My Studio

My partner and I bought our 100 year old house from my Great Aunt Rach (Helen Rachel Stephenson). We call it a cottage which we have added on to. It's in a questionable neighborhood that we would like to change! My Art Studio is in the basement of this house which as a higher ceiling than homes built today.

This is the entrance from the back door through the library and too the exercise  section. When I was a "starving artist" I had an in-house gallery event and painted the concrete floors with circles. I had to add the bookshelves because I read too much and didn't want to give up the favorite books that I have already read. If you notice in the forefront, I have drawers that hold books that I have also read. 

This is the hub of my studio. In the forefront is my drawing table which I have had forever. In the middle of the photo is my computer station where I do most of my work. Beyond that is my Elliptical machine that I should be using more often and an aquarium that I focus on in order to reduce stress 

This is a second room that has my workbench, photography area, flat storage, resource books, tools, lighting, and easel. When we added this room to our basement (living room above) we had the contractor add the wall studs but not put up any drywall. That way I could hang/store my art without having to worry about finding a stud to put a nail in.

Of course, every house needs a laundry area and this is ours. My partner Chris Pohl is an Executive Chef at Giovanni's in Munster, IN and I am a gourmet cook as a hobby so we needed a second kitchen in the house and this is it. Since Chris works as a Chef, he doesn't cook at home but he bakes. I do all the cooking (as well as all the laundry). The cabinets were the cheap unfinished cabinets that you would find in any hardware store. I took two weeks to stain and finish them. If you notice the floor, it is splattered with a rainbow of assorted paint. This is because before we added the kitchen, I used to paint my frames, etc and would always drip paint. So, why not make the most of what was happening by mistake and make it "on purpose". That is always a good design choice.