Welcome to my Studio

Well, after a whirlwind week of unpacking at Olympian speed, the house is pretty much set up.
It's amazing how well everything from the city integrated here. We basically upgraded everything and each room looks much better than before. Including my wonderful, cozy new studio space.

I knew that the collection of leftover  pine pieces from the rest of the house would work well down here - I just didn't know how well. I love them all and they do manage to house nearly all my hooking gear. Although I still need to put my rugs on display, things are pretty much in place. And the room seemed to grow to fit the furniture. I took some pictures last night (after a wonderful Mothers' Day - our first reverse trip to Toronto to spend the day with the kids).

Here's what it looks like at this point:

Lots of dressing up still to be done, and my friend Elaine assures me that I will move everything a few times before deciding it's in the perfect place, but the boxes are all unpacked and the wool is on display.

That's my student table with the cups full of colour pencils. It will also be my 'everything else' table, including sewing, designing, etc. And it's special because it was my very first woodworking project. It's fitting that it ended up down here.

That first shot also shows a giant, ancient TV that is hooked up for DVD and VHS, so hooking to a movie is a possibility - although I'm really enjoying the sounds of CBC 2 coming from the stereo unit inside the chimney cupboard.

The drop leaf table with the cutters on it can also serve as additional space for people to sit, should I ever have that many people in here at one time.

The wire cube shelves are perfect for the wool. This dedicated wall allows me to have even more than I do now - and that's after buying everything there was at the local Canadian Tire.
I'll have to look for another box in Barrie on Saturday after R.U.G., since my yarn is all still in bins in the furnace room.

The pie safe holds most of my shoeboxes of worms, although more had to go on the bottom shelf of the wire cubes. They may have to be re-located so they can all be together.

And the bottom picture shows my little "real work" station, with my wonderful new imac. Since I am technically on payroll at G+D until the end of June, I will be spending quality time here doing paying work for the next while. And since I can gaze out the window at the lake for inspiration, that won't be so bad.

The plan is to put up curtain rods with clips around the room to display the rugs, rather than putting holds in my beautiful pine walls. This wonderful idea is Elaine's and it's the perfect way to not only change the rugs on a whim, but to also display student work for critique. I have many, many curtain rods left over from the days when we had them dividing rooms in the cottage, so as soon as I can get to them in the back of the furnace room, I'll put them up.

First job is the stain and varnish the incredible stairs that the carpenter built. We were expecting "contractor" stairs that were going to be carpeted. Instead, he built the same beautiful, pegged stairs that are everywhere else in the cottage. Much too nice to be covered up.

Oh, by the way, that pole in the centre - unfortunately, it is a support post that couldn't be moved, but it will soon be boxed in - using the same 8" pine boards that are on the wall.

So, still much to be done, but I couldn't wait to share.

And now that the lion's share of settling in is done, I will actually be able to pull some loops this week - the first in over a month. And I'll be able to do it in my new, amazing studio.