A Room of One's Own

I spent several hours yesterday and today creating an art space for myself. This is the before picture. Sweetie and I decided to create my longed for space in the closet of the guest room or what we call Beau's room since he sleeps there when he comes to town. I have been in the midst of examining how I can make my home feel more like home. What do I need to feel at home, and comfortable? One thing I have been missing is both the time and the location to be creative. I have an office with my computer, file cabinet and 5, yes 5 bookcases full of books. It's very cramped and there is barely room for me to do my writing and researching which is what I primarily do there, and no room for art. I wanted and needed some clear space to create an art journal that I want to be a work in progress, to paint, to draw, doodle and collage my ideas. Being a retreat coach leader, I have a LOT of resources, gifts for retreat participants, and other sundry items for retreating that were basically all boxed in this spare room closet along with all of our gift wrap, gift bags and ribbons. Nothing was easily accessible and I didn't have a good space to work.

So we brain stormed and collaborated and came up with a fabulous combination of our ideas and styles. Jay is organized, orderly, and I am, well I tend to be a hurricane in motion, a stuffer and a stacker. We visualized a space that would be orderly and organized, everything accessible and would give me freedom of expression in my whirlwind fashion. Ta da! Here is our fabulous result: a totally inexpensive desk ($5) and chair ($2), plus bins for storage of all wrapping paper and my retreat materials on the shelf above the desk, along with storage on the desk for all my colored pens, paints, glue sticks, magazines and art journal!


This is my sweet spot for inspiration and as you can see it has everything I need to feel at home including a refreshing drink (cranberry sparkling water), a painting created by my son years ago, and in the basket a gift from my daughter - a heart that says "world's best mom". Now I feel comforted and supported. I've got a yummy candle, plenty of light and my art journal where I am creating my bucket list and visually documenting my dreams for this next year.

It's important to have our space, important to have space for expression. How are you creating home for yourself? Look for information soon about my upcoming (October 30) fall retreat "Coming Home", a chance to savor fall and explore what makes you feel at home both in your home and within yourself.