Where Bloggers Create II - welcome to my art room!

Welcome to my art room and the party! I have always had some sort of art space, sometimes in the living room, sometimes in the kitchen and sometimes stashed here and there all around the house, including a dresser parked in the hallway that I'm sure constituted a fire hazard. Four or five years ago I was finally able to claim this room as my own. My little piece of peace where I can putter, tinker and make something out of nothing. Welcome!
This is a tidied-up-company-is-coming view from the door. Normally the drop leaves are up on this old table and it is covered with various projects in progress. Well, it is right now in fact. It didn't stay cleared off for long!

I can't resist old suitcases. Genealogy is another one of my hobbies and this is where I store several generations of "family artifacts".

The rolling red tool chest was a Christmas gift from my husband several years ago and holds most of my tools as well as watercolor paints and rubber stamps. I like to remind him that my tool box is bigger than his - 8+)

Little birdies guarding a very small portion of my button collection.

This bookcase stores my magazines for inspiration, ephemera and many, many little treasures waiting for their 15 minutes of fame. My own little Island of Lost Junk.

And eventually everything becomes junk.

Sparkly things. Some folks would probably organize them but I just love the way they look all jumbled up together like a pirates treasure of jewels.

If you look closely you can spot glass doorknobs, a huge lens and some chandelier prisms mixed in among the sparkly glass buttons.

Now we are moving around the room to my workbench - a huge old oak sideboard that was a gift to myself a couple of years ago. It is counter top height so I can work at it without stooping and so sturdy I can hammer away on top.

I made this mobile a couple of years ago to display ATCs.

Lack of money is no obstacle, lack of an idea is an obstacle. All of the ATCs on this mobile are made from those fake credit cards that come in the mail and each one has a thrift theme. I call the mobile "Extra Credit".

This is the front of the workbench. The veneer was peeling off the drawers so I covered them with scrapbook paper. What in the world did we ever do before there was Mod Podge.

The drawers house more supplies, fodder for tinkering, my Etsy inventory and a great deal of my fabric stash.

This is the top of the bench. There are three large shelves above. I keep things I want handy on the bottom shelf and use the ones above that for less frequently used supplies and things that just make my eyes happy.

Yikes! I might just have one of everything and two of some because I can't find the one I already have. Funny, it doesn't seem that messy when I'm making something....

Another little suitcase - this one filled with millinery - old and new.

A spice rack above the workbench stores my Golden paints, glitter, embossing powders and jars of brads and other tiny items.

Moving on around the room to my sewing table and another dresser for more storage.

The top of the dresser. A saltbox shrine and some soldered necklaces - a skill I am still learning. They are sitting on top of my scanner/printer.

This dresser stores sewing notion, lace and other trims, wrapping paper and ribbons. This was my very well-worn baby dresser. I revived it by painting it black and Mod Podging tiger-print fabric on the fronts of the drawers.

Now we are turning the corner toward my desk area. Yes, I have a little TV in my art room so I can listen to my favorite programs - Antiques Roadshow, Pawn Stars and American Pickers.

Oops, back to the sewing table! I made these ribbon towers from the un-used parts that were left over from the pendant lights in this corner of the room. I just unwind the ribbon from the spool with no need to remove the spool from the tower.

Sweet vintage Occupied Japan birdies top one of the towers. The other tower is topped with feathers.

My art room has an odd shape and my son, Andy, custom built this corner desk for me. I LOVE it! The room has 9 foot ceilings so he made the desk 8 feet high and made the work surface sturdy enough that I can stand on it to reach the top.

A close-up of the desk hutch. I have a "thing" for old boxes so there are many throughout my art space.

Another close-up of the desk. This is where I store all of my pens and markers. You can barely make out a clear Lucite drawer unit. This is where I currently store the "good" pens that need to lay flat. This is something I am still trying to find a good solution for so hoping I might get some ideas when I visit the other Bloggers in the party.

The narrow wall next to the entrance.

These are the closet doors. One side has my bulletin board and the other side is painted with chalkboard paint. The shelf above is new and I just added it last week.

This is another small closet next to the big closet. I attached curtain rods to the door use it to hand vintage linens that I use in my inspiration kits. The vintage knitting bag was my Grandmothers and I still use it to store my crochet things.

The blouse is hanging there just because it's too pretty not to!

This little wall hanging is made from strips torn from old dresses and a coat hanger. It covers the electrical panel.

And there you have it - 360 degrees around my art room. I hope you enjoyed the tour!

Big shout-out to Karen Valentine of My Desert Cottage for organizing this event and many thanks to my son Andy who came over and took the "big" photos for me. They were more than my little point and shoot could capture so I couldn't have done it without him.