a product of my environment
how my process, art, and attitude is informed by my space
Our first home was a WWI soldiers cottage; the first in our street, that went through many lives before it landed with us in late 2003, shortly after we got engaged. It was a starter home, of the kind that has been renovated out of existence for the most part - a large backyard for the raising of small children, walking distance to town and schools, two bedrooms and a sleepout. We’re guilty of it too; that “starter home” ended up being the nest where we brought home all four babies and raised them to teenagerhood, that we renovated from a cute cottage ideal for newlyweds, into a generous family home with four bedrooms, two living areas, plus that sleepout as a sunroom.
A former verandah, closed in to make extra space; three walls were two layers of fibre (and zero insulation) on the bottom half, and gorgeous Edwardian textured glass in wooden frame windows for the top half. The fourth wall was painted brick that was once the outside wall, and two doors - one into the front lounge room, one into what was eventually the big boys bedroom. On the eastern side of the house, it was stinkin’ hot in summer as it got belted with the morning sun, and freezing cold in winter when the sun appeared for maybe 20 minutes before disappearing behind the house. Useless as a bedroom, in other words. In the early days of owning the house, once we realised it wouldn’t work as a nursery, my dad & husband got to work and built me a stunning wrap around floating desk and bookshelf that ran around those three external walls. At the time I was studying for my uni degree, and it was a handy work space.
Then uni was done and it became a spot to fiddle with scrapbooking; now I had spare time I could start on getting our wedding album done, and our honeymoon album, and also one for the trip we took to Thailand for our first anniversary. The albums ended up languishing as morning sickness took over, and then the care of a newborn soaked up most of my days. I would fiddle with bits and pieces during nap time, but in those early days of first time motherhood, the juggle was something I was yet to learn. To have a space I could do a bit, and then walk away, was key to finding balance in that juggle. It was probably also key to establishing a habit of starting things and letting them languish for far too long.
The baby grew, and so too my skills at squeezing in a wee bit of creativity between the feeds and the nappies and the dishes and mopping the floor for the third day in a row. Motherhood was its own source of motivation and inspiration, and I slowly found my way back to making. When that tiny boy was 21 months old, I made what is arguably the most impactful decision in my creative journey.
At the time, I didn’t mean to become A Blogger. In the forums where I was chatting with new friends about our projects, everyone had a blog. It’s how we showed off our projects and shared details of what we were making. Over time, it became a hobby in and of itself. It also provided accountability, connection, and a million rabbit holes that had me wanting to try a new hobby almost every week.
The family grew, and so too my collection of crafty goodies. We renovated the house, and my room became the dumping ground for everything that needed storing…including our washing machine, with draining hose hanging out the window. The rest of the house finished, it got resorted and reorganised and once more was my space.
Except the toy room and the living room was at the other end of the house. More often than not, I found myself dragging sewing machines or paper cutters or knitting up to take over the unused end of our twelve-seater dining table. “It would be nice to have a craft room close to the action,” I said, “one day when we build on acreage, I’m going to have the craft room closer”.
It was handy though, to have that room at the other end of the house, where I could work on bigger projects, and most conveniently of all - close the door on the mess when guests came. Our lifestyle shifted again when we started homeschooling the children, and the playroom became the school room, and the luxury of a room of my own was one I appreciated, a space to retreat to away from the cleaning and the teaching and the mumming. I still ended up with projects from one end of the house to the other though.
The dream of acerage out of town came to life in 2018, and over the Australia Day weekend of 2020, we moved out into a cute little cabin to live the tiny house life “for twelve months” as we built our house. Six weeks later, the world turned upside down as covid and lockdowns kicked off, and turned our 12 month adventure into a marathon just shy of four years.
At first it was fun. I’d set up a selection of projects to work on in the smaller space, and had packed up my craft room in a way I could find more if I needed. For the first time in forever, I was finishing more things than I was starting, and I was embracing the challenges of tiny house life. I even managed to make an entire quilt in the cabin, and finish another that had been in storage for far too long. I reorganised my boxes of supplies to be more accessible once it was clear we were in for the long haul.
Eventually, though, the novelty wore off. By April of 2023, I was struggling to create monthly goals that did’t feel redundant. “I’m in such a rut,” I said in my main chat, “I feel flat and claustrophobic and there’s a distinct lack of ease in any of this”. A month later I lamented that I could feel myself shrinking in all my things and felt very much like I was pushing up against the walls”. The small space that two years previously had worked in my favour, was now working against me. I longed for move in day, and my new craft room.
