Like all things in life, my home office continues to evolve. It started with a simple desk, a colorfully painted wall, and loads of art supplies stuffed into a closet. Then book cases were added, wallpaper was installed, and a fresh coat of paint covered the walls. Now, after 4-years of being in this home office I’ve finally taken it to the next level and made it exactly what I need it to be to work for me and my business. Let me take you on an artist studio tour or what I like to call the Atelier (French for workshop).
Interior Styling Happens In Stages
When we first bought this house in February of 2020, we didn’t have any budget for design. A few places got a splash of paint (The fireplace, our bedroom, and one wall of my office) and that was it. Then we invested in a kitchen update in 2021 along with completely renovating the guest bath (turns out a subfloor is an important thing to have which apparently, our bathroom no longer had!) When you buy an older home (1960’s) there are a lot of updates that need to happen, and often they aren’t the glamorous ones (like new floors or wall treatments but fixed plumbing and electrical). So it’s taken 4-years to turn this space into my creative retreat but every step of the way has lead to more creativity, more organization, and a space I hate to leave, especially now. (See the last iteration of this space here).
Like all good things, interior styling happens in stages. You add a plant to this room, you update a rug, maybe you finally can afford the wallpaper you want, you invest in new floors, etc, etc, until one day you’re looking around and you simply fall in love with your space. It’s you, and it functions in the exact way that you need. It takes time, and patience, but eventually the evolution turns into something amazing. And it still won’t ever be complete. That’s the gift and the curse of all things creative–they keep changing.
Artist Studio Tour
I’m deep in the season of nesting. At 7-months pregnant I’m thinking of all the ways I want our home to be cozy for our son arriving in a few months and how we’ll need each space to function. Of course, as first time parents, we don’t fully know how we’ll need things to function so I’m sure a lot will change over the next couple of year. But when it comes to my artist studio, my creative home office, there is no question how I need it to function.
Function of my Artist Studio
Here were the things I was thinking about when updating my atelier this time around:
- I want as much of the storage to be hidden as possible
- It needs to be bright with as much light as possible to paint
- Organization is key–I need to track inventory and supplies and know where everything is
- I want it to be calm and creative (my two favorite words in design)
- Colors need to be somewhat neutral so that they don’t reflect onto my art through bounce light
In all, I needed it to feel clean, calm, and organized so that I can create my best work.
Creating a Calm Space
To do this, I stuck with a simple color palette. Before I had a rich blue wall behind my desk which added drama but did decrease the amount of light in the room (Dark colors absorb light, light colors reflect light). So I painted over the blue wall with white to increase the amount of light in the room. This also allows more emphasis on the art hung on the walls, which I wanted to be seen on all my Zoom calls. I also added white curtains and a white, tan, and pink rug to the space. These textiles continue to add to the feminine charm of the space and keep the light reflecting.
Speaking of pink, in my 2021 artist studio tour I showed off the added art deco pink and gold wallpaper on all the South facing walls. I, of course, kept this and played off the gold by adding gold curtain rods and keep other small gold accents throughout the space like in frames, the floor lamp, the hardware on my new cabinet and even the scissors on my desk.
Prioritizing Organization in my Artist Studio
This leads me to the second major function–organization. By keeping things clean I not only add to the calmness of the space but it helps with the business side of things too. I can easily see my inventory of packaging supplies, printed prints, art supplies etc. But as much of this is closed off so you don’t have to see it day to day (or so our soon to be son won’t easily be able to get into everything–double function!)
I’ve added more shelves to my closet to keep things organized and simplified some of the art supplies that haven’t been used in years (this might be one area where I’m a hoarder…you never know where a creative idea will take you and what you’ll need!)
Lastly I added new shelves above my painting desk to hold some of my favorite art books for easy referencing as well as my current sketchbooks to grab and doodle in when necessary.
Styling Your Home Office
Like I said, this is the 3rd iteration of this artist studio. I still have one more big change I would like to make which is putting floor to ceiling white bookcases behind my desk to store product and make the business side of things a little easier. However, those shelves are $1000, which just isn’t in the budget right now, so they’ll be the 4th iteration of this office in a year or two when it makes sense to add them.
When it comes to your home office, think about the functions you need it to serve and the feelings you want it to evoke. Do you want it to be like a cave you enter into, cozy and calm, nurturing you as you do your work? Or do you want it to be bright and airy with more energy and creative juice? How do you use this space? I personally, have 4 major zones to my atelier–Painting desk, working desk, packaging station, and standing easel. Do you also have zones or do you just need a desk and some bookshelves?
Then think about the color palette you want to use. Whether you chose a cozy cave or a bright creative space you’ll want to focus on 2-3 colors in your space (making sure at least one of those colors is neutral). From there, it’s about adding slowly. Noticing the different ways you need a space to function. Noticing the the colors and light types help you do your best work.
My Artist Studio
When I sit at my desk and look out the windows, seeing the light flood the space and bounce off the walls, I’m so happy to be in all this sun. I love getting new plants in here to absorb this light and create more life in the space. My painting desk is small–it’s my grandmother’s old sewing table converted into a light table–but I don’t like working big when it comes to paintings. I have extra lights in that corner to ensure that even if it’s a cloudy day or I’m working on a painting after dark, I can see all the colors true to tone. I switch out the art whenever I feel keen (something I suggest for any room to make it feel fresh and new) and I have a spot for everything to keep it feeling tidy.
Every morning I love entering the space knowing that creative work is about to take place. Having a space that calm and creative gives me life and is why I encourage others to create spaces they love. It might feel consumeristic, but in reality, caring for our spaces, just like caring for ourselves, has the power to change the way we feel and in turn, change the way others feel too. It’s a small step to making the world a more beautiful place.
