The Fantasy of a Beautiful Work Space

"A Painter's Studio," Louis-Leopold Boilly, c. 1800
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art Open Access Program

Hello friends,

One of my great "realistic fantasies" is to eventually be able to afford a home in which I can create a separate art space.  Really, all that means is a two-bedroom apartment.  But right now, as D.C. is the third most expensive city in the country with housing prices to match, it's hard to find so much as a studio apartment that is near the Metro, in a safe neighborhood, relatively well maintained and bedbug free for under $1500 a month (and it's easy to find them for much, much more).

Having lived on my own in small spaces before, I have seen how quickly all my clothing and art supplies add up to an apartment that resembles a walk-in closet more so than a living space.  Forget entertaining. Forget even breathing.

I've solved the problem by living with roommates.  And while that enables me to live in a much larger, much prettier apartment than I could ever afford on my own, my need to be considerate heavily constrains the degree to which I can really use the ample space in my apartment to make art. Those of you who are makers know that in addition to being messy, art sometimes requires you to spread out.  To cover every surface at times. To cover the walls sometimes.  And to leave your projects and your supplies out, sometimes for days on end.

Personally, I'd love to be able to leave my supplies out indefinitely.  It would save the time and effort of constantly taking things out and putting them away again, time and effort that could actually go into making things.  And the ability to set a project aside for a while but still have it be visible so I can ponder it is invaluable.

So my bedroom has started taking on that closet-chic vibe from back when I lived by myself.  My desk is a workshop for creating journals and printed cards. The top of my dresser?  A perfume-mixing station.  The back of my closet door hosts four baskets full of yarn.  My actual closets are home to bin and box after bin and box of completed knitting projects, Mod Podge, rice papers, embroidery thread, yards of various fabrics, gemstone beads, pillow stuffing, beeswax pellets, shipping supplies, business cards for my Etsy shop, card stock, faux flowers, empty perfume vials, millinery trimmings and one double boiler.  This is to say nothing of the yarn baskets that have simply become part of the "souk-themed decor" in our living room, much to the chagrin of my cohabitants.

Aforementioned "Souk-Themed Decor"

My kingdom for a two-bedroom apartment!  And, not gonna lie, a back yard would be nice.  Is this really so much to ask?

It occurs to me that if I were a much gutsier person than I am, and much better at saving and budgeting, I could just quit my job and move.  I could go somewhere more rural and with a much lower cost of living, rent or buy a modest 2 or 3 bedroom house with a yard and a scenic drive up from the road and a wooded landscape...Not only would I have plenty of naturally-lit studio space, I'd also have a veritable Instagrammer's playground with which to promote my creative offerings, whatever they may be, on social media.  And I could eat food from my very own garden.

But this would require such a shocking change in lifestyle, and I'd be all on my own with no support network, at least not at first.  And though the cost of living would be much lower, I'd still need a stable source of income.  Would my creative pursuits be sufficient to support me after the first few months living off savings?  Would I be able to find a job outside of a city - a hard thing to do these days, which is why so many of us live in cities despite the very lack of space I'm using this post to lament - that lets me strike the right balance between working elsewhere for benefits and income and while having plenty of time left to dedicate to my creative business (whatever that may be - don't forget this fantasy also lacks the crucial element of a sound business model).

Anyway, until such time as I'm able to save the money I'd need to go buy, apparently, an entire ranch, I need to think more realistically about what little changes I can implement right now to make my workspace more, well...workable.  If I can use a Pinterest hack to reorganize my purses with nothing but a curtain rod and some S hooks from Target, certainly I can hack my yarn.  And the giant metal cone I bought for hammering metal bracelets and used all of once.  And my blockprinting supplies. And my acrylic paints.

"A Farm in the Sunlight," Meindert Hobbema, 1668
Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art Open Access Program

So I ran quick searches for "workspace" and "workspace hacks" on Instagram and Pinterest and, rather than finding helpful ideas, I mainly found images that were just people showing off how lovely their workspaces appeared when featured in heavily edited photographs.  The closest image I could find to anything realistically achievable in my current apartment is this:

Love this clean, organized, and airy office and wardrobe space

A photo posted by Naina Singla (@nainasingla) on Nov 18, 2016 at 8:37am PST

Desk in a closet. Something about this seems so familiar.

Guess I'll have to keep pondering.  There does seem to be some promise in shared workspaces, such as DC's own Lemon Bowl, which I will be discussing at greater length in future blog posts.

What say you, readers?  Have any helpful thoughts on workspaces that I might be able to implement, or relatable experiences to share? Feel free to use the comments.  

Emily