We’ve been in the house for almost two years and once again, I find myself pushing up against the walls. My craft room is organised to a satisfying degree. I’ve culled hard and removed old supplies that were just dragging me down and never getting used. Everything is at my finger tips and everything brings me joy. And yet I find myself less productive than when I had to trundle fifty metres across the paddock to hit up the container for supplies.
It struck me this week, how much my environment is influencing me. From the large house where I could overflow from my craft room to the front lounge room to lay out a quilt, to my tiny house where the restrictions pushed me to finish, to now, where my craft room is neat but small, and my dining table lacks the space for me to spread out, and the school room is often overtaken with lego when not in use for, you know, actual school. My tiny studio doesn’t feel like a space made for garment sewing or quilting, and there’s not a chance my loom will fit in there (and after a bedroom reshuffle, the spare room now has a permanent resident so the half threaded loom has been evicted). The work table is compact and handy to work at, but not great for longer term art works that need to sit aside. I’ve let the space dictate what I do.
Having come to this realisation, I’m working on tweaks to reduce those rough edges that have me walking in, and straight back out again. There’s command hooks going up everywhere, and a growing list for IKEA when I head down in a couple of weeks to visit my big boy. Most importantly, I think, is looking back on the two craft spaces before this one, and realising it’s never going to be perfect. The biggest tweak I need to make? My mindset. During my garment sewing days in the cabin, I shifted my process a lot toward batch tasking, and it’s something I’ve let drop away since we moved and I had my own space. Maybe it’s time to revisit it.
My first craft room taught me to make the most of every stolen minute, and both the joy of connection and the joy of retreat. My cabin & container taught me the thrill of the finish, the power of constraint, the art of organisation. Now it’s time to learn from my new studio. Maybe the growing pains of learning how this space and I fit together have come to a head, and the end result is going to be a more productive space, and a more productive me.
ON THE CRAFT TABLE
printing a stack of pretties for some collage journal play // trying to kick the winter blahs with a couple of simple daily projects - a film photo a day and a mini watercolour a day // closing in on a finish with my knitting
DISCOUNT ALERT - my order from Collage Soup for the printable above came with a referral code to give you 30% off your first order; check it out here - their stuff is gorgeous!
IN NON-CRAFTY FUN
Reading - The Surfacing, though it’s slow going after my bumper holiday reading tally
Watching - I’m totally behind the times but I binged Nobody Wants This over the weekend and loved it.
Listening - to the radio! After listening to the Aussie Hottest 100, I realised how much I missed the warmth of live radio compared with whatever playlist caught my eye, so I’ve been streaming ABC Radio and it’s been so fun some of the conversations I’ve caught!
Planning - a trip to Sydney to pick up Eldest for uni holidays, and we’re also going to see The 39 Steps at the Opera House which I’m super excited about.
I’d love to know the way your creative space influences your process! are you in the middle of tweaks to make it work better? Dreaming of a she-shed? Making do with an IKEA trolley and the corner of a couch? I’d love to here more about where you make, drop me a comment and let me know!
Ahh. I know this! I have sewed and done other crafty things since I was a child so there has always been a dedicated sewing space in whichever of the 23 houses we have resided in over the last 42 years. It has not been that way without struggle. Some spaces were joyful. I would feel exalted every time I walked into them. Some were only almost enough, but I felt grateful to have some kind of space so it was ok. And if you work it out - 23 houses in 42 years - I didn’t really have time to feel bored or jaded with a space! Thanks for this piece and the opportunity it gave me to think back on my spaces!
My space keeps changing, all within the same house, however. My husband works from home and he needs the fourth bedroom/office for his work area, which requires him to be on the phone and on camera. And me in the background with my sewing machine, tossing fabric around isn't quite the right look. I tried various things, but what I have landed on is doing a version of your IKEA cart where I keep the current projects that I can wheel around the house as needed, since I like to move around as the mood strikes. If I need a comfy spot to cross stitch, the arm chair in my bedroom next to the window is the best spot. If i need a table to cut fabric or spread out or set up the sewing machine, the dining room table works the best. So far it's been working well. I have storage for the stash that I can easily find things, so I'm not too worried about not having a dedicated space (although a few year ago, would have found me out in the yard trying to figure out the best space for my she shed.