We’ve had a pretty busy time over the last couple of weeks as we had a sneaky trip to Yorkshire, our eldest graduated from university, we had a brilliant evening at Kew the Music watching Mika (and even managed to stay dry), and we’ve been finalising plans for the garden studio, which is due to be installed in August.
Now that the garden room is getting closer to becoming a reality, I’m beginning to think about what I really want from the space, and how I can make it as perfectly usable as possible and the best way to do that is to create some dedicated spaces for specific tasks.
Several years ago, I set up a space of my own in the corner of our loft bedroom and it’s been great but has slowly expanded down most of one side of the room. The storage has been quite good, as I have things tucked away all over the place, but the biggest drawback has been lack of space to paint as I only have my desk to work on and this limits the size of painting I can create and also means I’m constantly packing up and moving things around if I need my desk space for something else, which is just annoying.
So, my most important, top of the list, no. 1 item, is having a dedicated space to paint – a creative, messy area; a place where I don’t have to worry about flicking or dripping paint and somewhere I don’t have to pack away at the end of every day. That being said, and so that the hubby doesn’t panic when he reads this, I will be protecting the new wall and floor beforehand!
The next key area is probably storage and organisation. Anyone who knows me will know I’m quite an organised person. I like to know I have a place for stuff, and I like to be able to find it again. So, there will be one messy area and the rest will stay pretty tidy.
Most of my current storage works perfectly and will just move down, but we’ll be installing some open shelving for books, brushes, paints, crayons, charcoal and other materials so they’re nice and easily grabbable.
My desk, which by now should be quite clear, will be reserved for all admin related things, with another workspace/desk/or one long table which can be used for sewing, packing, framing, photographing, spare desk etc.
And that’s about it for the key elements for the moment. I want it to be quite a flexible space and I’m sure it’ll evolve as we actually start using it, but it’s exciting for me… and just another place to snooze for the dog!