Someone send inspiration and help…
I recently moved from London to Edinburgh. When asked why I was moving farther north by my baffled English friends, I couldn’t resist telling them it was because England just wasn’t cold enough for me, nothing but Scottish weather would suffice! Some of them actually believed me…
It’s not easy packing up a whole life and its contents, but having a work studio mixed with the personal makes things even harder. Once almost your whole life is safely hidden in boxes, only half the work is done – the unpacking, deciding where everything goes, both in the domestic and business front, is hard work. I’ve been at it for two weeks already and my new place still isn’t finished!
Feel free to be horrified by the mess and judge me, I can’t hear you.
This was the lovely blank slate I had to work with. The ceiling is very high (typical of early 1900’s flats around here), the wood floor is real and the fireplace works. Happy sigh.
(Now comes the cringe-y part)
It looks like a hurricane passed by, I know. I think I panicked and simply started to take things out of boxes before I had any inkling where anything should go. I kept coming back to the room, standing in the middle and staring at everything, having no idea how to organise my precious stuff. This went on for days!
After a few days of this my brain seemed to finally awake and I’m now finally able to see where I want most things to be, and I’ve started arranging my fibre slowly.
I also got one of those adjustable tables that lets me use the computer whilst standing; I’ve yet to use my chair!
My sewing table is now tucked into the window nook, affording me a little view of the sea and the stunning cloud formations above it. Inspiration might strike more often from now on with all this weather drama…
I promise my floor is now a lot more bare of items, and I’ve finally figured out where certain pieces of furniture will go. Once it’s all done I’ll even have a knitting chair near the fireplace, so I’m feeling very happy indeed.
Let me know if you’d like to see the finished studio, I’m happy to share.
Have you moved recently? Share your experiences with me so I know I’m not alone in dreading the sight of a moving van or two in the near future…
42 thoughts on “Someone send inspiration and help…”
Love your view while sewing. Looks like a nice place to live. Enjoy!
Thanks, Sue! It’s very relaxing indeed 🙂
Actually – your studio is pretty tidy (at least compared to mine!). good luck moving – hope it goes well for you
Glad to know I’m not the only one making messes 😀 I’ll be able to make a more creative one once this is all tidied up…
We are thinking of moving but to another country 🙂 As a felter I do not have a lot of technical stuff, just wool which I’m going to donate to a local felting group and start in a new place from scratch. Or not at all. But I still remember how we were moving house and more important garden and were siting and waiting for 3 month! After that all my plants went straight into soil in any place available, some are still there after 15 years 🙂 Good luck and a lot of inspiration! Your new place looks fantastic!
I also moved to another country, but it’s funny how it almost doesn’t feel like it in this island 🙂
Gosh yes, it’s the in-between time that really adds stress, isn’t it? Glad your plants made it well. Are you taking them with you?
I do love my new studio so I’m glad I went through the move, but I really don’t want to hear about going anywhere anytime soon! Best of lucks with your move, Galina 🙂
Congratulations on the move. Would love to see your space again once you settle in and decide what works best for you.
Thanks, Carlene! I’ll be sure to share again later 🙂
I might spend too much time gazing out the window as I often do at my beach house but I do no have lovely hillsides to distract me also. Beautiful and cosy can’t wait to see the finished studio.
No such thing as too much time spent gazing at beautiful scenery! 😀 A beach view must be lovely.
I’ll be sure to share the finished thing! 🙂
wonderful space and great job at organizing it. I’m in the same boat. Moving from one state to another with two artists’ studios!!! Such a daunting job.
Oh my, Kathryn! Moving states in the US is definitely a daunting task as there’s lots of miles to cover from point A to B! I hope everything goes smoothly with you.
I too had two artists’ studios, my husband is a painter 🙂 He was however much better at sorting his end out than me…
Looks like you are well on your way to creating a wonderful, creative space. Don’t worry about the mess, it looks better than mine does on a daily basis and I haven’t moved anywhere. I would love to see the finished space and the view from the window is truly inspiring 🙂
I can’t wait to be finished and to get started working! Haha, I must confess once I’ve tidied up it all might revert back to being a mess, but I’ll just call it creativity 😀
I’ll make my next post about the finished space!
A fantastic view and a lovely new space. Congratulations on the move. Take your time you’ll get there.
Thanks, Marilyn! I really am loving the new space. I’m glad my braincells finally decided to cooperate and let me know where things should go 🙂
I’m so jealous. Edinburgh is one of my favorite places. Since I live in NW Wisconsin the weather is comparable…without the -35F temps we get. As for the mess, it looks like my studio now as I am in the throws of production for holiday sales. Settling in is a process, so be gentle with yourself.
