Bum-pa-da-buummmmmm!!
It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to…. my brand new studio space!
After 2 months of closing on a new home, vacating our current home so that we could get it ready to list and sell, and then finally getting moved into our new home, I FINALLY feel like I am back on the sewing/designing/crafting wagon.
Well, not really. Not even close if I’m being honest. There is still so much unpacking, space planning, holiday planning and CHILDREN planning to do that leaves me with very little time to focus and create, but just this past weekend I finally felt settled enough to start focusing on individual spaces. There are a lot of rooms I need to design, but I decided to start with my craft room because I am SO DANG EXCITED to HAVE a craft room! Can you believe it? This is literally my childhood dream coming through. When I used to bead on the floor of my parent’s guest room and spill nail polish all over their furniture I bet even they were thinking that they needed to get me a craft space… and now 30 something years later here we are. It’s monumental. It’s so exciting, so big, so life changing in fact that undoubtedly I will have such a hard time designing this space because of the sheer pressure, aghh!!
The Current Room
{Atelier The Style Safari – Current/Empty Room}
Our brand new home is lovely in every possible way but frankly is a bit too white for my taste. While Instagram and Pinterest craft and sewing rooms love clean all-white spaces, I want this room to also read like an office, with cozy layered areas for dog-earring magazines and sketching, contrasting patterns, and textiles that inspire me. But- of course it needs to be functional too and oh yeah, what’s that? Not break the bank.
The reality is that I already own quite a bit of storage/crafting furniture so as much as I may want to start from scratch, the budget says that’s probably not the smartest idea. And since I envision my kids spending time in here doing crafts as well, I am not going to go crazy buying brand new furniture that is literally made for glue, pens, scratches and paint. What’s fabulous about the room already is the light hardwood flooring. I have always had carpet in my office spaces since they are typically bedrooms that I hijack, and as any sewer knows it’s a nightmare to clean up!
The Design
Every design needs a starting point and of course mine has one too… although it’s a weird one. As you may have seen, I ordered a super cute Scalamandre Leaping Zebra screen from The Inside for Liam’s nursery nook in our old bedroom, which is also currently still functioning to give him his own little private portable nook in our bedroom, and allow us to turn on the light and watch TV at night without waking him up. The only way I could justify buying a screen for a temporary nursery nook in our home was if I knew I could repurpose it in another space, hence it’s use in my Atelier. Although no one needs to get naked or change in my Atelier (we do have bathrooms in this house after all) for me having a screen drums up old Hollywood and costume designer vibes, and so I liked the idea of having it in my workspace. Plus, if I ever do get to the point of having private clients it does actually function fantastically for a changing room!
Ok, so now that I’ve spent an entire paragraph talking about a screen (can you tell I am starved for blogging, talking and well, socialization these days? It is pandemic 2020 after all…), we can move on to the rest of the design. I have always loved this ‘Inner Beauty’ wallpaper from Anthropologie for it’s Rorshach-esque pattern, so wanted that to be the base layer for the room. This way, the boring white Ikea Alex and Linnmon desks and black chairs that I already own will look fresh and different against a more intricate backdrop. The other ‘showpiece’ of the room is the 15 drawer industrial dresser from Urban Outfitters (temporarily sold out). I absolutely love this dresser to hold my craft items while still being interesting, and since it already arrived I already have it filled with my supplies and some for my daughter as well, so that she can get used to properly taking care of and storing her craft supplies. I also love the framing in black that ties with the black desk chair and zebra screen, as it gives a little more of an edge to an otherwise ‘sweet’ room.
The last part of the design is the standing desk in the middle of the room, and this is the part that is giving me the most trouble. Any sewist can tell you the importance of a standing cutting table, but since I am now 35 and have birthed 2 children. cutting on the floor is no longer going ‘cut it’ if you get my drift. Unfortunately there are limited options out there for standing tables, which is why most crafters go the DIY route, obviously:
Option 1: Spend $1200 on a standing project desk from Pottery Barn or Ballard Designs.
Option 2: Use a rolling, fold away table which is fine, but provides little storage
Option 3: DIY
You may ask about Ikea but the problem here is that the shape of their tables are so skinny that they won’t fit a yard of fabric, which is basically the minimum width I need. You can bump up 2 next to each other, but then it’s too wide to fit my space. So, custom it is.
After going around in circles about what the base would be, I ended up deciding it would be better to use 2 old Ikea cabinets I already owned instead of buying new ones, for the time being. They are not what is pictured in the mockup above, they are way uglier and look like filing cabinets. BUT, I already own them and they fit my stuff, so they are fine for now. They are a little short, but with a 1.5″ butcher block counter layered on top, I think they will be close to the right height for working! Plus, the unfinished butcher block will be so insanely pretty with the industrial drawers that I hope it will keep your eye from the hideous cabinets below.
The last step is the mauve velvet chair, which is sculptural and beautiful and perfect for my space. But… it’s probably not going to happen in the short term as I have so many other chairs in my house that need a home first. Once we spend more time in the house we can re-evaluate whether or not I can get a new fun chair or use one I already own.
The Closet
Also, there is absolutely nothing in the closet at the moment which means I can completely retrofit it with a storage system that makes sense for sewing and crafting (and my shoes) and not worry that I should make space for guests’ clothing, etc. We plan on being in this house for a long time, so I want it to finally be a space for me and my work. I will have an existing Alex rolling drawer cabinet that I want to fit into the space, as well as one of my extra sewing machines, so that I don’t have too many out on the tables at once. The rest will be fabric, shoe and work in progress storage.
