Home Studio Makeover

Among the many goals I set for myself and then did not accomplish last year, one of them was giving a bit of a makeover to my home studio. I let it... get into a bit of a state. I'm honestly kind of embarrassed to share what it looked like for most of 2025. Er, here, let's go back to when I very first turned this section of the house into my studio:

The space is an addition that was plonked on to our 100+ year old house probably around World War II (That's what our real estate agent estimated, anyway) and it has hilariously no insulation so it's freezing in the cold and sweltering in the heat. It was also built on top of soft ground that it has progressively been sinking into over the last dozen years that we've lived there. In real life, you can actually see the walls bowing.

But it's CUTE. And it's SUNNY. And it's MINE!

Over the years, I maximized every available inch in there, creating a wall-sized inspiration board and shrine of friendship momentos. It was organized aesthetic chaos and it is the closest you'll get to seeing what my soul would look like visualized.

There is a natural ebb and flow within my household. Piles of stuff accumulate over time and then they naturally redistribute to their proper locations elsewhere. My studio habitually accrues boxes and bags of projects-in-progress and supplies and plain old tat. Plus, in the colder, wetter months, the clothes drying rack takes up residence in there so I can drape my bike clothes on it when I come in through the backyard door.

From 2024-25, though, the natural flow of pile movement just kind of... stopped. Stuff just gathered. And stayed. It became difficult to walk through because of all the stacks and heaps of (VERY IMPORTANT) objects that were barnacling down in my little studio space.

I ain't proud.

(These pictures aren't actually the best example, since you can still see walkable floor space.)

I started 2025 with the goal of getting all the floor piles out and starting afresh with my art wall. As the year marched on, I felt progressively more and more demoralized by my hoarder-stuffed studio. By the end of the year, it was a symbol of my failure as a human adult.

Most of last year's goals were still projects I want to accomplish, though, so I rolled them onto this year's list. And guess what? I've already done two of them! One of them was baking a spinach-anchovy-feta lasagna (It came out ok!!! Nothin' special, but totally fine! Which is a GIANT WIN for me!!!!) and the other... Well, obviously it's my studio. Although it would be kinda funny to spend this whole post building up the story of my studio and then just pivoting to a totally unrelated goal I accomplished. Like making a spinach-anchovy-feta lasagna! But no, that's not what this post is about, it's about giving a long overdue makeover to my sweet neglected little home studio.

Look at the sun damage on my cork board. Some of that flotsam and jetsam had been in the same place for yeeeeeaaaarsssssss.

Each evening I committed myself to just taking on one achievable task: gather all the things that need to go into the basement, sort the detritus, put away all the studio-specific things that needed to be put away, take down all the wall pictures, sort all the pictures, put them into the places they need to be stored, etc.

Originally I was going to refill every inch of wall space with all new pictures, but as I was in the process of hanging up the first batch of framed prints, I realized... hey. It's kinda nice having some visual breathing room on here. So I'm lettin' it be and I'll stick to pinning up smaller pieces on my various cork boards.

Ta-da! My little nook of arts and crafts!

I no longer dread going in there!

Don't get me wrong, the art supply shelves desperately need to be reorganized, too. But, one step at a time! My studio is usable again! HOORAY.

Now, on to everything else left over from last year's Goals List.