My life is to make everything around me beautiful.

My Office and Studio

Come with me, won't you, to view my magical place—to me it's magical—where I create my blog. No, it's not like those places you see in the magazines, and those are ones I've lusted over time and time again, knowing that I'll never have a huge office or studio in which to create. But I can have sparkle, glitter, bling, beauty, roses, serenity and romance. ;-) Yep, I sure can. And that's just fine for this ol' lady.

I've noticed that many people have a tendency to save up 95% of their money and effort to spend on 5% of their lives—festive occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries and holidays, and the special, more public places in the home, such as the living or dining room. Instead the way to live a beautiful life is to make the daily 95% of your life wonderful. (Quote from Alexandra Stoddard in Living Beautifully.) I agree wholeheartedly and absolutely do NOT decorate just the public places of this little home. I do it in every single room. Where you create can be magical or special to you! For me it's all about having the things I love staring me in the face every single second, minute and hour of the day. I HAVE to and LIKE to be visually stimulated.



If you have read my blog for any amount of time, you know I pretty much redo something a couple of times a year since we moved into this house 5 years ago. Don't ask why; I don't know. In the beginning I just couldn't seem to get some of the rooms the way I wanted them. I think this is a trend among all creative people. But as the famous architect said, "Form follows function" and that is certainly my motto and creed also.

My office is where I spend most of my time. I do my blogs from here, take care of our household business, skype with my kids and shop from the internet. For me it has to be feminine and lovely with pink and roses and a scattering of beautiful things. That is essential to me.

This is what you see when you enter the room—my window seat that is on the front of our home. It is filled with pillows I've made and a seat cushion I have actually just pinned on with straight pins in case I decide to change it at some future date. I've been known to change my mind a few times. ;-) Pretty boxes on the floor hold family photos and various other things for which I have no other place to store.
I hung that glittery garland with push pins and then hung some little painted teapots a friend gave me one year for a present. I cherish them! I love her roses.

The hanging paper lanterns covered with delicate roses were something my daughter had laying around and I snagged them really quickly. I love them and haven't ever seen any like it anywhere else. My radio sits on a chair most of the time. I don't usually listen to it while I'm in here but I like it in case I want to catch some news.

That fern is strategically placed to hide all my wires. There is nothing I can do with them; they must be there and I work around them in the decorating of this office.

The wall behind me holds many things. I have a bulletin board I tack messages on. It holds my microphone for the telephone because I generally like to talk hands-free. The tape measure is there for when I have to measure something quickly before I list it on for sale, although, I don't do much of that.

I don't care that I'm an old lady; I love froufrou and have put a pom-pom behind me and wrapped ribbon around it. Another brighter pink is on the opposite wall. It's all about eye candy for me! The little shutters I bought a few years ago and they have been in 3 rooms now, but I have a feeling they'll stay in this room. I put decals on them and added some paper roses. I have several yards of this vintage bedspread fringe and thought I'd put it here and hang things that have been given to me or that I've made.

My phone has to be on my filing cabinet along with a darling little faux fern and tissues. All the essentials for women in the office. :-)

This area is where I do a lot of photoshoots for the blog or selling.


This is a corner of the room where I moved this etagère a couple of months ago into here from the living room. I was just tired of seeing it in there and put another one of the 4 bookcases I have in there with a lot less books. I gave dozens away to a thrift store. My boxes of tapes, ephemera, stationery, letters and CDs are stored on this.

This is the chair I use most of the day. I love the little chair cover I found on the web for a song, let me tell you—a fraction, and I mean fraction, of the cost of most other office chair covers you find on ebay or websites. This woman is absolutely fantastic in her combination of fabrics. I bought 3 of them, gave one to my daughter and sent one to a blogger who is a stay-at-home mom and having a difficult time. She was shocked when it arrived in the mail and I think it perked her right up!

Closeup of one of my pompoms.

Closeup of my shutters with the curling ribbon gracing its front.

This is sooooo true, chicks! Oooh, and you can see I attached the fringe with little rose pins I made. Darling!

Just a sweet lolli I made. It's for sale on my etsy but not sold so I stuck it in here. It really is precious.

