The dreaming, praying, and CREATING of a home art studio - Part 2

In part one of what is becoming a bit of a miniseries of blog postings about the making of my home art studio, I talked a little bit about the importance of having a home art studio to begin with as well as sharing a "teaser" snapshot of how a part of it looks so far. While I still have a ways to go with getting the whole art studio to a point where it is totally organized and workable - the storage/supply closet is maybe 50% of the way acceptable - I can at least share with you some quick snapshots of what I have been able to do so far.

Here are some stills of the overall layout and look of things. These pictures will give you a pretty solid 360 degree view of everything...

This is the view from the living/family room archway. Having the table set up perpendicular from the window-side wall is nice because it gives some nice space to walk around the room and also to sit at the table and see the TV.

This is the view a mostly empty corner right by the window wall. That door goes to the weird DIY addition/room (from the previous owners) that started as my personal matchbox-sized art studio and will now be the supply room.

This is my daughter's wall with her set-up and her old toy bin organizer. We have purged the most of what will be purged and most of everything that is left we would love to also get rid of but she is weirdly attached to it all. 

This is the view from the kitchen doorway (without a door). 

This the view/perspective if I/you were standing at my easel and/or exiting the supply room. That bookshelf is something my husband's grandfather made but it is barely useful because of how strangely small it is. That is my huge german shepherd who provides both companionship for us and home security for us. Don't try and break into my house and use my home studio, alright? Don't try stealing my weird and unmatched and hand-me-down furniture. *wink*

About the furniture:

• Almost all of it is was given to us for free at some point either before my husband and I were married and just starting out. 
• The stuff that wasn't given to us for free was either gifted (the standing easel) or I got it for super cheap when I once worked for that famous Swedish furniture company that everyone knows and (mostly) loves. (Yes. That one. I worked there doing quality assurance and then sales and light management during the end of my college years and early years of my career years.) 
• For our purposes in the art studio, it is still being determined if we will keep what we have always had or pass it on so that we can make purchases of furniture that specifically adhere to our studio needs. However, once I finally clean and organize the supply room (a strange DIY addition to the house from the previous owners) it might just happen that everything is stored in there! We'll see. 

About the space:

• Technically, this room is supposed to be the (formal) dining room. We tried to use it as it was intended when we first moved in but it just didn't work out. *shrug* What can I say? I am not a traditional wife/mother/woman. 
• I pretty much hate the walls/wallpaper. My husband is actually a fan of it though. (We classically disagree on everything home decor. I like modern, graphic patterns, and bright colors and he likes old school, classic, and heirloom.) Thankfully, my husband has finally agreed that the wallpaper can and SHOULD go. That will happen... whenever it does. 
• The light fixture is ugly and does a poor job at providing lights that are adequate for things like painting/coloring/photo editing so that you can actually see the correct hue of colors. Basically, the lighting is a nightmare for visual art & design and creation of it. It should go. That doesn't mean it will.  
• At some point during this room's dining room days, it was decided that it should be my daughter's playroom (during her toddlerhood) because of its close proximity to the common area/family & living room. As time has passed, it has been determined that my daughter needed a more closed/separate/private space in conjunction with the fact that she had way too many playthings/toys that she didn't really play with and definitely could not keep organized or cleaned up because she just plain didn't care about them, my husband and I thought very critically and identified the things that were most essential and (most important) beloved by my daughter - creating art is at the top of the list(!!!) - and we worked hard to purge like crazy in order to finally get what you see above. 
• Most of my daughter's playthings/toys and kid-sized furniture (like a dress-up spinning closet and  table with benches) now take up residence in her room. Between her room and the art studio, she has two places in the house to do activities but the art studio is strictly for making and creating things. She is not allowed to have markers, scissors, or the like in her room and my husband and I strictly enforce this as well and my daughter has done a great job obeying the new house rules. 

In the next installments of this little miniseries, I will show you some close-ups of some of the little areas of the studio space as well as show you around the supply room when it is (finally) cleaned and mostly organized. I will also let you know the things I bought in the way of art supplies and show you what I have had in my "hoard."