studio — Page 17

A Hutch for the Studio

October 10, 2010 at 7:15 pm by Claudia

Thanks for all your supportive comments on the newly painted table! I’m really loving the change. Since the kitchen and living room are open to each other and I have 3 darker pieces in the living room, this lighter version of the table makes a big difference. After the table, I moved on to touching up all the chips on the kitchen island. It definitely takes a beating. I’m throwing a couple of coats of Varathane on it, as well.

When I posted for Where Bloggers Create, I mentioned that I was on the lookout for a cabinet for my little studio. Today, via Craig’s List, I found one – just down the road from MHC. My thought was to find a kitchen hutch like the one I already have in our kitchen. Made in the 30’s and 40’s for kitchens without much storage space, they are compact and don’t take up much space. And that is a real necessity in my upstairs hall aka studio. This little hutch is quite interesting. My neighbor told me that it had been in her family for at least 60 years.

It needs cleaning up – and perhaps a new paint job? Husband rather likes the way it looks now. I’m going to scrub it more thoroughly tomorrow. There was ugly contact paper on the shelves, which I removed. Gosh, it is so hard to take a photo in this part of the hallway. I have to hang precariously over the stairway and it ain’t easy for this tired woman. Here’s a close-up of the funky handles on the drawer and doors.

Funky…but I rather like them. I’m going to paint a couple of pieces in the bedroom, too. Yes, I am on a tear. Something about Autumn and the crisp air brings the Supernester out in me. I also think it gives me a focus and keeps me from dwelling too much on other ‘worrying’ things.

Thank goodness, Don is rather good natured about the whole thing. One minute he’s relaxing, the next we’re in the car on the way to buy a hutch. Later, he’s watching baseball and suddenly he finds himself helping me maneuver the hutch up our stairway. Tomorrow, I will ask him to help me move the craft table out to the shed. (Don’t tell him yet.) I’ve decided there isn’t enough room for it. I can pull the sewing machine out of the sewing table and use it as a craft table when necessary. Have a wonderful Monday.

In Which I Talk about Various Things

September 9, 2010 at 8:42 am by Claudia

This is what I call a “potpourri post.” Do you like that alliteration? Me, too. I have little snippets to share with you, none of them weighty enough to merit their own post. So, I’m tossing them all together. Here we go:

We live in the country but on a very busy – annoyingly busy – road. That’s a whole other post. We are unable to walk the dogs on our road because there is no shoulder and it is too dangerous. So we load them in the car and drive a few hundred feet to a quiet little lane. I walk by this sign frequently but it took my husband to point out the…umm…rather frightening implications here.

Yes, the road is a dead end. It ends at the edge of a local river. But…those are bullet holes, my friends. Need I say more?

After a hot, dry summer, we were graced with lots of rain and I noticed the grass in the back forty was alarmingly overgrown. So I spent the afternoon recently plowing through it with our lawnmower. You can see the edge of the woods that is on our property. A few years back, husband made a couple of paths that cut through the trees. We would often walk through the woods and be transported to a quiet, magical world. I still do sometimes. But we have found out the hard way that ticks live there. Husband has battled Lyme disease, and last spring when I was searching for rocks and clearing out the paths, I had a few encounters with them. So, we tend to avoid the woods…and the paths get overgrown. However, I’m sure I’ll bundle up, plaster myself with bug spray and try to clear them out once again next year.

Why is this here? I just like the photo. My impatiens are still blooming in various pots on the porch, I love the sign that lives on the bench and you can see pieces of the old army cot we found at a yard sale – remember? – and have yet to put together. If I had to hazard a guess I would say that it will not be put together this year. One more thing to pack away in the shed this winter.

I took this photo because the dappled light was so lovely. I was positioned in the dog corral. Don made that sort of temporary patio last year and we added the birdbath and flower barrels. The parking area is just to the left of the barrels. Love, love the sugar maple and the willow. And the porch, of course.

I found this doily roll in an antique shop last year.

The embroidery was so beautiful that I couldn’t resist, although I had no idea what I was going to do with it. The other day, I hit upon an idea.

A perfectly lovely cover for the sewing machine – the roll acts as a weight and the cover stays in place. And the colors fit right in the studio.

That’s the news from around my world on a Thursday morning.

Around the Studio

July 27, 2010 at 2:51 pm by Claudia

I decide to clean up the studio today. Let’s not even mention the need for major cleaning in the bathrooms, the kitchen, the office, shall we? I grabbed some time while Don was home so Mr. Riley wouldn’t become obsessed with the fact that I was upstairs while he was downstairs. This happens when the other human in the house isn’t around to keep him company downstairs; you can hear him pace back and forth, toenails clicking on the wood floor. Pretty soon, you’re going insane and you give up and go downstairs. Anyway, I dusted, polished, reorganized – somehow it’s more fun when all this cleaning has to be done in your “fun place.”

Two of my California finds have found their way to the studio. Yes, I am still in love with the glove box. How could I not be? And there’s my little California talc tin. Yummy prettiness.

When I put in the design wall, I had to cut out a hole for the light switch. It always looked a little sloppy, I must say. Today I spied some of Jill’s wonderful stamped muslin and a lightbulb went on in my noggin. Now it looks much better!

While I was working, the sunlight coming through the skylight was brutal. I’ve been pondering this problem for a while. Elyse, I looked over at the little pink chicks you gave me and they were white. What the…??? So I rigged up something temporary until I actually install a curtain rod. What do you think?

Yes, the net curtains from IKEA are back. They have served me well while staying in temporary digs in San Diego. Now they have a new home. You can’t beat the price. I think they were $4.00 and I’ve used them over and over. Don’t tell anyone, but I thumbtacked them to the wall. Yes, I did. That’s why spackle was invented.