Wednesday 23 November 2011

More Space and Light: improvements in my studio

Okay, light, and especially space are not really terms that apply to my studio. And even studio does not really describe it. It's a "studio" really. A mix of a study-cum-library-cum-place-where-I-create. It's small, and getting messy with colours usually requires some shifting of both stuff and furniture. Not practical, really, but all I have at the moment. And better than nothing. And I've been making some improvements over the course of this year. A new, big and bright lamp on the ceiling, a lovely new cabinet, and, more recently, a bigger desk and some more storage space. The window was the last thing to tackle. I had a lovely semi-transparent orange curtain, which bathed the room in a golden light in the early morning sun - but made it rather dark for the rest of the day while covering up the window board. I had been thinking about how to get the maximum of light while avoiding passersby peeking through the street facing window. Well, it's a mezzanine flat, actually, so not street level, but I'm a bit paranoid in that respect... I must admit though that I love peeking into other people's homes :).


Well, I finally found the perfect solution: a simple blind and transparent (or is it translucent?) window film. I found, and mail-ordered, the perfect window film at one of my favourite shops in Stockholm, Designtorget. Very conveniently, it arrived on Monday last week, on my day off, so in the afternoon up went the blind, and on went the film, and my little "studio" was perfect at last. Well, as perfect as it can be, anyway :). And I had now the perfect space to hang up the lovely gift I received from my cousin three weeks ago.


Now I have space for my brushes and other painting stuff, without having to be afraid of it fading and /or getting otherwise damaged by the sun. The blind allows so much more light to get in, without me feeling exposed and observed by passersby and neighbours.


And there's now room and light to paint by the window. Creating the right atmosphere in one's creative space is so important.


But one of my most favourite things still are the fairy lights. I love fairy lights, and this one is an espially long one, which goes around the cabinet, over the door and along the bookshelves, covering half of the room and lighting it up beautifully.


I really love how different the window film looks depending on the time of day and light outside. The blue hour is my favourite time of the day in winter anyway, but now, it's even more magical.



My dream of a proper studio (and I tell you in my head I already now exactly how it looks like) still seems light years away, but until it, hopefully, may come true one day, I at least have a room I'm happy with and enjoy spending time in.

4 comments:

  1. That translucent (I think) film is a good idea - the blue light especially is fabulous - because the light is so even and not too harsh. Don't you miss being able to see out though? Whenever I am working I like to see the world passing by outside my window. I have a very fine gauze material which I can see through but they can't see me (which is good because my window is right on the street.)

    There's a lovely warmth in the space with the fairy lights. You have a flair for interior design, I am sure, especially with all the little extra touches like the floral design boxes and candle holders, and now the gift from your cousin - did you keep quiet about a birthday??

    p.s. Christmas is a good time for peeking into other people's homes because they like to show off their tree lights and decorations ;)

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  2. The film is only 50cm high, so you can still see out, especially as I can now pull up the blind, rather than having the whole window covered, like I had before. And there isn't really anything going on outside there, it's a very quiet street. I do like to decorate my home, although I'm afraid that chaos mostly takes over and things usually find their place because I simply don't know where to put them, so they just pile up somewhere, mostly in the bookshelves. I think I should be using the coming Christmas holiday for some serious decluttering... No, no birthday yet, although it is getting uncomfortably closer, although I'm trying very very hard to forget about it...

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  3. Ha Ha! One thing about birthdays - they never forget YOU!

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  4. That window film was genius! I think your photos of your studio are fab - a creative and welcoming space to create. Love the little fairy lights!!!

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