in pursuit if a blissful studio

i so love books. can't get enough of them. mainly non-fiction though.

i recently bought an android tablet so i can carry a library of books around with me.  loving the download.

but when i buy art books or decorating books, or books with pretty pictures i still really like to look at them in hard copy. not sure why. i can do mags on the tablet, but books are a little different for me. i am sure this will change though.

my latest book obsession is this ....

 ... from the people that publish WHERE WOMEN CREATE magazine and books.  

me oh my, the studios that some lucky ducks get to work from. i have no idea how they do it.  how they keep them so tidy and looking so divine (perhaps they don't and they all had a big tidy blitz before the photographer arrived ...hmm can't fool us).  i want to move in to so many of them and live there. such inspiration.  i particularly am crazy about the studios that use all sorts of vintage goodies and furniture to store and display.

here are some pages of total gorgeousness ...

 this is my favourite of the studios in the book. it looks like a vintage conservatory doesn't it?

 i so love the shelving. at first i thought it was some kind of vintage wall cupboard (which it may be), but on closer inspection it looks like it is a back piece of timber, funky brackets and shelves with rails so things don't fall off.  love it, and don't think it wouldbe too difficult to make one.

 more shelving with rails

like this room although it is a little too organised and neat for me, and I think I'd need lighter walls, but I did like the dimensions.  check out the legs on that desk ... me oh my...

i am so inspired to decorate my studio, and have all the vintage bits i would need as i have been collecting for years. but i have a small work room and far too much stuff and every time i decide to start I get so overwhelmed when i realise all that has to be done that I decide to have a cup of tea and think about it (or buy some more organisational books like this one), and then nothing gets done.   

but I know this book will inspire and motivate.  yes it will.

recycled furniture obsession update

Yay, have finished my latest recycled furniture project and am quite thrilled with the outcome. i had a bit of an obsession with it for awhile (it being painting furniture).  here's a few of the pieces i've painted in the past. 

now, i can't take credit for this idea even though i would REALLY like to. the idea came  from this wonderful woman/artist's blog that I follow, you can see it here. and I think her's looks better than mine.  i think it is the paler coloured papers that she has used, and i kinda wished i'd used paler colours.  anyway am still very happy with my unique piece of furniture. 

this is the ugliness of how the cupboard started out ...

then I  used ESP on it and then painted it a cream colour ....

 cut up a heap of scrapbooking paper and glued them on using Mod Podge Hard Coat ...

 ... and here it is again in all its gloriousness

 and a bit of a close up ...

it really is an easy project, and surprising quick to do.  give it a go.  you'll enjoy the process and the blissful outcome. really.

recycled love

before my latest obsession for painting began, i had a mad obsession with painting old pieces of furniture (that was just around the time of my mosaicing obsession of which i still have boxes and boxes of plates and tiles under the house).  my main objective was to shabby chic them and make them look all old, worn and (hopefully) french looking and save myself a ton of money by having furniture i wanted without the huge cost.

why i am talking about this is that this week after years of ignoring my furniture painting obession,  i have started another project using vintage style papers to cover the draws of a chest of draws, (but more about that in another post) and i am surprised about how much i am enjoying it.  such a sense of fulfilment.

i thought i'd post the recycled love of previous years and upload a few photos of some furniture that i've painted.  there is a before and after photo of one piece, but i forgot to take a before shot of the large dresser type piece on legs .... it was painted white and had been sponged with a chocolate colour. just lovely. anyway .. here they are.  by the way, its VERY easy to do.

From this ......

... to this - and I have two of them

i just love this monster and doubt if I will ever part with it ...

so there are just a few of my blissful furniture painting adventures ... with more to come.