Phase 5: Just Hangin' Around

Phase 5 is where it really started to get FUN for me! Well, not the trip to HD to *buy* the shelving, or the mathematics involved in figuring out exactly where to hang the verticals, or the part about trying to hit the nails into the studs...apparently our house is not "standard" in where the studs are placed. We encounter this issue from time to time in each room, but we always forget until the next time, and then Brett gets annoyed...yeah, those parts were just the prelude to what you see here. :)

Once the shelves were finally hung, then I had to figure out how to organize all my crap -- I mean supplies - on them. The center table holds tools and assorted "necessary" stuff for design work. To the left is a storage cabinet with my tumbler on top. Above that (under the shelving) is my cord roll. To the right are two filing cabinets, and above them are my printer, paper punch, and paper cutter. Under the table on the left is a rolling cart which houses my wire and sheet; resting on top of that is my lap pad. To the right under the table is another storage cabinet. On the very left you can just see my stump and the end of the soldering area.

One of my favorite things in the room is my cord roll. I use a fair amount of leather and suede in my designs, and I was really squeezed for storage space in this room. Since I had space under the bottom row of shelving, I decided to store the cord rolls there and not have them taking up valuable drawer / shelf space. This was so simple: a wooden dowel, two cup hooks, some chain, and a couple of thumbtacks in the ends to keep it from falling out of the chain loops.


One of the wonderful things about doing what you love for a living is that you can become so engrossed in it that you totally lose track of time. My clock keeps me on the straight and narrow, though it is not beloved by my husband or my friends. I get it - it's kind of cheesy and dated - but tulips happen to be one of my favorite flowers. And more importantly, it was my grandmother's clock. I don't have much from any of my grandparents, but I like the idea of Grandma's clock keeping time in my studio.

Phase 4: It's Di-vinyl

Phase 4 is "rolling out the carpet". It's not red, and I'm not famous, but I was thrilled all the same. It totally doesn't go with the wall color, but both the floor and the walls were an experiment, and if there's a room in our house where things don't match, I'm okay with this being that room.

That window to the left (it's a double set of windows) is where the ventilation is going to go. Right now that's a box fan; eventually it will be a range hood. As of today (this photo was taken in early December) it's still not set up. But hey, the holidays intervened and I still hadn't even *bought* the torch at that point, so it was a bit further down on the priority list.

By now we're almost to the good stuff!

Phases 2 & 3: Grunt Work

Phase 2:

Laying the masonite board, which probably was the hardest actual labor of the studio. This went on top of the existing carpet so I would have some support under the vinyl flooring. Being without the right power tools, we had to cut this stuff by hand. Yeah, that's right! We're totally badass...if you don't count the fact that we nearly killed ourselves doing so and had to take the next couple of days off to recover...

This also shows the color of the walls (bland beige) before we painted. It's the same color that's in most of our house - neutral enough, but what you can't see is the details.. This was a terrible paint job - you could see the drywall tape, and who knows what happened in this room from the previous owners - there were holes in the walls and lots of spackle to "prettify" things up. So our next step was...

Phase 3:

Painting. Which took longer than it should have, because we had so much spackling and sanding to do before Brett deemed the walls smooth enough to paint. I kept trying to convince him that this was just a studio, and the walls were going to be covered with shelves and all, but he was having none of it. The man doesn't tackle a job unless he can do it right, and in the end the walls do look a lot better (even though they ARE covered with stuff, as you'll see). The only thing you can't tell from the photos is how much darker this paint is than the original beige. It looks a lot lighter in the pics.

I was very, very impatient at these stages (and the next one). I like to decorate, and I like to design - jewelry. I actively dislike all the work that goes into getting a place ready to do the things I like to do! I thought I acted fairly patient, though Brett will likely tell you otherwise. One of his favorite phrases is, "You have the patience of a flea." I'm not sure exactly how much that really is, but I suspect it's, um...notsomuch. ~wry smile~