simply me

welcome to my home studio...

many people ask if i film inspiration wednesday offsite at donna downey STUDIOS

no i never have, i have always filmed from my home studio space.

i like the quiet. i am more creative at home and i can get more done.

it might go without saying to most of you, but it is important to have a space that inspires and encourages you to create either by function or aesthetics.

for 1 year i have been dreaming (ok obsessing) over designing this new home studio space...one that greets me each day with possibility.

my new space is in what should be the "formal dining room" of the new house

you might be thinking..."odd, where do they gather?"

actually the eat in kitchen is so large it fits my dining room table!

that meant the dining room was up for grabs! :)

so that posed 2 potential problems

1. it is the first room you see when you enter through the front door, how do we close it off?
2. how do we design it to be an artsy but functional space and furnish it to look...presentable

the first one was easy.

pre-construction we added french doors in what would have been an open doorway and a pocket door in the pass through to the kitchen

the second one took me months to decide on

what i knew for sure was i wanted a large work surface, concealed storage and bold pops of color

easy right? my god i deliberated...i more knew what i didnt want than what i did.

i wanted restoration hardware, but not the price tag, lol!

Robby Gunter, a good friend and coach of McKenna's softball team, is a master cabinet maker and custom made this incredible table. i sketched up what i wanted and it is exactly as i dreamed, right down to the custom color stain.

the table is 5' x 8', it is a monster! it stands at counter height because i am a stander and has a row of 3 drawers on each side with a 20" shelf that runs along the bottom for storage

i wanted a table that i could SPREAD out my stuff on while i am working (making a mess) as well as a space that allowed my children to join me for a chat or for play!

next i bought this amazing poppy rug! i mean its perfect, hello!

liz, the shipping manager at my STUDIO gave me a Grandin Road catalog and i fell head over heals for this rug. had to have it. kept me up at night for a week. finally bill told me if i didnt just buy it he would kill me, lol! that set the design in motion.

next on my list, the perfect chair.

my previous space was quite small and i had always wanted a chair to journal, gather my thoughts, think, whatever. i looked for months and finally a good friend said why dont you just get one made?

holy hell, you can get chairs custom made!!!!!

i found Heather Helseth on etsy and based off the photo i sent her of the poppy carpet we came up with this beautiful chair design. i love the fact that this was once an old chair that no one loved anymore and it is now redesigned and brings so much joy!!

this incredible chest of drawers we found by chance at of all places a lighting store...and better yet it was 45% off! however they didn't deliver and they would only hold it for 10 days after purchase (stupid right?). for 6 weeks i waited praying nobody would buy it.
i literally fit almost my entire studio in this piece

wanna see what's in my drawers? watch this all 12 drawers in order

 

one of the most important purchases in my room is my tabletop cutting mat. i have always used one from this company and they will custom cut your mat to any size you need. i got lucky and they sell a 5'x8' mat

it not only protects my tabletop, but also when i switch from sewing to other projects it is the perfect work surface and is pretty indestructible.

rhino mat

i am still decorating. i want to add bold beautiful colors with meaningful pieces and of course art (literally and figuratively, lol)

 

this is the first piece of art produced in my new space...i love it!

i love the height of the moldings in this room, but not perfect for hanging all sizes of art, however a 30x30" canvas fits perfectly!

and its new sister

and the last and perhaps the happiest space is my easel in the bank of windows.

(insert one long sigh of pure contentment)

personal creative/artist spaces are something i love to see.

i hope you enjoyed this look into mine as much as much as i loved sharing it.

stencil storage

i think functional stencil storage is one of life's great mysteries!

i love stencils and as you can see i have a few....but storing them is a bitch.

i am NOT the kind of person to use my stencils...clean them...place them gently back into their packaging AT ALL. as a matter of fact the ones you see hanging in the packaging are either duplicate sample runs of my own personal line or brand spanking new ones i bought and have never been used (but i have them if i want them, dont judge! LOL).

after about 2 weeks of boring the hell out of my husband babbling on and on about my ideal storage and how come there isnt anything out there...Bill finally turned to me and said, "so make it yourself."

what?!! that just gave me something else to obsess about!! however at 3AM the next morning, i woke straight up out of bed and began sketching my idea out. 

by that afternoon (black friday) i was walking out of Lowes hardware with a cart full of pre-cut wood to my dimensions, wood glue, wheels, screws and a nail gun!

with the necessary guidance of the lowes employee we made some structural changes to not only make it more lightweight, but also cheaper.

i would call this a prototype...if i built it again (or when i build it again) i would make some changes, like maybe make it thinner, but for the most part it is so functional for my needs.

it is 2 sided so it holds a "shit-ton" of stencils. i can see them all at a glance. they don't stick or get tangled up in each other and i can organize them just as i want. the best part is because it is on wheels it is fully mobile.

both the bars and clips are from ikea. (i had these already because of the storage in my other house and really designed the frame around them.)

right now the top of it has artwork in the beginning stages drying. i have been using it a make shift worksurface at times too.

i contemplated painting it, but really i kinda like it raw...perhaps the next one i think i would make it industrial looking. like using reclaimed wood and metal brackets, but to be honest my cabinetry skills are not quite what they need to be at this point so i opted for the path of least resistance.

overall it took us about 2 hours to build start to finish and without the cost of the nail gun, approximately $80. however i must say, i totally LOVE the nail gun!

i know it might not be the solution for everyone, but what do you think? and if you have ideas for storing your stencils I WANT TO HEAR IT. i am a voyeristic creative space lover of all organization ideas!!