Busy, Busy Girl

I've been pretty quiet for the past five days because I've been busy working on my studio and my garage. Busy as in, manic organizing woman busy, and gee, is this ever overdue!

I am a bit taken aback that I have lived in this house for almost two years and yet I've never completely whipped my studio into shape. I know that Kathy would say that the house was under repairs for months and then I was off fixing up another house to sell and then I had to deal with cancer...blah, blah, blah...but REALLY! The time has come to make this studio work for me.

And it's not like I don't have space to work with. Lucky us, we moved into a house where the previous owner had set up the downstairs as sort of an in-law unit that she rented out. There is a kitchen at the end of a long bonus room. It looks kind of weird as a kitchen, to be honest, but it is fabulous as an art studio. Frankly, that's the best use for it, as she wasn't really into building codes (yikes!) and so the stove wiring was questionable. We had that taken out right away. That left me with a sink, lots of counter space, and still an area where I could make a snack in the microwave.

Given the space, I have had to come to terms with the fact that it's never going to be the vintage-y, pastel pink-and-blue kind of studio that all these Somerset Studios artists seem to have. You know the kind I mean, with inspirational words suspended in glitter letters, supplies stowed in distressed wooden boxes, and antique lace dripping off the ends of shelves. Nor is it going to look like my friend Sue's amazing apothecary studio, which I covet.

It is, however, extremely functional and, after three days of work, it is completely organized. Everything has been sorted, labeled, stowed, and made accessible. The cabinets--which seem like a good idea until you try to use them for art supplies--have been tamed into submission. And the upper cabinets, which are an accident waiting to happen (the previous owner had tacky laminate cabinets installed so poorly that they are now falling off the wall!) are destined for demolition. I'll get my handyman to rip them out and patch the wall. Then, after new coat of paint, I'll put up more super solid shelving.

Even before the cabinets come down, though, the studio is ready for business, and I am finally breathing a sigh of relief. Which means, of course, that I find something else that desperately needs to be redone. Given the stacks of stuff that now needed to be carried from the studio to the garage, the choice was obvious.

The garage really does relate to the studio because that's where we store supplies that we don't need often - like canvases, wooden boxes, tins, and so on. I already have them stored in big cabinets, which would be just fabulous if I could get to them. And I have power tools that I could use to create shadow boxes for my art, if I had space to set them up. But instead, I have a whole bunch of stuff on the garage floor that gets in the way.

So, I did what any sane person would do. I took everything on the garage floor and put it on my driveway so I could look at it. Now, this seems like a great idea when you watch it on Clean Sweep, but if you are just one person, it is not as clever a tactic as you might think. After all, it takes a lot of effort to move the contents of a two-car garage onto the driveway. And once you do, you realize...you're going to have to move it all back! Closing my eyes and thinking, "You may wink out of existence now. I will count to three. 1, 2, 3!" didn't do the trick. The stuff just stayed there, heavy and accusatory. Stupid useless magic.

I looked through everything and sorted it all into haul, donate, freecycle, and store piles. Yes, I know, I did this before...but we decided to give more up things since then, plus we moved in boxes from another house, so it's a new ball game. While I was going through everything, I decided to go ahead and un-box some shop items, too, so I could get rid of the packaging. That turned out to be a good idea, as the shop tools then spent time winking at me suggestively while I worked, and the flirting was rather inspiring. I mean, imagine if I could use them!

So, I cleaned, decided on zones and pathways, then I moved it all back in. Except for the hauling. Whew!

Because I am who I am, while I worked I created a To Do list. I ended up with 19 follow-up tasks. Mon dieu! (This is everything from sorting specialized stuff to posting items on eBay to ordering more shelves for the big cabinets). I tell ya, I'm not sure it's always a good thing to be able to instantly see the big picture and break it down into strategy. Oh, sure, I'm confident this is what needs to be done. But I also am confident that after looking at the list, I want a nap!

What's next, though, is to call the haulers and start checking off items on that list. Not to mention, walk around my studio and say things aloud so that I can hear the echo! Making art again will come soon. For now, I am reveling in the pleasure of space. Mmmmmmm...

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