Office Space...little things

Little things...the details are what make decorating a room fun for me. I take a slow approach. I will be working in the office...then I decide to arrange things differently or to bring something in from another room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This lamp has a rice paper shade (flea market find).....with a pretty oversize Conso tassel (Tuesday Morning Outlet)....set on a (red) typewriting textbook (which is the same one I had in high school...Trader Bakers)...and there is the fabric ( Vogue Fabric booth at the Houston Quilt Show several years ago) which I draped over the window.

 

 

 

 

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Black and White Office with Color

I love the idea of a black and white office.....but I really like color. I took color cues from my "Turtle Rose" quilt. I found the great orange chair, made the Rose Tile pillow, painted the little leaf shelf....so much fun. It almost makes working in the office bearable.

 

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Thrift Store Office

 

A trip to Trader Bakers yielded some great office additions. I found a student's hand copies of two of Thomas Weston's cadels....the letters L and Z. I attached them to the side of my black file cabinet with magnets. Aren't they lovely!

Thomas Weston's Cadels

One things leads to another.....

 

The black magazine holders (a previous thrift store find) look great on top of the file cabinet. I numbered white cards with some black vinyl numbers I had. The slinky has always been in the office....it is important to my work!

Office Upcycle

I use the vintage hole punch in my art book work.....I love this new corner in my office....upcycling makes me happy!

Terry

 

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Office Updates

My office is a nice little room at the end of my house. There is a good window in front of my desk with a view of our quiet street....and closer, a big tree....and closer, my garden with the rock and slab path....and closer, small trees and shade flowers.

Of course, It is February right now, so I'm thinking of the flowers.

I have an aversion to office work and computer work. It is very difficult for me to be good and do this kind of work. I would rather stitch, paint and draw....I would rather make things and do things to my house.

So, I play with the office when I'm in the office.....here is my wonderful outdated Boombox with tapes and CD's. It all fit on a little file cabinet to the left of my desk......rock on!

Porch Swing

The Oak Leaf Quilt has been through a lot of life. It was made in the 60's and it was in rough shape when I acquired it. I had to cut out sections that were too far gone, cut the good parts and stitch them back together. It is the perfect size for a cushion on our swing.

The two afghans were bought at different times. I had the red stripe one on the back of the swing...then, brought the blue star afghan home from the thrift store and put in on the swing...and, what!...it's the American flag!

 

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Red Metal Kitchen Cabinet

This is how I found it. A green metal kitchen cabinet at the St.Vincent DePaul Thrift Store in Owensboro,Kentucky. It was the right measurements! It was the right thing! It had cabinets below! It had a countertop! It had sliding glass in front of shelves on top!

It was exactly what I wanted! It was $40 bucks!

Deb was with me and she said, "Oh my gosh, Terry, it is perfect!

Yes, perfect!.....except for the color...it needed to be cherry red.

......so, now it is! Check.

I needed the lower cabinets hold all my kitchen machines....blenders, crockpot, air popcorn popper, yogurt maker, mixer waffle maker and vegetable cutting machines. Check.

I needed the counter top for our coffee station. Check.

 

I wanted shelves in back of sliding glass doors to display my Bull and my china. Check.

....and it wasn't too tall, so that I could display my kitchen toys on the top. Check...and check!

YAY!

So, Deb says that I always find just the right thing all the time, like magic. The truth is that I've been looking for something like this as I went on junking adventures for the last 12 years...so, Yay!

Enjoy the Hunt!

Terry

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Turtle Basket Makeover

My Brother Gave me this ugly old sewing basket.....he said that I would know what to do with it.....well, it just so happens that I did know what to do with it. I neede some storage in my bathroom. I needed something to store our extras...soap, shampoo, etc. So, this would be just the right size to fit on top of the bathroom shelves.

The first step, rip out the innards and paint with acrylic paint.

The next step....paint the outside. I used several colors of acrylic paints to get a soft soft soft yellow.

