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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Studio All Tidy and Organized

If you remember back a month or so, I showed some pictures of the studio-to-be, which at that time was total chaos. Cartons and bins stacked head-high, storage cabinets and desks in all the wrong places, looms in pieces, and no possibility of finding anything!

Things have certainly improved since then, which reduces my stress levels a lot. Not only is the studio organized enough to weave in, all the bins are in their rightful places, papers filed, magazines and binders on shelves, and no more crap piled on the floor!

When our house in San Jose went on the market, I packed all my yarns and fiber in cardboard cartons or plastic bins. Each was numbered and inventoried before going out to the garage for storage, because the real estate agent wanted 'em out of sight. That was a royal pain, because over the 10 months the house was on the market, every time I needed yarn for the next project, I had to go find bin #29 or whatever, which was (naturally) always on the bottom of the stack. Now all the bins are either in the closet - arranged in numeric order so I can find 'em easily!!! - which has a copy of the inventory list pinned to the wall, or in the bathtub, which is small enough that I don't need a numbering system. There's even room in the closet for the rack of finished goods - scarves waiting to be sold to good homes :)

Here's the loom side of the room, with 2 scarves' worth of warp still waiting for me to get back to work. Notice there are no boxes in sight!




You nearly had a tiny glimpse of the corner of my grandmother's footstool that I use to sit at low elevation to adjust weighted canisters holding replacement warp threads, but it got cropped out of this shot. My knees and the tile floor aren't on speaking terms - low seating is the only option. The footstool is a thing of beauty - wood base built by my grandfather, top upholstered with needlepoint made by my grandmother. I'll take a picture or two to post at a later date.

And here's the view looking toward the bathroom door (on the left) and the balcony door (right).



These oak cabinets are about 4th hand, and at least 25 years old (and out-of-date stylewise) but they're incredibly sturdy and will probably outlast me. They're all just about as loaded down as they can be, so they'll only budge in an earthquake. They still need DH to anchor them to the wall for real stability - this is earthquake country, although we're not as close to a major faultline as we were in San Jose.

You might be able to guess I'm a neat-freak. Nobody else would crow about achieving tidyness, right?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I don't know.... I wouldn't describe myself as a neat freak but I do need a tidy studio to feel relaxed and free to create. June was a month of too many deadlines for me and things got out of control, so when the deadlines were met the first thing I did was TIDY UP!

DEEP END OF THE LOOM said...

You are not alone, chaotic work spaces make me panicky as if the walls a closing in. I organize for clients as a side business so, I can say I'm organized and clean (clean is a big one for me) and some mess for a lived in look LOL.
Your studio looks great and your cabinets are antiques don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Some antique store would sell those to you for an arm and a leg! Have a great day.

Gingerbreadshouse7 said...

I'm a newbie in weaving and just stopped by to see if I could learn something...I'm leaving very depressed! I will never be able to do the beautiful work I see that you doing...and I love that you kept the family antiques, it's truly the best treasures...and the studio gives me ambition to clean mine up a bit...Have another blessed day.....Ginny