Studio Saga Part 1

Not so long ago, the business of Primitive Spirit was very crowded. There was studio A, a small room where most of the work happened.

All of my rug designing and hooking happened here, as well as all of my other hobbies such as hand and machine knitting, spinning, drum carding and sewing.

Here is also the place where I created my catalog, designed and printed my books, and filled orders for mailing.

And there was a little building out the back door I called studio B where all the rest happened. Much patience bounced off the walls in an effort to keep sanity. I hoped that just around the corner my dream-come-true workspace would materialize. Years went by. My space seemed to be shrinking in clutter and I felt discouraged.

In the meanwhile I collected photos of neat spaces, I subscribed to Where Women Create Magazine for ideas, I drew sketches of what I liked, and I tried to stay focused on my art and business without looking around me at my space.

I poured over swedish blogs filled with gorgeous photos of rooms that were sparsely decorated done all in white, like a relaxing uncluttered dreamscape. I languished for such a place. A retreat-like room where I could spread out… and make a  b i g  mess.

I knew that I wanted an integrated space in my home. I did not want to trek out through the backyard in the rain to retrieve a pattern. My ideal space was to be part of the flow of my home. I have always loved the thought that I could stir the soup, and then fill an order, then fix lunch while I went through my email. Seamless. But working out a plan on paper was very difficult in our city lot. The planning stage took a long time.

After a lot of hard work, jump to one glorious day last spring when we broke ground for my new space, a studio addition with windows and light, and enough room to work on projects and have some attic storage.

The first thing to do was move studio B to a spot further to the back of the yard.

The new foundation connects to the new bumped-out kitchen. Below is a photo of the demolished kitchen.

Here I am surveying my new studio, still trying to visualize where everything will go.

The winter of 2012 and the basic studio is done, with finishing details on hold. I now have 2 rooms for my business, the new studio addition and the old studio A, now referred to as the office, connected by the kitchen. There is still studio B out back.

More photos to come. In the meanwhile I am having fun arranging everything so that all of my tools and supplies are easy to get to for that immediate crafting urge.

Thanks for coming by  ~ Karen