My iMac. I did not clean my desk for this photoshoot because, quite simply, this is the way it always looks. Sometimes worse, but rarely better. This is a working office. The space ship looking thing on the left is my JBL Creature speakers. They can blast you out of the house when listening to my iTunes on the computer! They're fantastic. All my essentials are on this desk or behind me on our filing cabinet. The little metal box just to the left of my iMac is my external hard drive. I'm never going to lose anything if I can help it at all.

Love Bunny and I set up this little television with a webcam on the front porch so I can see whoever walks up to the front door. If I don't know them, I don't answer the door. I have no time for solicitors. This protects me from unwanted persons. And as you can see I still have a couple of shelves to hang somewhere in this house.

My view from my desk. Hand cream, cup for pens and a list of Apple commands when I need them, which is rare since I have them memorized by now. Extra pair of computer glasses, notes and my camera cord is always attached waiting for the next photos to be downloaded. My camera would normally be sitting on the left of my iMac but I was using it here!

I've found that this room needs greenery near the top especially, so I've just stuck some faux greenery—since we all know I have NO green thumb—into pots and baskets. I've also placed things that have been given to me by my eBay group, friends and fellow bloggers. I am very appreciative of whatever is given me!

My printer/scanner, modem and wireless router, essentials for the modern day technology office.

I have 2 of these trellises behind 2 doors in this house just waiting for me to decide what next to do with them. Ooops, forgot to take the ladder and extra chair out before I took the photos. Sorry!
This little shelf hold things give to me, things I've made and in general eye candy to make me happy.

This shelf holds some books and just a jar I made over and stuck in a couple more lollis that I made.

This bottom shelf holds a few pillows I made that I can give as gifts or switch out with other pillows in the house.

The fern helps disguise and hide the cables needed for the computer and speakers. The little boxes hold family photos and various other things that I don't have any place else to put them. The chair, when not holding the radio, is a place for any visitor to sit, like Love Bunny. ;-) The little Old Country Roses teacup is one of about 10 my daughter gave me as she doesn't use them anymore. I made it froufrou-y with some beautiful roses and let it sit there for more eye candy. I also made the folding chair cover to disguise ugly old folding chairs.

Another view of the front of the desk.

Top of the etagère where stuff is stored and a few of the coffee filter roses I've made. And yes, that box does indeed contain my coloring crayons. I color the books I buy that are in black and white.

Second shelf on the etagère with a box painted by a friend on my group and some roses with curling ribbon wrapped around the posts.


An up close photo of the curtains and the middle shelf where I have a cake carrier with a cake gifted to me during a swap and one I made several years ago and my baby book, and a jar with pink shells in it. Oooops, I forgot to take that tulle that I laid on top of the cake off for the photoshoot.

Okay, here's a better look at that shelf.

And here is where I put some little wooden letters for a while until I can decide where in this house I want them to gol

The wall facing me with plates I just couldn't resist, a little ceramic with a chip in it that I got for a great price and a hand painted sign by a friend in my group.

A close up of the very real looking and feeling rose that I placed here.

And these little sachets I've made over the years adorn a special door pull I found 5 years ago.

I bought this dress from a friend, but the hanger she made as a gift for me and have displayed it in my office as another piece of eye candy for which I can enjoy.

I found this little paper lace hanging lamp after I did some these photos so here it is now.

Then I put up a smaller one over my closet.

My paper hanging lanterns over the window seat.



Now, for the "other half" of my office. The place where I actually create things for my home. It's at the other end of the hall and the 4th bedroom in this house. This is the entry into it.



This is the vintage school desk I found on craigslist and grabbed up quickly. I painted it white, added some roses fabric but kept the original formica top as is. It was in great shape and I just couldn't think of destroying it. It now houses my sewing machines on top and where I sew.

 This window faces south or the backyard of our home. The lace provides me more privacy as I am in here late at night. I have a "thing" about privacy! ;-)

Pompoms hang above it and over my closet to the left here.

