Diversions and roadblocks

Just as surely as I get started on a big project like redoing my studio, other things come along to get in my way. We had a conference out of town, Gabriel's been sick, I am sick now, and we're getting ready for our big Thanksgiving celebration the Saturday after the holiday. That involves a lot of long-put-off work on storage and reconfiguring different areas in our house, so my studio (regretfully) has taken a back seat. I hope to get most of the house stuff done this weekend and try to get back to the studio over the next week so that after the holiday I can get to work on the gifts I'm making. I won't have an entirely handmade Christmas, but I do have handmade gifts to give to several friends and family members. I'll also do goody plates or bags for neighbors and several friends, of cookies and pumpkin bread.

I still sneak into the studio every day to do some plotting and thinking about what I want for the room. I need a better solution for the sewing machine for one, and I need to decide what should be stored in the basement and what should be put on the top of the book cases. I think I know where I want to put the printer, but I have to get through of mounds of junk before I can do any rearranging.

With luck I'll come out of this with a pretty streamlined work area, one that I can feel confident moving from project to project on. More on this later!

The Studio and Operation Utilize Supplies

I have done a little bit more work in the studio. I brought home some lime green tubs from Home Depot to fill up, and with luck we'll get to Ikea on Sunday to get my new cabinet. Tomorrow is a "day off" for me (meaning I don't have to get up and get the husband off to the train, or pick him up) so my big goals are to get the left side of the room cleared, then reorder the closet. If I can get that done, I can fill the cabinet on Monday with what's on the floor under the desk... and then I can move the tables and tackle the bookshelves!

With luck I'll be able to call the studio totally workable (including being able to sew easily & do clay and scrapbooking as well) by the end of November. *fingers crossed* Then I'll be able to throw myself into Operation Utilize Supplies with vigor!

The studio!

Until we finish our basement (where I have wonderful studio space set aside), I have an office and studio space in our back room. It's a nice room and there will be plenty of space for what I'm working on, but right now it is full of my "art supplies". I put the quotes around it, because part of it is just junk that has ended up in my boxes of supplies. I have to do this in stages.

1. Get the area to the left of the desk clear. I have to have space for my LP's, and there's also room to put another cabinet (to be obtained from Ikea) for supplies.
2. Get under the desk emptied.
3. Get all the bookshelves emptied of books & the books moved or stored, and use that space for art supplies.
4. Unearth Gabriel's kid desk which lives in the same room and get it available for him to use. I have a bedside table to put next to it to store art supplies.
5. Get excess to the basement for storage.
6. Get my sewing machine available for use. I have two portable tables for the room, one for the sewing machine and one for layout/painting fabric/cutting patterns and so on.

It is going to be a big project. I've decided that one of my carrots on a stick for this will be art supplies - I have a few things I need and want, but I won't buy anymore (unless there's an emergency, like a custom order) unless I've finished a stage of the mission. Here's a video of the room, to give you an idea. It's covered with junk, so beware! I've been sorting and pulling stuff out of boxes.