Work Space

Our new place is pretty much put together.  I'm still getting used to my new setup but so far, so good.  To make enough space for our couch I placed my desk onto the fireplace mantel.  Luckily the height was perfect for risers.  I was thinking of doing a standing desk anyway so I also set it up for the perfect standing position for me.

When not standing I bought a pretty sweet vintage draftschair on Ebay for super cheap.  I did have to get a cushion for it since my chair was still about 2 inches too short to reach.  I also remove the black tins under the green stand (which is actually the leaf for the kitchen table) while sitting.

I've surrounded my monitor with work books and my vintage book collection.  There's also some terrariums and family heirlooms thrown in there as well.

There are built-in shelves on either side of the desk.  An old pie safe holds printer paper, tags and my squid templates.

The other side is where the black tins reside along with boxes for mini squid accessories.  The old suitcase holds all of my embroidery bins and the regular sized accessories. 

It's nice being surrounded by all of the lovely old brick and not feeling so caged in by a massively sloping ceiling anymore.  Most of my supplies (felt, mailing supplies and also finished work) now reside in the bedroom but I actually kind of like having them out of the way.  I also enjoy being able to have more of an atheistically pleasing work space. Having the couch to chill out on upon occasion has been fantastic.One of the things we wanted most with a new place was a workspace and living space combo.  Our old living room was a glorified hallway since we basically just live at our desks. 
Obviously we knew we weren't using all of the space we had at the old (2-story) apartment but I don't think either of us realized how much we would love having our home and work space consolidated (i.e. that dreaded word of downsized).  I was amazed at how often the first question people would ask when I told them we were moving was if the new place was bigger.  I was also amazed at the reactions I got when I said it wasn't and that was ok.  I feel much more involved with everything in the apartment and the consolidation makes tasks much more streamlined.  Although we could use at least one extra closet I think the size of everything has worked for us, and heating this winter won't be such a nightmare.

Know Your Flag

We bought this poster when we were neighbors with Know Your Flag at last year's Chicago Renegade in December.  We had been thinking of moving sometime so we decided to save it for then.  Our apartment move in last month had more than a few bumps so we hung this up on a pre-existing nail as soon as we got here for inspiration.

Settling In

During the move I scheduled posts since we didn't have internet until 2 days ago.  This week will be a tad sparse since we're now officially in the throws of unpacking.  We underestimated how long it would take to move our living space and 2 studio spaces along with dealing with a broken fridge and doing an out of state show.  Also, it's been a bit daunting moving into a smaller space but I'm really glad we downsized.  Our previous apartment was 2 stories and sprawling but we had a lot of wasted space.  Also, our living room became a glorified hallway.  We spent 90% of our time upstairs in the studio wishing we could have a couch nearby to hang out on for me to sew or Scott to nap on during long renders.  I'm slowly getting my desk area together and will eventually figure out where to put everything that needs to be close to hand.  Already though I'm really loving my new set up. 

Best Thing I've Done All Week

I haven't been on the internet most of the week but I have been out and about...a lot.  Normally we drive our car once a week if that.  Yesterday I had it out 3 times preparing for my move and helping with another move. 

The Best Thing I've done all week was meet my best friend over at her new place in Squirrel Hill Thursday as her and her fiance finished their drive from Seattle that started Saturday morning and ended around 12:30 am.  I had been checking out apartments for them so I got to give them their keys and meet her fiance and all of the pets for the first time.  All are delightful. 

Our move is thankfully still on for Sunday thanks to Scott and his fantastic people skills and ability to kindly convince a landlord that no, it's not our "crazy schedule" that has us demanding that you make the apartment livable this week.  It's the lease we signed that started June 1st.  The landlord is still kind of rubbing it in about how he had to rearrange so many schedules and do work himself to get us in there this Sunday (you know, 5 days after our lease started).  We're stopping by today to load things into the kitchen which is hopefully cleaned by now and Saturday to move some other stuff small things into the rest of the rooms.  The carpets should be done by today but if they're not I may have to hunt the landlord down and sic Ico on him. 

He's been training.