A Tale of Two Rooms

 

I’ve been working from home for the past few years and I truly love it.  I am much more productive and less distracted so I can get more done from home.  I am the type of person who works all day, every day,  so having my “stuff”  around me here is a great benefit.  Up until the last year I had my office and my studio in the same room and it tended to get cramped and very messy at times.  The office is right off my master bedroom and you can see it from there so I like to have it neat and tidy if I can.  So, after my daughter was gone at college for three years I decided to bite the bullet and take over her bedroom as my new art studio. 

Now I have plenty of room for my sewing machines, fabric, art supplies and everything else.  It is still very much a work in progress.  I am looking forward to putting up some Jackie Von Tobel drapery hardware from Helser Brothers soon so keep tuned. 

 

I did this room on a serious budget of $100.  I used all existing furniture that I had.  ( Yes, I can be a pack rat and had a lot of stuff in my garage including some old furniture I had made for my husbands office that he outgrew)   The only thing I bought was a few gallons of white paint and a couple of unfinished doors to serve as tabletops.  I slapped a coat of white paint on everything, including the floor, and called it a day! 

 

My favorite piece in the studio is a rolling cart that my sister Trudi gave to me.  I can roll it out into the center of the room and walk around it 360’ or I can tuck it neatly under my larger table so it’s out of the way.  I am also filling the walls with my kids art that they did as little ones.  I would much rather look at that than anything else.

 

I have tons of storage plus a huge closet that is far to messy to show you.  I’m sure I will fill it up in no time.  My office helpers above are hard at work fighting with each other!   Just like the real thing…..

 

This is what they can usually be found doing.

 

I love working in the new room.  It is so bright and sun filled and most of all it’s a constant reminder of my beautiful girl.  I left her yellow paint just as it was, warts and all.  It makes me smile every time I walk in there. 

 

You would think with all this new studio space that my old office would be perfectly organized and never messy but here is my desk today.  It’s just as crazy as ever but that’s how I like it.

My Office Makes its Debut on Material Girls

Thanks loads to the great gals over at Material Girls Blog for featuring my home in their Design Bloggers Homes series. I only sent in pictures of my office because I don’t have any good photos of the rest of the house. I plan to remedy that soon and show you the rest of my home so stay tuned.

Marty had his glamour shot in the post. There will be no living with him now.

Here are a few pictures of my office before my remodel last year. I really love working in it now. It is bright and cheerful and everything is easy to find.

The fireplace is now covered up with my fabric rack but I never use it anyway.

I thought I had a ton of storage in the beginning but I’ve since filled it up and overflowed into my upstairs library. I use my son Geordies room for storage as well (he’s in college).

Here is the office as it is today minus the usual mess.

I still haven’t got any window treatments up - you know what they say about the shoemakers children having no shoes! Hopefully I will take care of that soon.

I Have a New Baby at Home

After almost three years of working exclusively on a laptop to the detriment of both my eyesight and my posture I have decided to expand the family.



Meet my new baby, a double wide, super charged, 24" supersized window into my world.

Notice the comparison to my now dwarfed laptop (please forgive the gross fingerprints on the screen ). Now don't get me wrong, I still love my Sony and it has served me very well but it has seriously messed up my eyesight and has caused all of my back muscled to atrophy due to what I call "laptop fatigue". This occurs after years of sitting every day with your laptop on your lap with your body reclined in a cushy office chair and your feet up on your desk. Not the position one should spend 99% of their waking hours in. The extent of my muscle damage and fatigue are making themselves known by the shooting pains I am experiencing from trying to sit upright for the first time in years at the new screen. Hopefully the damage isn't permanent and I will be able to hold my head up on my own again soon! If not, it's a full body brace for me....

I'm in love with the new baby and we are bonding quite nicely. Check out the great picture on this thing! I feel like my eyes are ten years younger. Of course I still can't see the screen without my glasses. The new PC is a total pain in the butt though as it is Windows Vista - now I know what all of the complaining has been about. Why did they screw up the good thing they had going with Windows XP? It seems like it takes twice as long to do or find anything. I'm sure I will eventually get the hang of it but there are only so many new tricks that this old dog can learn.

In the meantime I can still go back to the old system on the laptop as soon as I get it repaired. Remeber that missing screw I mentioned when I posted about replacing my laptop keyboard? Well one of the reasons I had to spring for a new PC is because that loose screw is fouling up the laptop and I have to send it in for repairs. That little do it yourself project ended up costing my about $1000. So much for saving a buck!!!

Here is my new screen saver - one of my new fabric patterns called birds & branches ( great name huh?)
UPDATE -

In a world that is often times devoid of personal service and lacking in corporate accountability I was AMAZED at this email I received today.


Hi Jackie-
My name is Jeff and I work with the Windows Outreach Team. Sorry to hear that your experience with Vista hasn’t been what you had hoped for. I’m not sure if these tips will fix your specific problems, but nonetheless they should help speed up your computer a bit.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/83ec0ffe-ee04-4d53-8b87-25d1f05c954e1033.mspx
Cheers,
Jeff
Windows Outreach Team


Well my new friend Jeff let me just say that in my few years on this earth and as an author who writes books teaching design professionals how they should provide exemplary customer service to their clients I am blown away by your quick and helpful response. I posted this blog entry last night around midnight west coast time and I received your email sometime between then and 10 am this morning. You were hard at work trying to solve my problem even while I was sleeping!

Now I am new to Vista but I am a die hard PC user (yes, I originally was a MAC but I jumped ship years ago) I am sure that most of the difficulty that I am encountering can be put down to user error and a learning curve. But how splendid to know that Bill Gates is monitoring his web hits regarding potential problems and sending helpful employees like Jeff to solve our problems and put our minds at ease.

My husband is a militant MAC head and thinks my loyalty to the PC is insane, but is Steve Jobs up late at night sending out helpful emails like this - I think not!

Thank you Jeff for your helpful tips and encouragement. I will think of you immediately next time I have a problem - Facebook me!

New Toys - AHHHHHHHHHHHH

I've been so lazy in posting these last few weeks because I am feeling the pressure of my September deadline for my new book. With over 1000 illustrations to color I have my hands full! One of the best things for me about the process is breaking out my colored pencils. It takes me back to my younger days when my sisters and I would spend the day coloring in our Abbey Press coloring books. Above is my lazy susan pencil caddy which is chock full of every pencil under the sun. However, one can never have too many colored pencils. No matter how many colors you have there is never just the one you're looking for. So, in honor of my new book I plunked down some serious bucks for two new sets.



Now this is a set for the seriously obsessed pencil addict. 120 beautiful colors!!! And just look at that fabulous wooden box (too bad they will never remain in it ) This brand is Derwent which is one of my favs. They have great colors and the pencils are smooth and soft. Who needs designer shoes or jewelry when you can indulge yourself with these!!!!!!


The second set is also Derwent but these are pastel pencils. A much softer chalky lead. Only 90 colors in this set.



My colored pencil investment to date with all of my sets (only my favorite colors are kept in the lazy susan) amounts to a staggering $1100 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who knew you could spend so much on coloring sticks??

I have to go now and put these babies to good use. I promise to try to keep up my posts but I might be a bit sporadic for the next few months until I turn in my book.