I used several layers of paint....letting them dry in between coats. This way, the fabric (and batting underneath the fabric) has a chance to dry thoroughly. Each coat of paint is a mix of yellow, sand and white colors. The effect on the fabric is a suede look. I lightly  brushed the wicker with white paint.

I also trimmed with turquoise paint.

This is a Tjap (pronounced something like "chop") which I bought from Judy Gula of Artistic Artifacts....she has amazingly cool stuff! The Turtle Tjap was used to create a wax relief for batik.

I decided to use the Turtle Tjap as a stamp.

I painted turquoise paint onto the Tjap and stamped it. Yes....I did several tests to be sure things would go well.

Okay, so this was cool....I picked up this trim at a thrift shop while the turtles were drying!!!! I know! How does that little perfect thing happen? I cut out and glued little suns on the basket.

Here is a detail. Then, of course, the next step was to trim with turquoise paint.

After! Basket Makeover! Turtle Basket is in its place and doing its job......and I like it....so does Scot.YAY!

Magazine Basket ReDo

Okay, so I have been a turtle in my shell for awhile now. The past year has been full of family drama and  big health (life) scares. Things have settled down and things are much much better.

I am now working with an iPad instead of my PC. I have used Word Office Suite for the past ten years. I was really good at it. I wrote three books, did blogs, made packaging and design work and magazine articles. I have to move forward and learn everything new......so, I am making this blog in the Blogger App for my iPad......we'll see.

I just wish that they would make a Rosetta Stone for Microsoft to Apple.

Here is my latest upcycled project. It is a small thing, (but as I said, I'm testing a new format and I'm trying to make the test easy.) It is a magazine rack which I picked up at Trader Bakers for $1.25. I love the form and especially the little wooden beads. The painted part is a cute old fashioned design, but the color had to be changed. The condition is also great.....yay!

The only thing I needed to do was to paint a little bit with red and white paints. Easily done in front of the tv one evening while watching a rerun of Elementary.

How cute, right?

So, the red beads made me think of cherries. I have a cherry print fabric.....

....I may not even make a liner for the basket.....maybe I'll just cut the fabric into pieces and stuff them into the divided sections and then come up with a brilliant cherry project.

Some projects just continue for awhile....

Enjoy the Process!

Terry

Drawing Room- Art Studio Makeover

The new Design Studio is finished.....until things change! I call it the Drawing Room because I mostly Draw in here.

Enter My Design Studio

After installing the yellow school lockers, I put the red bookcases on either side. I had to think of curtains. I wanted a strong color to balance the red and yellow...hmmm...blue completes the primary colors already in place. Now, this is cool...I had major yardage of this blue velvet (yes, Blue Velvet!) which my daughter had given me from an in law of hers. How perfect!

 

Red Book Cases

Here is the stack of red book cases to the left of the lockers. I love the paper bag color on the wall. My special "art pieces" look like they are in a gallery.

My "Blue Boy" is a prize possession.

This art collection consists of an unpainted plaster "Blue Boy" ($2 from a thrift store); My drawing after a sketch by Leonardo Da Vinci; Shadow box of thinking monkeys ($1.50 from thrift store); Little clay pots which I untangled from a macrame net ($1 yard sale).

Red Book Case

Here are the stacked red book cases to the right of the lockers. It is so great to have all my books in one place.

Shoe Form Assemblage

The great shoe forms finally have a place. The boxes are each $1 finds from junking days. The little chalkboard (So sweet) has the original mmm's that were there when I bought the chalkboard for $2 somewhere.  I sprayed the chalkboard with a fixative so that the mmm's will stay put.

Even though space for storage is always at a premium, I decided to give myself a treat by having these small spaces dedicated to somewhat orderly assemblages.

Small Art Studio Make Over (second installment)

Over the years, I've had so much fun going foraging and bringing home parts and pieces for my constantly moving and changing studio spaces. Here are some of the pieces that I like and need for the space....

I have red book cases, one of which I purchased at a yard sale about 25 years ago. The other ones are made of the drawers which I took out of a dresser.

