unfinished knitting projects.  For now that's where they will stay.
I'm looking for a space where I can do handwork.  I need to have storage nearby so I can put the work away when I am done.  I came home once after I had left it out and my dog had gotten into the project, eaten the book and tangled a bunch of DMC floss.   Yea, what a pain in the neck.

Isn't this table fabulous?  It's a hollow core door.  Really great work space.  I hope I can refrain from piling projects on it.  My brain may explode from all this retraining I am requiring of it! 
A stack of books is leaving for the library today.  I started emptying drawers in my big cabinet to repurpose the space for immediately useful supplies. Big progress!

As always, thanks for coming along on my journey! 

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