Photos © 2011 Curly Girl Design, Inc./Leigh Standley. all rights reserved.
Happy New Year!!!! Oh how I love a brand new year! I venture to say that this first, fresh few weeks of the year is among the most sacred times for me. I feel energized, reflective, inspired and creative. I feel full of pride, a little relief and a touch of fatigue over the year I have just wrapped up and then, after a brief but important couple days of hibernation, immerge bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. I have big plans for this coming year and those big plans each have a thousand little steps. It is best to approach them one at a time.
In order to put last year to bed, and begin this one there are a few things I must get in order first. Things like inventory at the shop and warehouse, taxes, and travel-plans for the upcoming tradeshow season. There are also a few, ahem, cobwebs that need to be cleaned out. Places in my life where I have let things accumulate making it hard (or unpleasant) to do the things I really want to do in those places. This can apply of course to relationships, thought processes and most obviously to physical spaces. In this case… my studio.
Oh. My studio.
How can one expect to fill the world with creative genius when one cannot find a clear surface on which to put a pencil down! My thoughts go to Sherlock Holmes.
I have a 2011 wrap up post in the works, but this little studio re-org took up the better part of yesterday (into the wee hours of today) and I am pretty excited about it and wanted to share. It was a rough go. An epic organizing session. A true test of my attention span. There were points at which I thought the studio just might win the battle.
It started like this:
Not so bad you say? That's just because everything was shoved into the closets (we did have guests for Christmas after all…)
Not bad, but it would get worse before it got better. About 3 hours into my studio smack down it looked like this:
I had to stop for a snack. I sorted, I stashed, I chucked, I purged, I was merciless yet careful, thrifty yet thoughtful and above all… clever. The best thing I can't believe I didn't think of before was getting this pantry rack for the inside of my art closet door!! It pretty much doubled my storage space for 'small stuff' and made me APPEAR to be far more organized than I actually am! Double points!
I took these photos in the wee hours, so they are kind of dark, but I think you get the picture. All in all, I am pretty excited about how it turned out and can't wait to get in there to make some new cards!
Top 10 great or weird things I found while cleaning:
1.) A letter from a former student that she wrote me after I left the school for a job in Boston. She was secretly my favorite, and attached was her 1st Grade photo. She is now in college!
2.) A Year 2000 U.S. Mint Proof Set of Quarters (my Dad puts them in our stockings and I never know what to do with them!)
3.) A photo booth picture of me and Coach in Italy, right after we got engaged.
4.) The book my friends made me for my 30th birthday…full of letters and photos!
5.) My old retainer. Gross.
6.) A note my Dad left on my desk after they helped move me to Boston.
7.) My ear buds (totally been missing those!)
8.) Both of my LOUIE awards! (better dust those babies off!)
9.) My old 'design files'. Binders full of magazine pages with stuff I liked on them. Life before Pinterest!
10.) A stash of my wedding invitations. Feels like just yesterday and a million years ago at the same time.
So there you have it. As far as my studio goes, it's hospital corners for right now and I'm feeling pretty good about it! It's amazing how much energy you can get from moving some energy around. It sometimes stirs things up a bit, but I have never regretted doing it.
Are you harboring some energy somewhere? Burying a little light? I'll bet you are. We all are. Here is my official plug for getting to it this month. DO IT!! YOU WILL FEEL SOOOOO GOOOD! Promise! And don't worry, you will have plenty of time to go ahead and mess it right back up. That's what life is all about.
What do you need to get to? Say it out loud here. Maybe it will help!
xoxo
Gorgeous! Congrats!!!!! I have some organizing of my own to do – totally inspired by your work! xo
Leigh,
I am so envious of your work space. I have a guest bedroom that I also use for my craft space, but I keep being compeled to pack up my folding table and craft supplies for well… guests. The queen-size bed leaves me just enough room for my table and chair, but the light is good and there are *two* closets off the room. Thank you so much for sharing your effors. It is ispiring and the pantry door rack idea I fully plan to copy. If I can just get some of my current projects completed and out of the way, maybe by the end of 2012 I too will have a painted guest room and an organized craft closet! Thank you for stimulating me to dream and see possibilites.
