Designing Your Creative Living Space: Part 2
When last we spoke in part 1 , I discussed color and living up your life with it. I hope yall went and got some paint chips and played with some crazy ideas. Cuz now, I’munnah show you how I arrived at the favorite place I call home.
After playing at Home Depot’s paint department I landed on this color selection:
My color story
(“Jamaican Sea” actually ended up being “Embellished Blue” which was very similar but a touch softer)
Once I picked these colors, I wanted an idea of what my new space would look like and how I would arrange the color blocks from room to room. Photoshop and a few pictures of the empty rooms and I had a sense of what I wanted to do. What a great invention Photoshop is, you can play all you want without making expensive mistakes “Undo” is a wonderful thing.
Red room leading into the green kitchen
I was so excited, I emailed pics to my family… When it got back to me that my uncle commented “I can see why she’s in a hurry to paint, the place looks like a damn circus!” I KNEW I was on the right track!
Once the painting was done and I had finally moved in, it was time to fill in the space with new furniture. Bajeezeees, where to start? I knew I didn’t want ordinary stuff, or those fake out couches that aren’t really comfortable to sit on anyway. So it took a long time and a lot of searching. Then I found this pimped out ride at Raymour & Flanigan.
There is a fourth piece and they all snap together to make a queen sized bounce house. You KNOW how much I love bounce houses? A LOT! I love this couch and the color is so me, RED! It also came in chocolate for all you neutral peeps out there.
The Natural World
I’m a big fan of irony, and I always wanted my space to look like some kind of modern apothecary/art museum. So my bug collection, as well as the coolest urban home accessory I ever found, I named him “Emerson” as in Ralph Waldo. I was going to paint him to match the wall but I really liked the wood color so he remains a naturalist.
"Emerson" my Eco-friendly friend and bug collection
In keeping with my obsession of the color red, I proceeded to call my dining room the “Zen Room” this would be an artful area to dine in and entertain. Going high/low with furniture purchases is an easy peezy task with Ikea and the selection of inexpensive basics. My two hutches make excellent storage for all my portfolio stuff, photo reference and fashion swipes. The inspiring Gustav Klimt painting is also an Ikea find. It pairs beautifully with the art prints of David Mack and Andy Lee that I acquisitioned at comic conventions through the years.
The "Zen Room" (red room)
That green doorway leads into the kitchen where my other creative juices flow.
Kitchen Corner in green and purple
How about personal space? The bedroom and the bathroom tend to be neglected and where we leave a mess. Sure, few people will see it, but the clutter and disorder affect you weather you know it or not. I try to keep mine as tidy, colorful and cozy as possible. Since the bathroom is the first place you hit in the morning it should be a happy place where you can easily find your way to the world.
The Lady's Room
I went with the color purple and a sage green in the bathroom and the cream colored fixtures soften everything into a feminine “powder room”. I love it. It is also a good idea to paint your bathroom in a color that compliments your skin tone. You should always look beautiful when you look into your own mirror, I say.
I'm an 80's baby and LOVE My Little Pony
Girl power originated in the 80’s with “Punky Brewster“,” Jem” and “My Little Pony” so this little ComicCon exclusive rocks my little girly world.
I'm a sucker for the "suites"
A little nod to “Alice in Wonderland” cuz that’s how I roll (out of bed). Surround yourself with things that inspire you, even in the bathroom.
Little Nemo: The Dream Master
The bed room: it should be the cozy, comfy, nucleus of your life. Think about it…this is where you drag your tired bones at the end of the day and seek solace. Leaving clothes strung about and bits of things everywhere is no way to unwind. But surrounding yourself with the comforts of fabric, colors, and photographs of things that bring you joy are great for this space. I always wanted a canopy bed since I was a kid. I love closing the curtains and waking up with the sun coming through.
Sometimes though, you need to include a work space in the bed room. Though it is not recommended by certain Feng Shui experts, I say, if it inspires you and you keep it orderly (most of the time) Do it!
The Bed Room as Studio
Fashion is a part of my life and what inspires me. Having my dress form and occasionally, a new design hanging up, makes me so happy to get out of bed and get to work.
Work space! Now you’re probably saying, “Right, all this cleanliness is godliness, how are you suppose to get your artist on if everything has to be tidy? “
You neeeeeed your work space, and it should be a place you don’t have to clean up and move things out the way just to eat your Lucky Charms. But it SHOULD be inspiring and conducive to FLOW. Find a corner, a closet, under the stairs, in the basement or ANYWHERE that is yours, for your drafting table or a card table or whatever. Pin things to the wall, have action figures, porcelain dolls or whatever you like in that space.
The Illustrator's Table
Wall of Inspiration
Be sure and keep lots of books for inspiration and reference. Someone awesome once said “A room without books is like a body without a soul”.
I have a thinking corner which is also my “design” area. This is where I have tea every Saturday and Sunday and plan out creative projects for the day. I journal here and thumb through art books and tear sheets.
The Thinking Corner
The Design Desk
Design Wall of Inspiration
Speckled throughout the apartment are little things that I call “Ironic Home Goods” little pieces of art that make me giggle when I see them. Things I’ve bought on line or assembled out of things I have.
"Give Me a Hand"
This hand is a design by Harry Allen; there are several designs, this one holds my keys at the door.
Edgar
“Edgar” not only provides skull reference but watches over my thinking corner with his “one eye”, a nod to the “Tell Tale Heart“.
"Thoreau" He lives in the corner by Emerson
“Thoreau” lives in a corner, quietly content. He was a gift from a wonderful friend of mine.
Merry Go Round: an Assemblage
Fill your life with all the things you love, be creative and live artfully. You’ll experience creative “flow”. A professor of mine at SCAD use to write on the board every day:
” SERIOUS WORK IS BORN FROM SERIOUS PLAY”
It’s a mantra worth repeating in all aspects of your life.
"Serious Work is Born from Serious Play"
And so my friends, that is a look into the world I live and create in. I hope you are now inspired to make a place for yourselves in which you love to “Be” and “Do” in your own “Artist’s Way”.
A few of my favorite on line places to find “Ironic Home Goods” are:
Unica Home Uncommon Goods A&R Fishs Eddy Lekker Home Well Dressed Home W Hotels Store Anthropologie Apartment Therapy Cafe Press Kaboodle Y Living Dwell Studio notNeutral ZIPPERgifts
From My Window The City that Inspires and Tires Me Out
