This Saturday it will be a whole year since we moved to our new place in Napa.  Before that we lived in a loft apartment where my workplace was divided into two rooms.  I did my office work and design work at the computer in the loft and my artsy work at the corner of the big living room where I had a second desk and a cabinet.  When we were looking into buying a house, my husband insisted that I have a room that I can call my own.  I thought it would be nice to celebrate that occasion with a tour of my “Little Atelier”, which is what he calls this room.

I painted the room a cool blue-gray colour that was inspired by my favourite season – Winter.  This is my sewing desk.  The sewing supplies are stored in a lovely fabric basket sent by Cheryl.  She also sent me the cathedral window pincushion that is resting against the fabric basket.  My most favourite wall hanging – “My Best Enemy” – is on the main wall and my little acrylic painted crest is on the wall to the left of the window.  I saved a small branch while trimming a tree in our backyard last weekend, the crest is hanging from that now.

I love the night sky and that takes centre stage in this area.  There’s a HUGE Map Of The Universe poster on the wall.  On the desk there’s a Lego space shuttle and a Mars hug-a-planet ball.  Keeping with the theme, a little bit of Doctor Who also sneaked into this area of the room.   A blueprint of the sonic screwdriver of the tenth Doctor is on the wall and a Tardis clock sits on my desk.

A wider view of that corner

The sewing desk is actually an old dining table.  I love the large size of it.  I have some computer hardware programming items under that desk as well.   My violin and a mandolin are behind that desk, right by the floor lamp.

I have a large kitty bed on my computer desk for my beloved orange kitty who joins me every morning within ten minutes of my walking into the room.

This is the “Shelf Around The Corner”, very much like the Shop Around The Corner.   It is more of a shelf of whimsical curios than anything else.  A lot of the things on this shelf were gifts, while some of them I collected during our travels.  Along with my computer programming and cosmology books,  I also keep a few of my favourite story books here, some of which are signed.  A new addition to this corner is the “Will Work For Books” magnet on the lamp.  My first-ever job was at a bookstore, so recently my husband got the magnet for me as a nod to that.

Aside from a variety of Florentine and other types of stationary papers, there are a multitude of other things on that shelf:  A couple of Venusian glass pens,  a little replica of a standing stone from Orkney, bejeweled spiders, a tiny little violin, some tiny chemistry flasks and beakers, just to name a few.  Tintin and Captain Haddock have been my best friends since I was a child, so I had to keep a Tintin pencil sharpener there too.  I have to work hard not to clutter this shelf up too much!!

Right beside the shelf is my guitar and its amp.  I catalog my books, so new books always end up in that Fair Isle star fabric basket before they go on the shelf.  The serger, a few more books, rocks, mineral collections, etc. are stored in the closet.  The drawers at the bottom are perfect for storing my knitting supplies.  My pretty Doctor Who stitch markers and the Tardis wallet made by Caroline are also in one of those drawers.  The ironing table hangs behind the door.  My husband changed out the drawer pulls and the closet handles for nicer ones after I finished painting the room.

These are the cabinets on the other side of the door.  Between the two cabinets are a few Lego sets, painting canvases and my other violin.  The cabinet on the left is my fabric cabinet, that’s all the fabric I own.  It is organised by projects and type of fabric.  There’s only one exception –  Amanda sent me a huge stash of novelty fabric from her own stash.  They are so much fun to look at that I left them at the top of one of the stacks.  This way I can see them and smile every time I open the cabinet.

The other shelf with the half doors is right by the sewing desk.  Inside the closed doors you will find yarn and sewing supplies.  I sometimes have Charlie joining me here, that cushion is for him to sleep on.  On the wall are two of my watercolour paintings – Northsea coast and a stone bridge on the isle of Mull.

I love the painting supplies on this shelf.  When I walk into this room every morning, they are lit up by the soft morning light.   I love to play with large Lego sets and I usually sort the pieces before I start building.  That’s what’s stored on the second shelf along with a Lego biplane and the yellow pincushion from Kris.  The two boxes on the top shelf contain a few more quilting supplies.  On that shelf I also have a few prints acquired during our travels.  I need to frame those.  Hanging from the knobs is a little house sent to me by my dear friend Sil from Brasil.

It is not a large room, but many things happen here  – work, play, music, photography, painting, drawing, and sewing.  This room has to fit it all, and it is very much organised with that in mind.  With that said, I also made room for the little things that make me happy.

Happy Crafting!
-Soma