Nuts and bolts
A few last minute pix are here. My daughter said she wanted to see where the washer and dryer now live (on the opposite wall). Not pretty but you get the gist.

Back in business
A quick attempt at reassembling the room. I love my floating display shelves. Corkboards from Target (just in time for back-to-school). I'm back to work in a much improved environment.

I used to work in a 3' space on a wall shared with the washer and dryer. Now the whole 9' counter is mine.

I should admit that I have a wall of storage in the adjoining kitchen/dining room as well. In this renovated studio/laundry space space I can keep projects out and close the door to keep work in progress out of view.

Counter and storage in
Elfa baskets with homemade support structure. It should work well. Ah, the benefits of being married to a cabinetmaker.

Painting's done: home stretch
I love my gray/blue walls. They're sometimes blue, sometimes gray with a hint of green. Very changeable. This picture doesn't really do the color justice. Going with my gut was a good idea though the bright blue hanging lamp shade will have to be replaced with a polymer version in a more harmonious color.

And the structure for the storage is in. Decided on Elfa baskets rather than cabinets. Plastic looked temporary. Cabinets looked too kitcheny and would invite messiness behind doors. Baskets out of natural material or cloth might not withstand my abuse. These metal mesh baskets can be pulled out and toted wherever I need. We'll see if this is a good game plan. Countertop tomorrow.

Spackle Drying

Progress came to a halt as the traces of past lives were filled in, plastered over and left to dry. We worked around Blair's son's growth chart. That section of wall can never be painted.

While we waited, Blair pitched out basement debris and was able to let loose of three large string art paintings from the late 60's. This is quite an accomplishment for a long-haired, bandana-wearing man.

I spent an inordinate amount of time at the Container Store trying to envision how best to organize my new space. I know that this is a fantasy and that no $40 box is going to be the answer to life's problems.

The spot-on psychology of that store and its implicit promises are frighteningly seductive. Why do the school locker accessories fascinate me? "You have no locker," I remind myself. I ignore the voice and purchase a magnetic basket. Go figure.

Egg-colored studio

Dealing with the laundry/studio supplies stacked in the kitchen and dining room made me grumpy. Fimo and Draino in the same pile disrupts my sense of the order of the universe. It's that end-of-summer, not quite fall, hot as hell state fair time.

Then I remembered that I'm retired and I no longer have to set up fair displays in the sweltering heat. Today we have a working washer and dryer! My attitude is improving.

I picked out a paint based on nothing but gut feeling. The color made me happy and reminded me of the fresh blue/green Ameraucana eggs we gathered in Santa Fe. It will be a few weeks before my husband notices that I spent $50 for a gallon of paint (eco-friendly, odorless, one-coat, very hip). I can have a studio painted in "tranquility" and allow children to nibble on my woodwork. Priceless.

The countertop laminate is called "spa". Seems I have a theme going.

Pictures tomorrow. Keep those comments coming.

Artwork on hold this week...

The studio area my polymer clay work shares with the washer and dryer had become too congested and my husband offered to reconfigure the room to give me more workspace. This involves moving water lines and heating vents in addition to putting in new counters and cabinets. We're in a mess.

My husband's a cabinetmaker and it's daunting to know that whatever I request, he'll build. What do I want from my studio?

Even though he offered to build me a whole new room, I know that a small space helps keeps me focused. And I like being near the center of the action just off the kitchen (no surprise for a middle child and a communicator). I have had basement and upstairs studios in my homes over the years and I never felt completely comfortable in them. I love the look of cottage retreats and soaring lofts but being in a separate building feels like punishment to me.

Here's what other artists have said of their studios. Yeah! Leonardo daVinci liked small spaces too!

I'll post pictures here as we progress.