Monday, January 6, 2014

Come Hang Out in My Studio


Hi everyone!  Hope you are all having a good Monday so far.  I feel like
spending a bit of the day in my studio and thought I would invite you to
 join me and just hang out.  I spend a lot of time in this room.  It is the one
place in the house that is all mine.  On a sunny morning the room is filled
with sunshine and the mix of all the cottage pastel colors always makes
me feel happy.  It's like a colorful cottage garden with little flowers peeking
through everywhere.  

There are some very important elements in this room.  Here is my Mac
where I write all of my blog posts.  You will usually find a pot of hot tea
on my desk.  And music!  I must have music playing.  Today it is
the sound track from the movie Miss Potter.  This soundtrack is just
magical to me and inspires creativity.





This is my old sewing machine.  It's not an antique beauty like a 
Singer Featherweight which I hope I will one day own.  No, it's a 
dependable workhorse that my parents bought me years ago.  It has
a history and that makes it special to me.  I remember sewing a slipcover
for a sofa on this machine.  I invited a girlfriend over and we spent the 
entire day making a pattern and stitching a slipcover for an old sofa I
bought for $50.00.  The slipcover was off white and we also stitched 
up some blue pillows from Laura Ashley fabric.  We did this while 
watching hours and hours of I Love Lucy on VHS.  We had so much
fun that day and it is a treasured memory. 



The following weekend Cathy came over again and we painted the wall
behind that sofa a blue that I had mixed to match the blue in the pillows.
We stenciled the other walls in a blue and green vine.  We thought it was
devine!  One of the last times I was in Houston we drove by that old
apartment complex and discovered it has quite recently been torn down.
Made me feel sad.  So many happy memories were created there.
Oh well ~ progress.




I love little notebooks.  I keep a stash of them.  Never know when I might
find something on the internet, or passage from a book or whatever that I 
want to save and refer to later.  Those green and white ones are favorites of
mine.  They are the sweetest notebooks made in France.  The French often
have the most charming ideas.  I also keep a copy of "Writing Down the 
Bones" by Natalie Goldberg, a pocket size Universal French Dictionary and
a tiny little Curious George bookmark in this basket filled with notebooks.



Oh and this.  I covered one of those mini composition books that you find
everywhere.  This little book keeps track of all the books I have read.  It
helps me because I can't remember them all and it's always so helpful to 
share titles of favorite books and authors with friends.  I think I may have
shown this to you before, but that's okay.  Still a favorite tweak of mine.




Santa put these in my stocking this past Christmas.  I always need little memo
pads and those composition notebooks and my favorite pencil ~
Dixon Ticonderoga!  Love them and it's the best pencil for crossword
puzzles.





I really want to paint the walls of my studio.  At present they are a pinky beige
that is not making me too happy.  I keep changing my mind about the new color.
I will probably end up with an off white.  There is already so much color in 
the room that it would no doubt be the best choice, but then I think a faint 
ticking might be nice.  I contemplate painting the four poster too.  Maybe
a soft sage green?  David thinks I should keep it stained, but you know us
girls we often have different ideas.  What are your thoughts?




Oh and this chair too.  It's another vintage stained piece.  I love the lines
and Bentley just loves the chair.  He is often here, but not right now.  No 
instead he is hanging out with his grandma at the moment.  So thanks for
keeping me company and hanging out with me for a bit in my studio.

Wishing you all a happy Monday!


Come on Bentley let's make some lunch for your grandma.

Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley



13 comments:

  1. Susan ~ I can understand why your studio is so special to you. It holds many memories and there are memories to be made there. Such a lovely spot. I can just imagine sitting with you, sipping a cup of tea and creating ;-)

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  2. I enjoyed seeing your studio, and I had to write to tell you that I still have (and use) that exact Kenmore model! It still works great, though sometimes I think I'd like to upgrade to a fancy computerized model.

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  3. I love your studio so pretty . Nothing like having treasured things around you ! Thanks for sharing . Have a good day !

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  4. Susan, your studio is charming! I love it. To paint or not to paint? I am facing the same question right now. I tend to not do it if I have the least hesitation. But I wish I were braver.

    xo

    Sheila

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  5. Now that's a cozy studio. Very sweet.

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  6. Love your room! Looks like a comfy place to be creative.

    Judy

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  7. Love your little studio - I'm a mac girl too! I love that you can take a nap if your creative juices become drained!

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  8. You have such a sweet space for a studio. Thank you for the little tour. I am still trying to turn one of the bedrooms upstairs into a studio for myself and posts like this are an inspiration. Like you, I'd like to paint our little four poster twin beds, but like your husband, mine never wants to 'spoil the wood'.

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  9. Hi Susan,
    It's easy to see why you love your studio. In years past I used to think it was a horrible disrespect of an antique to change it's character but these days I've changed how I look at them. We start to value things differently and now I look at a piece and wonder why I lived with it even when I didn't like it.....because it was passed down thru one of the families? Recently I received an antique Boston rocker that belonged to my mother....it has a glorious worn black patina and is really beautiful but so is the antique black bentwood rocker that sits in our home from the other mother. One of them is going to be painted, I just haven't decided which. And my grandmother's very old Queen Anne sewing cabinet with it's dark mahogany finish that has turned 'pebbly' in texture and holds many, many wonderful memories is about to become 'mine' after all these years. Even with a white coat and subtly stenciled accents it will still hold all those wonderful childhood memories. My vote would be to paint the bed if that's what you want to do........it will only let you smile every time you enter the room.

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  10. That looks fabulous! that is a lot of work. Well written write-up. Glad I'm able to locate a site with some knowledge plus a great writing style. They look amazing and Much better than before, your hard work paid off! shakti Cove cottages

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  11. Of course I would love your I LOVE TO READ. I too love to read BUT my problem is that I read SO much that I have to keep a list of authors. When I find an author I like I read all of their work and put them on the list as read so at least twice a year I check my spreadsheet and order up the newest by that author. Dangerous...Oh Yeah. I'm a librarian. Very Dangerous indeed. I love your little book. Too cute indeed.

    :-)
    Diane
    The Library Lady

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  12. Hi Susan,
    I came over this evening from Poppy View and I like your blog. This is an older post but I wanted to comment on your charming studio. Referring to your quest for a Featherlight Sewing Machine...that was incredibly rare to find two at a thrift store. I bought one at an auction and I sold my vintage machine after I found out how wonderfully portable, reliable and how beautifully they sew. I love your blog and am signing up.
    -Ginene

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Oliver and I LOVE and read every comment.