When I returned from Cornwall, with a burning desire to paint all the time, I needed to create a studio.
The old empty stable attached to our cottage would be perfect. It had remained untouched because we had no idea what to do with it, and no spare money to spend on it. It would be perfect as a studio and I had the skills to restore it.
From early morning until late evening, I scrubbed floors, painted walls and restored old plaster work and in less than a week, the place was ready. We even dismantled the interior stable door, a large wooden separation and a manger and repositioned them to suit my needs.
I wanted a large dresser and went around the garden and sheds and found a whole pile of timbers, consisting of wooden fence posts and floor boards. I lay them out on the grass as to how I would like the dresser to look and asked my husband if he could ‘whack’ it all together for me and bolt it to the wall. All ten feet wide of it.
None of the timbers matched, however, once I stained the wood with Vandyke crystals it looked wonderful. By the end of the day I had this amazing storage space that looked as if it had been there when the cottage and stable were first built.
I bought a ten foot long old laundry table in a junk shop, red armchairs from Charity shops, art materials, easels, small school desks and chairs from car boot sales. I also found a large old rug to put on the red brick floor.
I needed access to water, however the cost was prohibitive, so I just filled bottles of water. I also needed heating and the best, the very best purchase of all was a large woodburner with doors that open back on themselves to reveal an amazing fire.
Everything I wanted and needed was there in one large studio. I could leave my work out, I could spread it about. Brushes were housed in mugs and jam jars, the paints were stored in old box files, with the lids off, the radio was plugged in and the wood burner made the room beautifully warm. Bliss.
The perfect room. Click to see images.