Welcome to my Back Yard Studio

Studio main wall

Finally I've moved into my long overdue backyard studio. It's taken one month short of a year since Trey and I bought the building to get to this point. I'm so giddy. Trey and his friends Andy and Michael did an awesome job. Big thanks goes out to Michael for the professional electrical work.

So let me show you around. Pictured above is my main work desk, which I got for $10 from a friend. It's positioned on the main wall of the studio. Bad feng shui, I know, but it looks good there. The birch drawers on the desk where I keep my beads and supplies are from Ikea.

Inspiration

In front of my work desk is my inspiration wall, which I coated with magnetic paint. Those thumb tacks keeping the pictures in place are actually magnets. Cool, right? I expect that the wall will be covered pretty soon with lots of tear outs that inspire me.

The white cabinet in the corner was actually the laundry room pantry from my previous house. Now it's become a handy storage space for my paints, brushes and random craft supplies. The lanterns draped over the cabinet were left over party lights from Peir 1 that Trey and I were given as part of a wedding gift four years ago. I finally got around to opening them, and I think they're perfect for the space.

From this view the room looks pretty bare, and I know the table is under scale but you work with what you have. I think that once I add more to my inspiration wall it'll balance the look.

Off to the left of the main wall is my secondary work table, which I'll use to package jewelry for shipping and probably for random projects.

I love the ample track lighting in my space. There are three tracks -- left, center and right -- and the lights can be angled any which way. The painting in the above image was done by my hand. It was living in the trunk of my car for the past year and has now found its permanent home. On the opposite wall is another black-framed painting I did that was also living in my trunk. It's main colors are pinks, and it really pops against the aqua blue wall.

The hanging star in the window was bought for the studio from World Market almost a year ago. It catches the light on a bright day just as beautifully as I'd hoped. The curtains hanging in the three studio windows were just completed today. I spent all weekend sewing them.

The fabric, which I absolutely adore, came from Target. The yardage was packaged as a large tapestry throw for a bed, wall or couch. After making the curtains I still have plenty of material, so now I'm considering other accessories to make for the studio.


And that's it for now. I'm sure I'll post more pics as the studio inevitably evolves.