This is my work table. Just so you know, I did NOT clean this room prior to photographing everything. This is a working room. It is rare that it doesn't have something in progress on top of it as you can see here. It is also rare that this table top is clear. I found this darling oilcloth on etsy and quickly bought 3 yards of it. It is true oilcloth and not the flannel back stuff they call oilcloth now. I love it! I'm allowing you the privilege of seeing everything just as it usually is. Trash can sitting there. Glue gun either unplugged or plugged in but always sitting there. Storage underneath. My tool box sitting under there and is always handy for me to tote around the house or use in this room.

The wall above it is crammed with shelves and all the things I need to work at this table.

I have things in labeled containers that my hubby put up for me. I've redone this several times but this way seems to work best for me at the moment. Things are ever changing in this house, trust me!


I also added froufrou to it. I love sparkly garland and roses and they are present on the shelves along with curling ribbon. I just love seeing this as I work in here.

Another close view. Just about everything is thumb tacked on here.

Since I don't have a huge space I need every little bit of storage I can find to put things in here. The closet in this room holds mostly part of our food storage but a few things needed for crafting. My daughter made this little mosaic table and I snagged...uhhhh, I mean borrowed it from her. After all, she will inherit everything! But it does hold some things I just couldn't find room for and use all the time.

I also found this little chair in an antique shop downtown and grabbed it quickly. It was already white, but I added decals and a rose fabric for the seat. Hubs had to fix the leg as it was loose but it was still a steal.

These are 2 suitcases waiting to be covered or to be finished with covering them. I use them for storage or simply on my plant shelves to add to the living room. More storage on the shelves to the left for things to be made.

More things on my table. Carousel for crafting scissors and paint brushes. Lace adorns many shelves in this room, actually, in this whole house. The Cricut in the background was purchased in November 2009 and I still have not found the time to learn how to use it. I'll be doing that this summer though.

This is my stash of fabric. Yep, I love fabric, but I've needed to get rid of a lot of it and boxes and boxes up in the garage attic. More of this will have to go also. I'm just running out of room. And since I've not made a smash in the world of eBay I only sew for family, me and giveaways now.

And that is pretty much my "creative and working world." It has to function for me. No one else. It isn't a fabulous space but then I'm not published in anything either. I don't have to impress anyone but me.
 ~*~

28 comments:

  1. What? Am I the first to stumble into this BEAUTIFUL creative space???
    I was leaning on the door, waiting for you to post the Where Bloggers Create party link but I just "fell in" and totally fell in love with all of the florals and happiness going on in here!
    I want to come play with you Connie.
    I want to run my fingers through all of your beautiful fabrics!!!
    My gosh girl...you have more than my local fabric store! haha
    Just want to tell you...now since I'm in here, you're gonna have to call security to get me out! ;)
    Wish you lived closer...I'd love for you to come re-do mine and add some of that "beautiful living" to my room!
    :)

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  2. Hi Connie,
    Your creative space and office is simply a beautiful place to be. I could stay here all day and be forever inspired by all the pretties at ever turn. You have really captured "Living Beautifully" perfectly.
    Sure enjoyed one of my first party visits.

    My party is up too. Have a great time at all the parties.
    Hugs, Celestina Marie

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  3. Your studio is absolutely perfect!! I just love all of the pink pretties. I laughed when I saw your stash of birdhouses - I have a shelf with the same stash (I went a bit crazy at Michaels). You are so lucky to have a bright room to create in, with a place for everything. Thanks so much for sharing.

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  4. Hi Connie! You have such a fun and creative space full of goodies! I really enjoyed your post and am envious of your window seat. Have a great weekend, from the other Connie!

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  5. Connie amor, I love your studio/office, you have so many love treasures and such an inspiring place to create!! I haven't had a chance to visit my favorite blogs since our daughters car accident so rather than be overwhelmed I am visiting a few of the WWC blog party participants as I can...I am soo glad yours came up on my blogroll! It has been such a wonderful visit! Thank you so much amor for sharing it with me and uhmm lemme know when your ready for my addy so that I can take those lanterns off your hands like you did for your daughter...you know, continuing the tradition and all :) Have a beautiful weekend amor! Besos, Rose

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  6. Hi Connie,

    What a lovely space you have...and I'm really loving and wanting that sparkly sheer gown hanging in there! ♥

    It's such a pleasure to be back for the party again this year and visiting all of the wonderful creative souls and their creative space. Thank you for sharing yours with me.

