When we moved here in July of 2018 I set up my art studio in our large loft area. Here is a photo of what it looked like at that time.
In February of 2019 we got a new lounge chair for our living room and moved the old one up stairs to the loft. A month later we decided we needed a futon because we were having a lot of company and sometimes we need more sleeping area than just our guest room. We moved the grids that you see in the above photo to make room for the chair and futon. Below is a photo of the new additions.
In July of 2019 our grand-daughter Samantha moved in with us and, since she is an artist, we rearranged the studio so that she and I could share the space. The next photo shows how we did that.
When Sam got married and moved out a month ago it was time to make another change in the loft. I had an idea that I would like to divide the large loft into two rooms. My thought was to build a wall to allow for a nice sitting room and a separate art studio. My reason for this was because my studio is always messy looking no matter how hard I try to keep it neat. I really did not need all the space in the loft now that I did not have to share it with someone. It would be nice to have guests not have to see all my mess and also have the comfy sitting room along with the guest room.
Roger and I talked my idea over and did a lot of measuring and decided it would be possible to divide the area into two rooms but we also wondered how it would look. We would hate to start such a major project and then not like the results. That is when I came up with another idea. (My brain is always working overtime!) I suggested that we "build" a temporary wall using my grid wall panels. When they are stretched out side by side they total 16 feet which was the exact size of the wall we would build. So, that is what we did. Once they were up I remembered that I had some curtains stored away that I had from my house in Michigan. Again, they were the exact size the we need to back the grid wall panels and also make a doorway into the art studio. The photos below show the results of this transformation from one large room into two rooms. The first set of photos are the sitting room.
When you pull back the curtain you enter the art studio.
Welcome to my new studio. It is more than enough room for me. I have my painting area, an area for my sewing machine, a table for prepping canvas and another table for framing. I love it and when it is a mess all I have to do is pull the curtain!
I am so glad we decided to put up the grids as a temporary wall to see if we wanted to build a permanent wall. Once we saw how nice it looked we made a decision on what we would do. What we decided is that we would leave it as is and save ourselves the expense and work of putting up a solid 2X4 wall. The way it is now serves the purpose of dividing the area into two rooms and if we decide in the future that we want to open the loft up again it will be easy to do.
The last time I did a painting was in February. When the pandemic started I lost interest in canvas painting because I knew everything would be closed and I there would not be any art shows or contests. I did not want to build up a large inventory of paintings with nowhere to show them so I started doodling. If you look at my past posts for 2020 you can see some of the doodles I have done through out the year.
When the loft area completed I looked at the old beat up coffee table I had in the sitting room and had a vision of it becoming an artistic focal point in the room. My desire for painting came back. Most of you know how much I love to paint roses so that is what I did on the coffee table. Here is the new and improved coffee table.
When I finished the table Roger suggested another project for me. We had moved a small 2 door cabinet from our bedroom to the loft and once we had it in place we thought the color did not look good in the room. Here is a photo of that cabinet and also a before photo of the coffee table.
Before I did the table Roger painted the cabinet in a more pleasing color. If you scroll back to the sitting room photos you will see the re-painted cabinet. When Roger saw what I did with the coffee table he said I should do some decorative painting on the doors of the cabinet. I liked that idea so that will be my next project. I have been tossing around some thoughts of what subject I will paint on the doors and will get out my sketch pad and put those ideas on paper later today. You can look forward to my next blog post featuring the finished cabinet.
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