Welcome To My Unconventional Studio

I’ve wanted a “real studio” for years. I pursue this quilt/art quilt/garment/teach thing pretty seriously and it was getting to the point where I felt like I needed to do something about a studio. But when I looked at the configuration of our house and lot, there was no good solution: couldn’t build up or out, DH already had squatter’s rights on the extra garage bay, nothing seemed to work.

I had also made a couple of guidelines for myself regarding a studio:
-I would not take over a “public” room like the dining or living room, the den.
-I wanted a proper guest room so that guests did not have to share their room.
-It had to make sense for the way I work.

What finally emerged was a “Four-and-a Half Room Studio“. Ooo-sounds so impressive. Well, it’s not exactly impressive but I finally have a system that works. The reality that emerged was to put different functions in different rooms since they couldn’t all fit into one room. Let me take you on a tour:

#1 Son’s room, view from the door

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
This is “Room #1“, aka Son #1’s room. I wanted to preserve each boys’ room somewhat so that they could come home and feel comfortable…uh, but not TOO comfortable. So Son #1’s room became home to my fabrics, trims, books and art supplies. I documented my organization efforts in previous blogs here, here and here. You can’t see all the quilting supplies from the door, which was purposeful on my part.
x
x
x
“Room #2“, aka Son #2’s room, holds all of my teaching supplies. Previously, my biggest unsolved problem was that I didn’t have a place to design from, a quiet space to work on the pure creative side. My epiphany came when I took over the desk area for my design space and now, I don’t have to use the Dining Room table for my design efforts.

#2 Son’s room, view from the door

x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
“Room #3“: I share my actual sewing area with DH and his office. It’s a pretty small room in the first place so I have to be savvy about how I use the space. The vertical thread storage is super efficient-64 spools on each stack-great, until I ran out of space. Now, I use a rather sophisticated storage system-all the spools of each kind of thread are stored together in a plastic zip lock. It actually works beautifully!

Sewing Room/DH’s Office

x
xx
x
x
x
x
x

x
x

x
Right outside the office is “Room #4” aka the hallway where my design wall, chair for hand work and some additional storage is located. I usually pin my designs directly to the sheetrock with straight pins and sometimes I use my Cheryl’s Ann’s Design Wall , which is a well-designed and useful system. There is a little nook in the hallway, the only place left in the house for more storage, so I had a piece made to fit the space-what quilter’s will do to house their stash!

My “design wall” and chair for hand sewing work

x
x
x
x
x
cx
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
“Room #4 1/2” is in the Master Bathroom-there I have my cutting table. I wanted to be able to cut at night but there just wasn’t enough light any other place in the house. I realized that the can lights in the bathroom provided abundant light with no shadowing. Now I can cut at night in good light. I admit it is annoying to have that cutting table in an otherwise lovely room, but it was the only place left to put it!

x
xx
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
x
xxx
x
I hope you’ve enjoyed your tour of my “studio”. It’s not exactly conventional nor is it my dream studio, but finally I have a space that works for me-it’s taken years to figure this out. I have decided that having my “studio” all over the house makes quilting aerobic! Now, if we were to sell the house, do you suppose we could market it as a “4 1/2 room studio” house??