I’ve been plugging away at my ‘crap room’ for 5 days! It’s down to the bitty stuff that I just might need someday, but have nowhere to put it. The end is in sight and I’m excited to ‘fill the world with creative genius’ again soon. Thanks for inspiring me to keep at it 🙂
You’re inspiring me to clean my office today!
Wonderful! Thanks for sharing. ( I really appreciate the “before” too. I always think NO ONE could have as messy a studio as I do!) You are an inspiration and I SHALL conquer my studio today! I love the pantry shelf suggestion…going to Menards straight away. Cheers to the New Year and the possibilities it affords. THANKS for being in my life! THANKS for Curly Girl!
YAY! That looks great! – I need to do the same…I love cleaning up in the New Year!
It makes me feel so much better that someone as basically famous and seemingly put-together also has clutter too! I loved seeing your studio- those yellow chairs are so striking! And the pantry shelves? GENIUS. Wish those would have been on my Santa list.
What a Beautiful Studio! So welcoming and cozy! I so appreciate you taking time to document your project. It helps me have some vision for my own art space!! The colors are gorgeous!!! lI LOVE your work! Thank you for sharing! Much Love for 2012 <3 Jalyne in Utah : )
SO impressive, SO inspiring and SUCH an
inviting workspace!
I feel the same way about a NEW year, the possiblities and potential just waiting for me to get started. Your lovely studio looks terrific now! My basement studio cleanup is in progress & I am loving the process. Sort, trash, donate, save, reorganize, REPEAT until the horizontal surfaces are useable again! Happy New Year!
Peace,
Donna
It made me exhausted just looking at. Now I’m really depressed. Even If I get my room in order it will never look half so good. I may have just talked myself out of it for another year. It really is disheartening. ;D.
Totally get it! The day after Christmas we started ripping closets apart and planning for a spring yardsale. We simply cannot have anything else come in without letting some stuff go. Your studio looks beautiful. It’s so funny, in college I wouldn’t start a paper or large assignment without cleaning the house. Once I had done that I could focus. Still the same now, only no papers to write! It feels SO much better once everything has a place. Happy new year!!
Love your room! I’m particularly drawn to the closet door rack – where did you find it? I’ve looked at a few online but they seem smaller than the one you have.
Thanks!
Leigh;
Happy New Year!
Looks like all that hard work paid off! You’re studio looks fantastic! I love your work table and the glass front cabinets!It’s really neat to get a peak at your house too. By the way, I think all your little extra holiday touches were beautiful! I am curious what the little plaque at the top of this page next to muffin tin says? Is it one of your designs, or something that inspires you? Hope your new year is off to a terrific start!
Tami,
Thank You. It says “Believe in possibility”. It is by my friend Kelly Rae Roberts. She gave it to me a few years ago and I find that it is a good reminder.
how incredible to find your blog….I looooove your art and am so happy to have found your cards at a local shop!
now that studio totally inspires me! i have a bomb of a studio and keep trying to dig in and sort it out…..seems I mess it up more quickly somehow….that said, I have big plans for 2012. i better go take some before photos first. love how you have transformed your space. thanks for the inspiration!
p.s. i am dreaming of painting my studio a light aqua…..when I see your space i know I am on the right track (now if only I liked painting walls as much as canvases!!!)
Leigh;
Just checkin’ to make sure you are okay. :o) Not trying to be selfish, or a nuisance, honest… Just kinda missing your “voice” around here… :/ I’m sure you are crazy busy, so please forgive me if I’ve over stepped any bounds… Hope all is well with you. :o)
Tami
PS – Thanks for solving the plaque mystery for me. It is a very good reminder indeed!
Leigh, you were a teacher?! What grades? How long?! I think we just might be kindred spirits you and me.
OK…so, those yellow chairs?!? I have the same fabric on two chairs, but in red, in our family room!!! And I *almost* went yellow.
I KNEW we were soul sisters! And, yes, I am totally stalking your blog this afternoon! 😉
Hi Leigh!! I just love your newly organized studio!! So beautiful and cozy!! 🙂 🙂 I featured it today on my blog if you want to check it out! Grab a button, too, if you want! http://missloviecreations.blogspot.com/2012/01/these-are-few-of-my-favorite-things.html