The Studio Overhaul! Day 1

When we moved into this house in August I was already in full swing with the new teaching job (7:30-4:00 job), was in the midst of preparing for the biggest show of my life and getting ready to teach out of state for the first time.  Yep.  Lots of BIG things were happening within a tiny snapshot of time.  And I wondered why I lost so much weight!  (I've put all that weight back on this holiday for sure...maybe plus some!) We had a few options for where to put my studio space.  But for some reason I really liked this basement space.  Mostly because I could really spread out into different spaces for different projects and not have to ever worry about putting a thing away!  Woohooo!!  So upon moving in I quickly set up shop and made it look as appealing as possible.  See here:

Cute, right?  And I should be so very, very grateful that I have a family that supports my artsy ways and let me have as much space as I have.  I should be able to create away in such a space.  I should be happy and content and eager to make artsy stuff in this space.  But I wasn't.  I hated being down there so far away from the family.  It's cold, a little dark and I can't hang anything up because the walls weren't finished.  In fact, Mailey would drive me nuts coming down asking when I was coming up.   Nuts. 

My old space, although much smaller, was beautiful.  Well, see:

It was the sunroom attached to our kitchen.  Right in the HEART of the home.  It was bright and cheery and oh so fun to create away in.    So...........once the Christmas decorations had all been packed away I started in with a plan to finish off my basement room.  Me.  All by myself.  I think it was a bit of a "I'm gonna prove something to any and everyone that will listen."  But nevertheless, I have now created a magical studio space that is sure to inspire all who will be joining me on this creative journey. 

So today I share the plan....the next share will be the construction...and last but not least, the finished room. oooooo...giant puffy hearts peeps.  GIANT!  Here were the things driving me batty about the state of the room:

This was the wish list I wrote out on my graph paper pad:
1-trim out doorways and add curtain doors
2-trim out windows
3-joint compound texture the walls
4-add trim between concrete and sheet rock
5-add LOTS of Great Stuff to keep the cold out!  And chauk.  Lots of chauk.
6-paint the walls Pale Honey
7-add twinkle lights and paper lanterns to ceiling
8-paint concrete short wall bright white
9-create a lounging nook so Mailey can come down and hang with me
10-create a u shaped workspace
11-locate cool vintage couch for lounging nook
12-spend less than $500
13-figure out some flooring to warm the floors up
14-inspiration board over desk area

So that was it.  I measured the doors, windows and walls and headed off to Home Depot to purchase the goodes.  It was hilarious...I literally couldn't step without someone in that store asking, "you need some help mam?"  I guess a blond chick in her super cool Boden raincoat with a large cart full of joint compound, paint, trim wood, nails and chauk seems suspicious?  In fact, while checking out the gentleman behind me said, "You don't look like the sheet rocking type."  Huh.  And just what does that look like sir?  Of course I didn't really say that.  But they did see me in that store 4 times in 24 hours.  The manager even came up to me and said, "You must be working on something big.  We've seen you in here a bunch the past two days!"  I told Tiffin it was the raincoat.  It is sweet.  I spent right at $350 so far.  I have a trip to IKEA planned for Wednesday to get the last few things I need.  Pretty good coming in under budget!  I'll share the process tomorrow with you guys!!  See you then.  :)