6 Drawers Make 3 Book Cases

 The dresser is now storage for papers and current design work. I added a "folded up" folding table to the top for a real good work surface.

Open Shelving For Design Work and Papers

I needed the book cases just for books. My book collection is the biggest investment I've made next to my house. Research, inspiration and education are critical to me for my development as an artist. I live in a place where there are very few museums or cultural centers. So, I depend on the internet, travel and my books to continue my art education.

Storage Containers "Before"

Here are a couple of storage containers I bought from my favorite flea market guy, Jeff. They cost $5 and are perfect for roll storage. These containers afforded me an afternoon of makeover fun!

Flea Market Embellishments

I painted the containers white. Then added things found at flea markets. The numbers are big black plastic and used for outside signage. String and tags added make me think of import storage containers.

Stickers Add a Red Stripe Trim

These red and white stickers have been a lot of fun to play with. I have about ten rolls of them and they fit in my vintage tape dispenser.

Storage Containers "After"

I like to decorate my containers because playing like this relaxes me and sometimes sparks new ideas for artwork.

Small Art Studio Make Over (first installment)

Recent Drawing Room

 The "Drawing Room" is the room I draw in. I have paper and coloring materials, a light table, drafting table, layout table, layout boards, my art books, book projects, idea folders, space for drawings in use and anything else that I want for the purposes of design work.

Drawing Room 2 years ago

This room has traveled back and forth between two spaces way too many times.

Small Drawing Room Before

 So, once and for all, I had to make the decision that it needed to be bolted to the ground in one room for good!

Too Much Clutter!

 I took a good look and made my list:
#1. The first thing I needed was closed storage because everything was out in the open and it was too distracting to work in there.
#2. I decided that I was going to finally use my gallon of mis-tinted paint ($32 paint I got for $3!..yay!) in paper lunch bag color.
#3. I wanted all of my art books on the bookcases with nothing else on them.
#4.I decided all peripheral projects and materials needed to go to the "Out Room". The "Out Room" is a room in the house that has an outside door. I use it for painting furniture, refinishing, cleaning flea finds, hammering and sawing things, storage and keeping garden stuff.
#5. I needed my worktables to have nothing on them so that I could use them for current work. So, this meant more pairing down of excess stuff. This process took several rounds of serious selection.
#6. I wanted this room to be my own space, so the things that might end up hanging on the walls for decoration would be chosen only on the criteria that I loved to look at them. That is my only explanation for the final look of the room.

For #1:
I went on a foraging trip with my good friend Stefanie and found this at Don's Consignment in Owensboro Kentucky! This is a bank of three yellow school lockers! I have red bookcases! This is beyond perfect!

Yellow School Lockers for closed storage

For #2:
I had to move stuff out of the room and paint before the lockers came home.

Here are some of my art books

Scot helped me to move my books...he said...too many books....then, he helped me to paint.

Paper bag color on walls

I love the color of this paint. It is a warm neutral and a great background for primary colors. Which, as you will see, is important!....to be continued............

Elegant T.P. Holder

We have been working on our bathroom for quite some time, now. So, while I'm patiently waiting for everybody to do their thing, I am doing my thing....and my thing is to make lovely bathroom accessories.

This is how I made my simple but elegant T.P. holder. I have seen some things on the Internet similar to this.

DIY T.P. Holder

Here are two candle sticks which cost a total of $1.34 at my Salvation Army Thrift Store in Owensboro, Ky.

Centering Glass Candlestick

I am measuring all around the small candlestick on the top of the large candlestick for accurate placement.

Mark Placement With Pencil

I am using a glue which is supposed to hold glass and metal together even when wet or outside (time will tell). The glue is to be applied on both surfaces and let to cure for 5 minutes.

I Read Directions

I like to use my vintage timer for this.

I like the Rocket Design

I place the small candlestick on the large candlestick, weight it and wait for two hours.

Anything That Works is a Weight

Here is the finished T.P. holder with T.P. in its place.

Elegant TP Holder

 My family likes it.