Do you visit Edinburgh often, Deb? I fell in love with the city and once London was over and done with I just couldn’t wait to get here 🙂
I’m so glad so many of you have come forward and told me about their mess! Makes me feel much better 😀
What a delightful story share. I love your new space, the wool colors liven up the place. What a great place for a new start with inspiring outdoors right out your window.
Thanks, Merle! That wool corner is definitely one of my favourite areas of the studio right now. I keep looking at the happy colours and it somehow grounds me, makes me see that I’ll end up with a space that’ll make sense soon 🙂
The sea was a happy accident but I’m so glad I get to see it from three rooms in this new place!
Hi Leonor, big moves can prove very inspirational. We moved from the UK to New Zealand nine years ago and love it here. When I discovered the joys of felting I found so much to inspire me just by looking out of my own windows. NZ has some amazing birds which I am trying to copy on wall hangings. Out of my kitchen and dining room windows I look up at Mount Taranaki which is a beautiful (dormant) volcano which for most of the year has snow covered upper reaches and looks very much like Mount Fuji. This has provided me with inspiration for some felt vessels. From my living room we look down at the ocean and from the bedroom windows we look out over wild untamed “Bush” with its amazing shades of greens and the beautiful tree ferns.
Your workspace is not so unusual in it’s temporary chaos, you should see mine or those of some of my professional felter friends. Strangely, amongst all of the chaos and clutter they seem to know exactly where everything is!!
Enjoy your new life and let it inspire you – I am sure it will.
Hi, Jackie! Ah, the organised chaos, as they put it – I’ll get there, right now I’ve just shoved my things more or less into the shelf spaces so I don’t think I know where half my fibre is! 🙂
NZ is fabulous. It’s on my To Go places, and coincidentally I’ve been watching Air New Zealand’s YouTube channel, their security videos are wonderful!
Your neck of the woods sounds dreamy. Isn’t it lovely when we have beautiful surroundings to inspire us? I hope you also get to see sheep from your windows 😀
Hi Leoner, I am only too familiar with moving, having done it too many times to remember..must be close to 40 now!!…my next (and hopefully last) is coming soon…awaiting my new home to be ready in next months…with purpose build studio.. (I laugh to my family, as it is more like a studio with a living space attached!!!!) Your messy version of your studio looks better than my space on a daily basis, as my always increasing felt supplies have now escaped my tiny work room and are in boxes from the dinning to the lounge…I’m very much looking forward to moving into my studio, although I hate the process of packing and unpacking.What a beautiful setting for your new place. I’m sure as you settle into your new nest you will experience a zest of creativity inspired by this space….dreaming time appreciating those views…and busy times when you are too preoccupied to look out the window!!…enjoy 🙂
Hi, Jan! 40 times?! Wowza! I’m getting heart palpitations just trying to imagine what that might be…
Oh, that’s the dream right there, a little living space with a giant studio attached (haha, I so get you)! My husband and I would love to build something like that for us. Hopefully one day!
We paid for the moving company to pack for us and it was such a great investment. Half my stress went away. If you get the chance, explore that possibility, it’s fantastic.
You’re very right, I should try to appreciate the view before the busyness of life gets to me… thanks for the reminder!
Wow, what a lovely space! It looks a lot tidier than my workspace. I love the high ceilings and the fireplace. It will be great to sit knitting near the fire when it gets properly cold.
Thanks! It really is a lovely space, I was so lucky to get it. As it happens, I did set up a cozy chair for knitting near the fireplace in the near future 😉
We wish you the very best of fortune in your lovely new home. What views! What a studio!
Yes, please keep us posted on your new studio and surroundings.
Thank you! This place was a lovely find indeed 🙂
Once I have things looking decent (or at least making more sense to me) I’ll definitely take pictures to show in my next blog post 😀
It looks like a wonderful studio and much tidier than mine ever is. No matter how many shelves I have, things seem to end up on the floor and chairs. You have a beautiful view. Packing up is a scary thought here. We have outbuildings. you can’t imagine how much stuff you can accumulate when you have outbuildings.
