Inside The Cottage Studio

Inside The Cottage Studio

Welcome!  I promised in my last post Welcome To The Cottage Studio that soon, I'd come back to give you a tour of the inside.  So, I'm back to share, and do, please come on in.

Oh wait, first let me share the sunrise with you today.  I wasn't up at 4:30 am but hubby was, so he grabbed my Canon and snapped this photo of our city view to the East.  Goooood MORNING Solana Beach!

Lets step inside the french doors.  The first thing you see is, my desk.  I cleaned it up for ya.  Kinda.  That chair cover is my attempt to soften an ugly old rolling desk chair from Staples.  We've had it forever and so many butts have sat on it, the pleather has worn clean through.  It looks like the Snake River with all the crevices weaving through it, so I thought I'd spruce it up a bit with this thing I found when I started unpacking old boxes.  I think I inherited this soft cotton chair cover from one of my dad's X-wives.  The last one I believe, um, Nancy?  Thanks Nancy.  Anyhoo,  it has a beautifully monogramed "M" on the bottom tip.  It's wasted in this picture but, you just can't, believe the intricate beauty see it.  I don't know, maybe I'll just lose it.  Tell me what you think?

Don't you love the floors y'all helped me choose though?  I love the way they look all warm and mellow just the way I had dreamed of when I was Begging You Here for your trusted opinions.  Thanks my lovely friends;  you done me proud.

Remember me telling you that there are two sets of french doors in the studio, one coming in off the entry of the cottage which is naturally lit with indirect light, and this set which opens on to the courtyard with direct sunlight beaming in?  Well, from here you can hear the ocean and smell the fresh salt air.  It's heavenly.  If I didn't have so much work to do in here, it would be a vacation every day.

From my desk I can see the birds frolic in their bath, the wind blow the palms, and the bright pink of my bougainvillea cascading over the wall.  Just beauteous.  Speaking of beautiful, look at those gifts all wrapped up and ready to go.  Wonder who those are for?  Those gifts are my beginning attempt at the consumerism end of Christmas. I don't enjoy that end very much but my kids tell me it must be done.

In my last post I talked about my unfortunate breakdown in IKEA.  My sweet daughter helped me hold it together, by drawing me a picture on a post-it-note, of what kind of configuration of furniture I'd need to purchase, to fit the space I had.

Not bad eh?  I'd say it ended up to be a perfect fit.  If you'd like to have Kate come outfit your space and prevent you from having a breakdown, just call her at 1-800-save-sanity.  She does have a degree in Industrial Psychology you know.  Industrial Psychology?

Anyway, this is the way the space looks now.  I'm not so great at the planning/building part, but I can rock the 'put a little pop' into it part.  The photos on the far left and right are my hubby and I.  Cuuuuuuute, right?  It looks like we're looking at each other smiling.  Romaaaaantic, yes?  The middle photo is my four youngest kids dressed up for All Saints Day in their respective saint costumes.  That one is just for me.  It embarrasses them which is why I love it so very much, and helps me remember when I want to strangle them, of what little saints they all really are.  Yep.  The last photo is of my best friend Carolyn and I at our college graduation.  A distant memory, but alas, a fine one.  That little jar of blessings up there, is where anyone who wants to can write about something or someone they are blessed by, and place it in the jar for posterity.  Someday, I'll read you some.  They're pretty special.

Moving along, this is the counter part of the unit.  I've covered it with some of the things I use regularly like, thread and twine and rope.  The paint and paint samples are the colors I've chosen to paint the filing cabinet.  It may be a while before I can get to that but, I think it will give the room more of the soft, warm, beachy feeling I want it to have.  I'm going to use both shades and shabby it all together.

I hung wire over the counter where I pin up whatever photos I'm feelin at the moment.  I have 57,000 of them by my husband's count, which, I keep in the cupboard I'll show you in a minute.  Seriously though, this way I can replay my memories.  I can rewind them, re-live them, and just enjoy the sight of them each day!  And, and, they're never the same for too long.  I've changed them out 3 times this month alone.

 I love that the top half of this cupboard is glass.  What I'm NOT showing you behind the other solid cupboard doors, you don't even want to see.  It's all the OTHER stuff.  When Kate was planning my space, she told me that some of the cupboards must be solid.  She said, "That's where you can keep your OTHER stuff."

Whateve, Kate.

I wish these were the keys to open the cupboard.  There really are no keys, any old buddy can just open that door.  It's just a fantasy dream of mine that I could have a place that is sacred only to me.  A place where many little hands and fingers didn't go pilfering through to find treasures stuff for their own use.  Big breath....And God forbid, not put everything anything away the way they found it.  Or away at all.  You moms all know what I'm talkin about.  Oh yes, you do.

