studio

Posted by marne on January 20, 2009 in craft, knit, stitch | 8 comments

I didn't quite mean to disappear for ten days, but I've been busy. I finally started painting my little studio. And I painted some more and then I painted even more, and I'm still not done. I've gone through two cans of primer so far, and I started on a third can tonight. I knew this was going to be a big job, but I didn't know it would be quite this big. My studio is actually an old tack shed that a previous owner finished off inside using whatever leftovers they found laying around, so it's sort of a quirky little space. Sometimes we call it a guesthouse, which sounds much more glamorous than it could ever be. A previous owner (I'm not sure if these are the same owners that initially gussied it up) walled up one end to make a very narrow space in which they built a workbench. Based on some remnants of foil stapled to the walls and ceilings, and some chains which looked like they were for some hanging fluorescent lights, I'd guess they used the space to grow some plants. I'm not saying what kind of plants, I'll leave that to your imagination.

Anyway, the point is that for six years I've wanted to paint it, and I finally got started. There are lots of odd little bits of wood, so I decided to paint everything white so make it look fresh and bright and clean. It is also painted in patches of five different colors, so some of the darker colors require a little more priming than the lighter colors. I can't bring myself to post a before picture here, because it was just so ugly, but if you must know what it looked like, go here. And now, after two cans of primer, it looks like this:

I still have more priming to do on the other side of the room, I think if I work on it for the next two nights after work I'll be able to actually paint on Saturday. I decided to treat myself to a new doorknob from Anthropologie for that door when I'm done painting. I'm thinking something like this one, or maybe this one. And how much do you love that lamp? I think it's going to be adorable in here. It's from Target, of course. Last Fall I even made up a style tray of inspirational ideas for the space. In case you missed it:

The Vika Artur trestle legs and table top were on sale at Ikea this past month, $10 for each set of legs, and $30 for the table top, so I've got them all ready and waiting to be assembled. I'm not having much luck finding an inexpensive vintage metal stool, but I can be patient. I also hope to find some green fabric similar to what's on the chairs in the top right photo to re-cover a wing chair. There will be a lot of little projects to do in the room before it's complete, but it's going to be lots of fun, if I ever finish painting.