The Art Room

It’s time for a room by room tour. Now that most of the renovations are done and the little carriage house is starting to feel like home, I think I can finally share some before and after pictures…which I’m sure is why most of you are following this blog anyway. I’ll start with the art room because that is where the renovation process started. Below are before (from the real estate listing) and after shots.

The painted over wallpaper was peeling and the trim was dirty and chipping. Oh, and all the walls in the entire house were the same boring beige. There were old baseboard heaters on two of the walls and cable and telephone wires coming in at odd places. However, I knew this was going to be a sweet little room. It had three windows, one facing east to catch the sunrise and two little ones framing the chimney facing south so the space stays bright all day long. It also had charming sloped ceilings (which made mapping out the room a little challenging initially, but worked out in the end).

I call it my art room, in a broad sense. “Art” includes so much more than painting and drawing mediums (though I dabble in these forms at times). My art includes sewing and embroidery. My great grandmother’s sea foam blue 1960’s Singer still proudly clacks away when I’m working on some new project. Since moving in, my projects have included making lots of masks, altering Goodwill curtains for the living room, making cushions for the porch furniture, and miscellaneous practical and fun items (including a hedgehog pincushion).

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Another form of art is music. There was a perfect well-lit corner for my harp, though I will admit it did not get as much attention during quarantine as it should have.

The written word probably remains my favorite art form. I have my bookshelf in here (one of them) and also keep journals and the laptop for when I am writing. Two cozy chairs are available for reading or chatting with a friend over tea. After all, good conversation is an art too.

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Updates Completed

• Baseboard heaters removed and capped
• Telephone and cable wires removed
• Walls scraped, patched, and painted a mauve color
• Trim scraped, patched, and painted
• Outlets replaced
• Door hardware stripped of paint and cleaned