Finally My Studio Want To Have A Peek

So do you remember my little room, we were renovating way back when, well it's been finished for a while, and I have finally plugged all those little holes, cracks etc., where the darn mice were getting in.  And if the mice are in I am out, really I hate mice, I hate mice worse than snakes, check out yesterdays post I kill snakes Yeah I am a hero, wonder woman actually.  

I know it is so messy, but I have been in there so much lately, especially since I have been making my girls, well now I have decided I might call them Elle's Angels, why not!!  It is also where I stage some of my photography sessions, on that table at the back with the OVE blocks on and the black cover.  I have lots of great light in here and an air con and sink oh I am spoilt.

Oh look there's one of my girls sitting on my books, yep dozens of books, scrapping books, card making books, blah blah lots of them and cardstock  and my Angels with Attitude, I bring these girls out for Christmas.

My messy life, my messy room, I love it, well I love it when it is not a holiday spot for meeces!!

Sunshine Yellow

Gosh this looks terrible, anyway it is our main living room, and it is beige I guess you would call it and I don't like it.  You know I am married to a painter and decorator and for the last year nearly we haven't painted a thing in this house except my studio.  So we were overdue for a makeover.  We chose the main living area as you see it when you come into the house, you see it from both the huge deck and you see it from the kitchen.  Now for the colour choice, Yellow.  Yep sunny bright, deep, mustardy yellow I love it.

We had this red abstract in another room, but I wanted some colour to add to the yellow and Adrian suggested the easel, I love the way it looks. What do you do with power points though, argh so annoying having them show like that.  Mind ticking over now.

The colour here isn't true at all, it is way lighter and  brighter than this.  This is a Klimsch print on the wall and she has red and green and yellow surrounding her, she looks lovely.

Adrian also wanted a jazzy chandelier sort of light, but not with dangly bits, I love this light fitting.

It's hard to show you the angles of the room and I haven't quite finished decorating with a few more its and bobs needed I think.  I am on the hunt now. 

The effect of the light at night is crazy, will take a bit of getting used to I think.  But all up I really like the colour strength and the warmth of the yellow.  We usually go with a fairly neutral background and add pictures etc., but I am over that and now I want colour in my rooms.  Main bedroom next and our King size bed should arrive this week yeah!!!! Look forward to that.

What do you think of the colour, tell the truth now?

Renovation Day

So nothing artistic about this particular shot, but it is my studio, for want of another name.  Ha ha it feels strange and a little uppity to say my studio.... but that is what it is.  Originally when we bought this house in April this year, it was called a granny flat.  It has a kitchenette and a shower and toilet and basin.  The past owner used it as his office at home and the original owners lived in this while they built our home.  So it is a granny flat officially but now it's mine.  I posted way back when we moved in about renovating it and all I had done was move my scrapping stuff in here, assemble it a little and store the Christmas things here.  But I want to start using it and to be honest I hated this room.

I know I should have just been happy to have such a great space, but I hated it none the less.  And because I rarely came up here, it was getting some other residents.  Little, well not so little, black bugs, and daddy long leg spiders.  Eeww, whenever I would go to take down some paper or open a drawer I would get that wispy spider web feel yuk!!!!  So I bombed the place twice a few weeks back and then I got my long suffering husband to help me move things around, and take things to the dump and I felt a bit better.  But the colour, please I just didn't want to sit in a lime green and silver room and do anything, well other than throw up I mean.

