working mom

My Dream Studio

My 10yo was telling me what he would put in his dream bedroom the other day and he asked what I would want in my dream bedroom. I told him that my needs are really simple for my bedroom: an incredibly comfy bed with room to snuggle and some decent light during the day. Perhaps a little reading nook too.

But what I’d REALLY have fun with would be creating a custom studio space for my art and design. He asked me what that would look like so we went onto Pinterest to play.

Of course, in this dream scenario, we have no budget. I told him I’d love a space that’s separate from my house so I could have a tiny feeling of “going” to work.

This structure with glass panels for two of the main walls looked especially wonderful with how much natural light I’d be able to get. Although, I don’t know how secure a room like this would be and I may not love having to get there when it’s snowing. I would also want to make sure it’s climate-controlled.

I would want a space that’s large enough so there’s a whole wall of desk space and a large table in the middle for picture framing, kinda like these:

This made me swoon a bit.

^^^ This image with the chairs made me think that a reading nook might be nice. Loving the under-the-stairs storage solutions.

Like THIS for a reading nook. ^^^ This low sofa-daybed-looking thing looks downright dreamy.

Really digging the long desk space.

Ultimately, I would want a designated space for all of the different artsy things I do. I’d want a designated space for my desktop computer, a space for my sewing machine, a space for my mat cutter, a space for my easel (if I ever paint on canvases again), and a space dedicated to watercolor painting. I’d prefer for my mat cutter to live on the edge of a large table that’s in the middle of the room to make picture framing easier.

Some creative storage for flat paintings and paper would be nice along with vertical storage for mat boards, foam boards, canvases, and more. I’d prefer drawers versus shelves for the flat storage to prefent dust from collecting.

I would love a big, sturdy table in the middle to hold my mat cutter, rolls of craft paper, picture framing supplies, tapes, and various other tools.

I also want a Fletcher 3000 Multi Material Cutter. It mounts on the wall and can cut mat board, foam board, glass, and plexiglass. It’s amazing how much easier it is to cut things to size when they are vertical versus trying to cut these items on the floor. It’s only $1800, a girl can dream.

Perhaps the most important of all would be the kind of light this dream studio space can get. I’d ideally love large, north-facing windows to get the most optimal light for most of each day. I’d love if these dream windows are still pretty easy to clean too.

This amazing studio with fantastic use of vertical space reminded me: I would love for this dream studio to have a big, industrial sink for the fabric dyeing projects I love to do but don’t really have the space for right now.

Large, deep, and most importantly, easy to clean.

Of course this space would be heavily climate-controlled and have its own toilet. Cuz, yeah.

What would you have in your dream studio space?

Alex's First Day of Freedom

It’s September 2nd and summer has flown by in a flash. This year I tried my best to pack our summer with as much fun and adventure as possible while squeezing some contract work in the crevices between travel, camping, hiking, biking, swimming, and sleeping in. We spent a week with family in California. We camped and hiked with friends. We went on bike rides (which are way more fun now that I actually have a bike!). We had a real, week-long vacation in Lake Tahoe (the first in many years). We spent lazy Sundays fishing in high mountain lakes with Daddy. We had shave ice dates, frozen custard dates, gelato dates, and lots of swimming play dates.

Now school is back in session and my youngest and last baby started kindergarten! Since I make a sign for both of my kids every year, I figured that after eight years of being a WAHM (work-at-home-mom) I deserved one for myself. In case you can’t zoom in, it discusses how I would like to be on vacation when I grow up. My favorite foods are anything I don’t have to share and hard lemonade. My hobbies include quiet time, hiking, reading, cooking alone, and anything without an audience. My teachers are Netflix and Amazon and I’m 40 years young. I thought it was fitting to take the photo from my hammock overlooking a beautiful alpine lake… which is where we spent the whole Sunday before the first day of school.

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Next summer I’ll add this sign to my Etsy shop so fellow parents can have a sign of their own.

All summer my youngest has had nothing but positive things to say about how awesome kindergarten would be and I’m so happy that his first full week lived up to the hype. Every day he came home tired, but ready for another day of fun.

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My kindergartener is kind and smart and quick to laugh off scrapes of bumps that might slow him down, but fully admits that a BandAid will take the pain away. He loves Crocs, Lego, Paw Patrol and anything his big brother is into. He often narrates whatever he’s doing or playing with and when asked who he’s talking to, he’ll tell you he’s narrating a YouTube video for his subscribers. He loves taekwondo and his flexibility allows him to kick higher than his own head , much to his brother’s chagrin.

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My oldest started fourth grade and is really excited for what this year will have to offer. He is so smart and wants to know EVERYTHING and show everyone that he knows EVERYTHING. We joke that he’ll be a Jeopardy! champion some day. He continues to train in taekwondo every week and is currently one belt below a black belt. He will be eligible to test for his black belt next year. He loves history and we watch YouTube videos about random history together and discuss the historic places we can visit. He also loves to play soccer and run cross country. He adores fishing and camping and has rather suddenly fallen in love with exotic cars. He is also becoming a foodie and loves to cook and try new foods.

Since my printer is down at the moment, I had all of our signs printed on card stock at my local Office Depot (it was less than $2 total). They did an amazing job and in photos they almost look like real chalkboards. These signs are available in my Etsy shop in the summer and ready to be customized for your kids.

Happy first day!!