It is so important to have yet so hard to figure out the perfect studio space. I started quilting professionally in 2005, and my sewing/studio room was 11' X 11'. Surprisingly, I made my first 3 award-winning quilts in that space. That same house was locally notorious as The Yellow House in our town of El Dorado Hills. Later, when Matt went to college, I took over the bonus room above the three-car garage, about 550 square feet with 2 design walls and a trundle bed for guests. Even though the space was big I still had to organize the space wisely, but it was a dream space. We lived there for over 20 years. I used that space for about 14 of the 20 years.
The Yellow House studio |
The next studio was in our Paradise house. It was a vaulted-ceiling loft room, again above our 3-car garage with no straight walls - they all vaulted after 4 feet. It was going to be tricky to decide where to put the design wall BUT this space had views from every window AND perfect light. I started out designing the space to get maximum use out of the area. Sadly, I never got to implement that design because 13 months after we moved in, on November 11, 2018, the Camp Fire destroyed 95% of the town of Paradise, including our home.
View from the Paradise studio |
When we first moved into the new Bakersfield house |
Now to the new space in this new house that we call my studio. I started with just the basics. A folding table and chair. I was getting over the loss of my house and all my belongings, and I was very scared to make a new space. It was a fear of losing it all again. That fear can paralyze you if you let it. I soon learned this is not what God wants for my life, so we are moving on. What a gift it is to be able to have a room just for creating and making things. Then to be able to call it MY studio. I realized I'm living the dream that I had as a little girl. - don't let a fire take your light.
I have spent hours looking at Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for studio inspirations. Most of the rooms are designed stylishly with wallpaper and painted in beautiful colors like no one has ever worked on a project in that room, EVER. We all know those images are not true studios. So, I read most of the studio design books by quilters and even non-quilters. Well, really, I mostly looked at the pictures. They were all saying, when it comes down to it, you need to start with a measuring tape, ruler, pencil, and graph paper, and consider what the purpose of the space is right now.
New studio layout |
My new space is 16 ' x 18'. Not that big for a pattern design business and an art studio. Yes, I am also taking over another adjoining room, but I am very happy with how this is working out. Plus, because of the fire, I have pared down, a lot! Maybe a little too much.
And now I can shop for just me, which is fun. Joe made a comment the other day about how I get all the deliveries. So, I let him have one that had just arrived - it was our new broom and mop. See, I'm a giver.Here are some fun pictures of what I/we have done so far in the studio and some cool storage finds I wanted to share with you. And, like all wonderful things, your studio design is always in the process of development. New tools, and new ideas, can change the shape of your space over time. Who knows, I might find a great wallpaper out there that I can't live without. You do not want to see Joe's face when I ask him to help me move those bookcases again. studio supplies I purchased on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1KRR3GJIU2T9J?ref_=wl_share