I need to really feel happy, peaceful, excited, good to create anything, even baking seriously, I am so emotionally driven it's mad. I haven't scrapped but one page since Lucas passed away.  Honestly, I just haven't had it in me to do it.  I used to spend hours scrapping and now I hardly touch it.  I literally have nearly a store of goodies with which to scrap.  Ribbons, brads, glue, glitter, papers, bling you name it I have it, oh and my favourite thing rub ons. big sigh  So I am guessing this is maybe greek to a non scrapper, but to me it makes my mouth water.  Well it used to.  Now I hardly think about it.  I do a lot more digitally now though.  Not scrapping per say but, editing the photos etc and I can get really engrossed in that for hours.  So I want to make the space a peaceful place.  A place to stage my photos, a place to get ideas of things to shoot and then how to market them or use them in some wonderfully creative way. To do this I need to create a calm happy creative space. So first up choose a colour, then mix in the tint to the white paint and stir.  It looks delicious hey?  My colour choice "La Boheme"  doesn't that sound so romantic, so arty oh it does to me.  It conjours up flowing skirts, sandy beaches, moonlit night skies, frangapani trees, coconut scented oils on warm skin.  Cocktails on the sand, bright sunny skies, oh everything wonderful and carefree and fun.  So my colour is chosen, mixed and we began the application process, what fun.  

I watched Adrian pour the paint from the mixing tin into tins for us to use, he has this really neat way of flicking the tin just as he finishes pouring and that stops the paint from running down the edge of the pail.  He has a clever little way of tapping the brush on the inside of the tin so it doesn't drip paint everywhere, he really is a master painter.  He actually is a painter and watching him on Sunday was so cool.  I mean I have seen him paint before, we've had like 13 houses over the years, but to work along side him was really cool.  He didn't even tell me I was making a mess or stuffing up when I was and I know it.  What a honey hey!

Already I can see the transformation taking place.  The soft colour is lovely, it has that wonderful shabby chic feel to it.  I can imagine my pictures on the walls.  A chair in the corner for quiet contemplation and a table set up in the soft light for snapping away.  I am really excited and I will continue painting this week and hopefully next weekend it will be completed.  We had to lift up the ugly worn carpet because it has rained for nearly 3 weeks here and the room flooded.  That was a funny sight me in the rain dripping wet, shovel in hand digging a trench behind my studio.  That song "Do You Like Pina Colada's " came to mind,  ha ha we were drenched and my back was aching so the raunchy part of this song was NOT about to happen .... unfortunately.  Ha ha!!

I'll keep you up to date with the transformation okay.  

What did you do this weekend, the countdown to Christmas Day has really begun, were you busy preparing?

Renovations and Gerbras

The markets on Sunday are the best place in town to get some wonderful gerbras.  The couple who run the stall get their freshly cut flowers direct from the grower and they are just stunning.  Three bunches of bright, glorious colour for $10 now that is a bargain don't you think?

I love gerbras I know I've said it before but I do so here's a few shots for you.

Oh aren't they just gorgeous?!!!!!

Now my next project is my studio/grannyflat/mother in law apartment, whatever it would be called in your neck of the woods.  Until now this room/studio/flat has housed all the girls bits and pieces, packed and stored until they moved into town and their own house.  Which they did a few weeks back.  So yesterday I began the unpacking and sorting of all my scrapbooking, photography things.  No small task as I have a small shop load of gear up there, seriously.  I think I have the market sewn up on home scrapping equipment.  

First I will say the colour is changing, I am not a lime green girl, well not in this way anyway.

Neither am I a silver girl, gold all the way for me ha ha!!  So these colours will be going.  Not sure what I will replace them with yet, stay tuned.  I am on my way to buy some curtains today so probably a colour from them.  

So as you can see a big not quite empty canvas.  Over the bench in the first picture there is a kitchen, complete with sink, wall mounted urn and cupboards.  Also the rear door to the studio, I think that's what it will be mostly.  Then to the left there is the toilet, shower and vanity.  So a guest would be quite comfortable.  My thoughts originally were to totally dedicate this to visitors.  I have a great friend Gretchen in the states who I would love to come visit and a lovely couple John and Sharon from California and of course the adorable Helene and her family from Cannes.  But truthfully the number of visits will be much less than the use I will get daily from the space as my studio.  We could also fairly easily rearrange things when a visit is imminent.  Plus in a short while we are adding a new master suite to the house, so we will also have a bedroom, complete with the most incredibly comfortable queen bed and ensuite available in the main house.  Hence my decision to make it a studio.  

Come back and see what I eventually do to this space.  I want it to be a really great, comfortable, inspiring work space.  Let's see if I manage to make it happen.  Rather exciting really.