    I would love for you to visit with me and stroll through my studio..it's been a labor of love to put together and now after a year in our home I feel like I can "spread my wings" and fly!

    Have a wonderful day,
    Stephanie ♥

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  7. Well Miss Connie it just gets better & better...... I LOVE those Pompoms especially the pink ones & cannot get over the amount of fabric you have... here I was thinking my stash was huge you have out done me there. I think my little sewing room is probably the size of your closet..... thanks again for the tour Hun....

    Lyn xxx

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  8. Ruffles, Roses, and Romance, what's not to love! Those rose patterned lanterns are awesome. I love your studio, so many sweet elements that inspire. You really did a wonderful job of creating an inspiring studio to create in. Thank you for sharing.

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  9. Hello,dear Conni!-)*
    What an amazingly sweet and glamour is you homestudio,wow!!!

    Love it absolutely incredible much!!!
    Thank you so much for you visit and you lovely comment by me:-)))*
    I send you the name of these first music number later!

    My love and care,
    ***Violetta***

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  10. Hello,dear Connie!-)*
    It's me again...

    These is the name of this number:

    ''The World Best Of Guitar Music - Relax Sound [HD''
    You can find it via ''You tube'' for sure!

    Hugs,
    ***Violetta***

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  11. love your creative space couildnt live with it but love to see it in someone elses room I do love flowers and gradually are flowering up more of my books etc.

    thanks for sharing

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  12. love your work space!!!! How awesome they are! I am hoping my office will be getting in order sometime this summer too!

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  13. I was browsing your blog and throughly enjoyed visiting all your pages. What fun! I need to pretty up my space some more. You have given me ideas. Finding the time to do stuff is hard though as I still work. But today I am home sick. So I am browsing a little. Work up with a bad headache. So having a chance to take it easy is nice. Thanks for your sharing!

    Linnea

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  14. Please, please, please tell where you got the slipcover for the office chair!!!
    Please!!!

    Ahem ~ I'm sorry ~ that was rude! Your crafty space is gorgeous, and I love that you didn't 'clean it up' for the party ~ I thought it looked great!!

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  15. It's great, I like it very very much:)
    My favorite color is pink and I like shabby
    Your home and your blog is wonderful:)

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  16. Hi Connieness! Oh, what a wonderful tour of your most creative space!! It looks like you!!
    I'm sorry I haven't been by - Blogger ate my favorite blogs list and I've been trying to get them all back! I have you back now!
    Hope you're doing well and it's good to know you're still pink! :)
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  17. Miss C...you continue to amaze us with your creative space. I loved your paper roses...so beautiful.

    xoRebecca

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  18. Adore the pom-poms and flowers!

    I hope you'll have time to visit my spaces!

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  19. Love all that pink and stunning color! Visually, all the eye candy is such a treat...must be fun to play with! Great studio with lots of charm..thanks for sharing and come on over to my little studio and say hello! bertie
    www,queenbartistry.blogspot.com

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  20. Thank you so much for sharing this lovely studio with everyone at the party Connie! It's exactly as I thought it would be! There were so many lovely things to look at!! Have a great week my friend!
    xo,
    Karen

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  21. Oh my!What a beautifully romantic, girly room!

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  22. What fun and cheerful room to be in!!!! I love the fabrics and all the pretty colors!!!!

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  23. Hi How did you put pink fabric ion the nightstand?

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  24. Oh, what a lovely place you have out there! So girly. I could be lurking on your front door for all you know. I think that's awesome that you got a webcam in your studio.
    I love the way you organize your things. Your place is pretty...pretty in pink!
    Hope you'll get a chance to hop over to my humble space. See you there. =)
    Hugs,
    Reina
    http://everythinganastacia.blogspot.com

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  25. I remember your beautiful space from last year's WBC ~ I'm so glad you are back again! And guess what ~ I'm in ID now also!!! We moved to Eagle about 2 months ago, and I love it to bits!

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  26. Love your style and your pink room! It is so femine and lovely. I recently redid my room and I call it my happy place! Hope yours brings you tremendous joy!

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  27. Love your creative space and those paper lanterns with little roses are my absolute pick of it all!

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Comments are so nice and I thank all of you that leave one for me.