Interior Decoration

I had been hunting for cushions for the bench we'd made that would be firm and thick and resilient. The best prices I could find for a good quality foam were really astronomical (for me) and with cover, I was looking at over $500 which was too, too much. So I procrastinated doing anything until one day, at a moving sale, I found four mighty down sofa cushions wrapped in high quality foam and in cotton duck zippered covers that just so happened to fit the dimensions of the bench perfectly. I bought those plus a set of Euro square pillows for $50. Then I found a bolt of fabric at the local salvage store for $6 and some curtains at another yard sale for $2.



Then I found a bolt of fabric at the local salvage store for $6, some curtains at another yard sale for $2 and a happy heavy striped cotton rug at yet another yard sale for $3.



Ah.... Now that's what I'm talking about!

Setting up for work

Here's my basic work set up for drawing and watercolor.



Ah... look how clean and uncluttered!

Moving in

The first thing to go in is the drawing table. Most important! 
Then a sweet little English antique chair that I picked up for a song somewhere along the way.

The Ladder

Here's my sweet ladder. The top is bolted through the wall to the support beam of the loft floor. It's made from pine 2 x 4s and red oak 1 x 4s. The carpenter who cut and pieced it together made a couple of errors in settings after I obsessed over getting the measurements just right (of course!). He said, "Perfection is expensive!". I had no comeback for that remark so I figured out a way to make it work so that the errors were minimized and it's just fine. I'm the only one who climbs up and down it anyway, and I love the way it looks.

The bench

As I sat on the grass in January, obsessing over the exact siting of this building, I dreamed of this bench. I am sitting on it right this very minute as I write this post. The sun is pouring in and I absolutely love this spot.

Below, you can see the little recess where the water pipes come into the building. One of the carpenters cut and finished a nice little piece to cover that space. It's good for sitting on and later, you'll see that I make my own book shelves.



But for now, I was thrilled with the construction of the bench which could not have been more simple or inexpensive. One of the employees at Home Depot gave me instructions on exactly how to construct this. Between the handyman and myself , we put this together in an hour or so.

Table and Chairs

A trash picker from way back (why let perfectly good things go to waste?), a part of my psyche is always tuned to finding treasure in unlikely places. One day, bringing some animal or other into the Vet, I spied these chairs and two very nice tables stacked on the street in front of the office. The Vet's brother (who turned out to be an exceptional sculptor) was selling the lot for $50. We shook hands on $40 and he delivered them to me himself. A good deal for perfect studio furniture!