I found your site quite a while ago, and am just getting to check it out. I think it is great, and the information you provide had me grabbing for pen and paper so I can check out several of your many hints!

My studio also moved from the kitchen table to a small bedroom. I have an old bureau to house all my papers in two of the drawers. Another drawer contains materials that I work with on occasion and small sample works done quickly on different papers and in different mediums. The last drawer contains extras of the mediums I work with (watercolors, pastels colored pencils, pens and inks), extra brushes and gel mediums etc. On top sits a desk-type letter holder in which I keep books and magazines.

I have a small sturdy wooden table with stool, for doing small pieces, right next to the bureau. I put in a day bed, so if I am working late, or wake in the middle of the night with an idea, I don't disturb my husband. Under the bed is a small suitcase housing all my acrylics, my mat cutter and picture frames I have found in tag sales. On a side table is my file folder with photos and picture ideas, gallery exhibitions and the like. Along with that is the small radio/tape deck for popping in mood music.

Then I have my easel, and next to it, an old utility table, the top of which is a wooden tray my husband made with an inch-and-1/2 lip. This houses all my materials that I am currently using and is VERY handy. I attached a movable desk lamp in which I am presently using the GE Reveal bulbs. Good-priced lighting and when I take a piece of work outside it seems true to life color. My color charts hang on the wall above the easel. I made one from all the colored pencils I have and wrote the name and number under each "swatch"....works great. I use a piece of white bristol boad with a small center hole to check for color-matching.

I keep finished works ready for framing in my portfolio with acid-free paper attached between them.

All in all, that is the room that, when I go into it, the "stress" just leaves me. A vase of flowers on top of the bureau makes this small 10' x 12' bedroom THE perfect studio for me.

Thanks!

Dee in Mass.

***************************

My thanks to Denise for sharing her studio description in such great detail. I hope this will give you ideas on how to adapt a small space so you don't have to wait to create! We can't all have fabulous studios, but it is important to make a special place dedicated to your art, whether it's a closet or a bedroom or, in my case, a former recreation room.

You're welcome to visit My Studio.