We’ve been in our house over two and a half years now, and it took until this weekend to finally put anything up on the walls of the studio. Mind you, that room has needed probably the biggest makeover of the whole place. I’ve written before about the walls in this room— we first thought they were paneling, only to discover the “interesting” choice to cover the walls in faux wood contact paper.
After removing the paper (basically just a gigantic sticker), we painted the room a bright minty turquoise which, to be honest, took me a bit to get used. Though it’s nearly the exact same color I painted the kitchen area, it’s crazy how different light will change how a color appears. Eventually it grew on me (or not wanting to buy more paint and redo the room grew on me : ) ) and over the weekend weekend, almost a year later on the dot since the paint job, I finally got around to hanging things up on the wall. There’s still plenty to do to “finish” the room, but it’s nice to finally have some inspiring things to look at.
Of the hundreds of Martha Stewart tricks that are out there, this is probably the only one I’ve ever actually adopted– tracing the pictures you want to hang in paper first to adjust the layout before you start hammering any nails. So obvious, so smart.
Real talk: this is my mess of a workspace. I painted old metal thrift store frame white to frame a new picture in a more flattering way.
A couple of things on display on some of the smaller walls in the studio– the calendar sample was on of many treasures discovered in Uncle Fun‘s basement during their closing sale. The Anne Benjamin print I spotted at Earwax (also now closed. Why do all my favorite places close?) shortly after moving to Chicago and loved so much I very nearly stole it off the announcement board that night. When I saw her selling one at Renegade a year or so later I was so thrilled I snapped it up on the spot and it lived in our bedroom for a number of years. The colors work perfectly in the studio (and Henry enjoys saying “Arrrgh” the the pirate every time he sees it).
The final (for now) gallery wall including a vintage pennant I found on Ebay, my new Earth Cadets screenprint (which was the impetus to finally hang things up), a bird print by Memo Helen, Amos Paul Kennedy broadside I got at DUCF last winter, and a vintage needlepoint owl thrifted by my sister-in-law a few years back.
Now, how’s that for eye candy the next time I’m looking for inspiration, eh? I don’t think I’ll have an excuse for an artistic slump ever again looking at all these beauties!
Most of the year I’m concentrating on the pop culture character puppets, but for craft fairs I like to offer the simpler animal and monsters, too. They’re less expensive and kids, obviously, totally dig them. Many a kiddo has shown up at my table eyeing a puppet monkey and not sure how much change she’ll get back from her $10 allowance money.
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