These are keys I've collected from hotels in England and Italy and Ireland.  No guys,  I did not steal them, I bought them.  What?  You mean renting the room for the night doesn't include the keys?

On the very tip top way up there.  Those are wee buttons I've been collecting for ever and ever!  If you're nice, when you visit me I'll let you sit on the floor a while and look through them.  It's loads of fun to see all the different styles and colors and sizes.  They feel awesome running through your fingers whether you are reaching right through the jar down to the bottom, or pouring them all out and rifling through the stash.  As you can see I have lots of seashells, sand, tags, markers and staples too.  Hmmm.  Staples.

Kate has banned me from ever buying staples again.  Not because I have so many but, because she now has staplephobia.  What pray tell is — staplephobia.  An uncanny fear of staples after having stapled your thumb to your palm.  Another story post, for another time.

 Ohhhhhh, more treasures.  Colored pencils,  my beloved paint brushes. Wire of every color and gauge, chalk, embroidery thread of every hue, paper clips, clothes pins, paint chips, cotton balls, and more buttons!  Yes, mam, these are all treasures, each and every one.  To the delight of many a little child, I've taken these treasures with me to more than a few art class that I've taught.  Most of these things have been compiled over time, now I just have somewhere to put them!  That is until I die and my kids set them out on the curb for the AMVETS truck.

Look at that bottom shelf there.  It contains glue sticks, markers and candy canes.  Doesn't every granny have candy canes in her cupboard at Christmas time?

So, there you have it, and probably more of it than you can stand.  But for those of you who enjoy this kind of stuff, there's more.

Sorry, I don't talk out loud much so, when I get you all gathered into a captive audience like this I just can't seem to shut up.

Wrapping paper, ribbon and magazines.  How cool is that storage bin?  What a great use of space! Again, Kate's idea.

Directly across from the storage units is my old cottage cupboard.  This is said cupboard which, my husband claims, houses my 57,000 photos.  Now, we all know that couldn't possibly be true.  At least 7,000 of those alleged photos are digital now.  Just don't make me open those doors while you're here, K?

I set the old paned mirror atop the cupboard so that I can take in the reflection from the other side of the room.  It gives me more dimension and light, and besides that I can see my awesome storage units from everywhere in the room then.  Are those graduated by size stacking boxes not fantastic?  Helps me remember what's inside them.  Hehehehe.

Full view.  You're welcome.

Once again, because I love light and dimension, I have placed a large mirror on the wall over the return on my desk area which enables me to see out to the courtyard without even turning around!

This is the area I call my wall of sacraments.  On it I have placed the 1st Communion pictures of all my children as well as My wedding picture and the wedding picture of our eldest daughter and her hubby.  All precious reminders of our blessings and God's love and grace to our family.

 Nuff said.

 Command central.  My son made that darling little note pad as a surprise for me.  It's made from red twine, cardboard, permanent marker and white paper cut to fit and all put together in this clever little package.  I wonder where he got the stuff for this project?  He must have the key.

 Lookey that beautiful blank canvas.  Now that's a sight to behold.  She's just sitting there patiently waiting for me to create something.  Come to mama you gorgeous thing!

This is my feeble attempt at organization.

  (I kinda cleaned out the paperwork so it would look more tidy for the tour.)  Did it work?

 ???

 These are the most important things in the studio.  These are my husbands's tide-logs.  These logs tell you all the cycles of the tides.  Where, on any give day at any given moment, a year in advance, the tide will rise and fall.  This comes in handy before you take a walk on the beach!

 So, there you have it.  It's honestly just a small, little room, but it's packed with light and reflection and color.  It's full of love and creativity and dreams, so it lives large.  I just can't write a short post to save my soul.  I've tried.  Jesus wants me for a sunbeam, I've tried!  Thanks for putting up with me.  Now you know where I get in all this trouble get my inspiration from.  I write these little looooong blog posts from this desk, right here.

Now, I  bid you adieu.  Thanks so much for visiting me and taking a tour of my studio.  I apologize again for my lengthy ramblings but, I had a rare chunk of time today which due to the season and all, I may not have again for a while.  I do have a Christmas card to give you.  Yes, you!  You all mean more to me than you'll ever know.  I just can't believe you keep coming back again and again to blog time with me.  I appreciate every single one of you xoxox too.  Y'all get ready, your Christmas card from the cottage is coming soon so, until then...

Love you more than the length of my posts!

Blessings,

Tia