My Studio Is Compleletly Packed Up

Finally got everything in the studio packed away. Well except for my printers and printer supplies, but I keep feeling like I might need those. And I left one table up cause I am working on a project for a friend and need somewhere to put the sewing machine.

Unfortunately we STILL don't have a closing date so I'm in limbo just waiting. There is a lot of drama going on about this condo purchase but since I've been whining about it on Facebook for weeks now I won't do it here too.

Earlier when we were so excited about moving my mom found a great round table and chairs for our new eat in kitchen at a second hand store. It's stored in our garage now but I found a pic of how someone updated a similar table and can't wait to get my hands on it.

This is what I want to do to the table and chairs. I'm so excited about this!

Last week the boxes piled everywhere were getting to us so my daughter and I took up an invitation from my college friend to come out for the weekend. We got on a plane (which if you know me is no easy feat, I do not like flying or heights or falling to my death) and flew the short distance from Chicago to Detroit.

Leaving Chicago! My daughter took these pics cause I can't look out the window.

Here we are on a super small commuter plane. Even my daughter was like Whoa this is small!

Before we left my daughter said I was too gray and since I don't look old yet we had to dye my hair. I've been fighting her for about a year cause I don't care about the gray, I earned every one of them!

Here I am back to all brown. Oh and my daughter flat ironed my naturally curly hair. I had no idea it was this long!

 Here we are in a recording studio where we did interviews and had make up tutorials done on our faces. This is my after, don't my eyebrows look fabulous? Seneca got a smoky eye. This is part of a project that my college friend Jamie is doing and we were happy to come and help.

Seneca getting her eyes done. We had to keep quiet in the dark background since they were filming.

Me getting my eyebrows done. So nervous cause you had to constantly look at the camera as if it was a person. Sounds easy but it's not.

Here is where the photographer was shooting photos of us. We had different outfits to wear and we also did some shots outside. Can't wait to see them! The interviews were done in a closed recording studio so we could see the people being interviewed but not hear them.

The weekend was over too quick but we had a great time and now we are back and dealing with boxes.

Still Packing...and Designing A New Studio Space

I'm determined with this move to have a nice looking studio, not one that constantly looks like a tornado hit it. My new space will be open to the living room but also visible from the foyer so it's much less private than what I currently have. Now I'm tucked away behind the kitchen and at the end of the living room "L". Plus I just know my mother will have snarky things to say about the state of my studio and I don't need the drama.

 This is my current set up. Kind of a vertical rectangle and I have the second door to the kitchen blocked off. There is another door to the kitchen in the living room.

See, an overcrowded mess.

Unfortunately I have to do all of this on a zero money budget. But luckily I get to shop from the furniture we have in our house already. We have to downsize so much but I can use some of these pieces for my studio so it looks less like a storage room and more like a creative space.

This is the new space. It's basically the same size as my current space but a horizontal rectangle. The only downside is that the ONLY door into the kitchen is thru my space and I have no windows at all. Hoping people walking thru all the time doesn't annoy the crap out of me...we'll see. There is good light coming in thru the big bay window in the kitchen.

Here's a photo of the new space. The chandelier here is beautiful but I'll be taking that down in favor of a ceiling fan. It might go in my bedroom.

Here's the foyer to give a better idea of my little drawing. You step down into the living room and my studio space is on the left side of this pic on the other side of the railing. Not loving the black tile floor but we can live with it for now.

Here are some ideas of what I'd like to do:

My current computer table is a vintage dining table with leaves that pull out from the sides. The top is all scarred from years of wear so I'd love to paint it a bright fun color and use it as my sewing table. Right now my sewing machine doesn't have a home, it moves around from table to table. I have tons of paint in the garage that I hope to use.

I have been desperately wanting a super large worktable for so long. Here are some ideas that I really like.

I have 2 wooden doors that I use for the tops of my worktable now so I'll bolt those together from the underside and place them on top of an old dresser I have and an old table base maybe. Still trying the work the sizes out. I know this will take up a huge amount of room but I have to do it.

Another thing I love is using furniture pieces as supply storage. I'm hoping to do something like these ideas.

Also since our new kitchen is small and I'm the only coffee drinker I might put something like this in the studio.

To free up some room I plan to put my computer in my bedroom. That should  (hopefully) keep me focused on work and I'll spend less time online.

That's all I have to share for now. Back to packing!