I’m s glad so many of you have come out to mention how my studio isn’t untidy (makes me feel much better)! 😀
Packing up is scary no matter the circumstances, but outbuildings do tend to “help” with accumulating more stuff. I had a shed and a greenhouse in the last place and goodness knows how I managed to stuff those with things I wasn’t sure where to keep in the new place…
Yes, I’d love to see your place after you finish 😊
I’ll have a post ready to go once I’m done! It’s already looking much more decent than before, hehe 🙂
You’ve made it, a Herculean effort. Clearing out things and starting afresh. This is a great opportunity, so indulge yourself & take time to get it how you really want it. So often we have things then get something new and simply squeeze it in, often not in the best place. The layout then becomes habit.
Your view is great is it the Leith end or further east? You’ll be amazed at the changing seascapes. Do you see much shipping?
I’ve just read all the comments after having just purchased yet another 2 large boxes to somehow contain my creeping supplies which are invading well beyond my studio. Like you the comments have cheered me up, as I now don’t feel alone in this (as you put it) state of creativity!
Herculean indeed! 😀 It certainly feels that way. By now most things are tucked in and no longer in boxes, but I confess a lot of them still aren’t where they should. I’ll have to get to that later, maybe January (otherwise my business will suffer even more from this break!) Since I have the new post to write when it’s all proper I’ll have that as motivation.
I’m in Trinity, so very near Leith. I’ve already noticed some changes in the seascape, it’s beautiful and dramatic. I could do without the wind but even the cold feels refreshing because it’s so devoid of pollution! Coming from London one really notices the difference…
Ha, it seems creative people all have the same issue with supplies creeping up on them and taking over! 😀 I wonder if fibre reproduces when we’re not looking 😉
Leonor – I’ve finally caught up with your reply. Trinity great. You will certainly notice the difference from London – chalk & cheese!
I’ve just had a birthday & originally thought I’d go to World of Wool to explore for the first time – as a birthday treat. Then sense took over….1. EPH (ever patient husband) would require an Everest of the ‘P’ & 2. I’d not be able to avoid buying yet more fibre which would then incur yet more storage problems. Instead we explored a city we had not visited before!
If calories can sew our clothes tighter overnight I’m certain our creative supplies can reproduce!!!
Ooh, happy belated birthday! I’m glad you have an EPH, mine’s part of that club as well 😀 Poor guy, there’s always extra P when it comes to fibre and cats in this household…
I like your resolution of sightseeing instead of fibre-purchasing – I’ve a rule whereby I’m not allowed any yarn if I can dye it myself; this means I can get something I don’t think I can create, or a yarn base I don’t normally carry as a business (such as lace). Other than that, I’m banned! It’s worked wonders, I have a small personal stash that I cherish and look forward to using. Less can really be more in some cases!
Calories have definitely been sewing my wardrobe, I need to go hiking in the Highlands soon to leave some of those gremlins behind 😉
😉
WOW what a Spectacular space!! the view is wonderful! you can keep an eye on the sea from a high vantage point! the high sealing are a grate asset for storing stuff. for my work office i used IKEA tall Pax wardrobes with translucent glass doors (hide the mess but hint at what mite be in there). the narrow depth ones fit binders in depth but don’t take up much floor space. we have short ceilings so had to build them standing (not the easiest but worth the effort). it looks like you could put them together the easy way! make sure to find a comfy chair that will work at your desk and at your spinning wheel to save a bit more space. oh and remember if its not cold enuff there you can join Ann and I in Ottawa Canada, its still snowing and only -6c at the moment! (maybe stay there you have the view and grate ceiling height!) Congratulations im sure you will be settled in vary soon!!! i am looking foreword to seeing your final set up with spinning wheel by the fireplace!
Hi, Jan! Thanks 😀 I’m really loving the new space. When I can no longer see the sea (because, night) I can look at the twinkling lights from the other side of the coast and it’s quite lovely.
Funny you should mention PAX, my husband and I assembled two wardrobes a few days ago for our bedroom. We built them standing, because it was easier for us (they’re heavy to lift!). For now I think my shelves might do the trick but I’ll definitely keep PAX in mind if I need more storage, doors help keep the mess away (maybe unless they’re translucent?)
I bought a desk that can go from sitting to standing and believe it or not, ever since setting it up to standing I’ve yet to feel like sitting 🙂 Right now my chair has been for sewing only.
-6ºC! Brr. I’ll stay in “warm” Scotland, thank you 😀 It was 4ºC today, not bad…
My knitting chair is all set up near the fireplace, and is a favourite spot of Marshmallow the cat to nap on. I think I’m off to a good start 😀
Welcome to Scotland 😀
Thank you! I feel at home already 😀 It’s a beautiful country.