Times Change, Priorities Change

So.
Much.
Change!!!
Last week I posted about where we are at personally as well as dialing back our house plans in light of the current pandemic. The big staircase restoration project (proclaimed just three weeks ago), our plans for the master bath and bedroom suite, and the installation of whole house air conditioning, are on an indefinite hold. When they will happen will depend a lot on what happens over the next six months. We just don’t know how deeply impacted life is going to be as we come out on the other side.

So, with the bigger projects on hold, we plan to focus on smaller more manageable projects which will give us a lot of bang for our buck. And I wrote about our parlor being the top priority. And it is still a high priority, but last Thursday while working on project plans for the parlor, I began to think about the level of effort which will be required to get it done. It’s not a big project, but I question my stamina post cancer surgery to get it done in a reasonable amount of time.

That’s when a light bulb lit up in my head! There is another room I have very much wanted to work on, yet continuously moved to the bottom of the list. It is a much smaller project, or ‘Low hanging fruit’ as they say in the corporate world. I can for a reasonably small budget go in and transform this room in two to three weeks, and then it is done for a long while. That room would be my studio, or rather, my creative studio.

When we fell in love with our house, it was primarily because it was mostly intact from the 19th century, without a lot of modernization. We also fell in love with the park across the street, knowing we would have a permanent view of nature. But another item on our must-have list was a room (or rooms) for me to use as a studio space for art and other creative endeavors. This was added to the list when we toured a different house the previous month. That house had a third floor to which Yoav suggested I could use in its entirety as studio space.

When we toured our house for the first time, I got giddy with excitement upon seeing the third floor. It is essentially identical to the second floor consisting of two bedrooms. A small oddly shaped one in the rear, and a large one in front overlooking the park.

I have, until now, spent my entire adult life living in apartments. Mostly small ones, as little as 225 sq ft, to the seemingly palatial and ginormous 790 sq ft of our last place in NYC before moving to Philly. The third floor is about 400 square feet, larger than at least four of my previous homes. The idea that I could have this much space to do anything I wanted still blows my mind. And I am not even factoring in that I have about 200 square feet of workshop space in the basement which I built out in 2018.

I am using the term creative studio, but what does that mean? Well… I’ve always considered myself to be a creative artistic person. I dabble in a multitude of different creative endeavors. I’ve dreamed of being an artist as a child, and throughout my life, I have indeed created art. I have done paintings, sculpture, and most recently woodcut print making. I have been taking classes at a local community art school and have fallen love with the medium. But as of yet… I do not feel comfortable calling myself an artist.

In my mind an artist is one who is in a constant state of creating and producing art. That is my dream, but I am not doing that right now. I spend a few hours a month actually creating art at most. I would like to get to the point where I am spending 20+ hours a week focused on creating art, primarily focusing on my woodcut printmaking. In fact, a big part of prioritizing the studio now is so that I can begin that focus on creating more woodcut prints. Perhaps when I achieve that goal, I can begin to refer to myself as an artist, and begin to call my space an art studio.

Moment of Self Promotion:

The prints shown above along with several other of my woodcut prints are now available at my very newly opened Etsy Shop ‘South Phila Printworks‘. Favorite the shop and check back as I add more of my prints. I also plan to add greeting cards later this year.

In the meantime, I can use my creative studio for creative things such as framing art, making curtains or pillows for the house, or a space to sit and creatively think.

As for the space itself, the above shot was taken on Saturday while I was working on face-masks for going out in public. The only thing I have consistently been using it for is as my recording studio for our podcast, True Tales From Old Houses (see my promo below). It is far enough away from the rest of the house that I don’t get a lot of background noise (except in the summer when the AC is on).

Long before we moved into the house, I began to plan out what I wanted. I even wrote about it all the way back in August of 2017, before we had publicly announced that we were moving (a small handful of people knew about it). I envisioned worktables, drying racks for art, and a sink in the rear room for clean-up. I began to acquire materials to use in the build out only a couple of months after we moved in back in spring of 2018. That now seems like so long ago, and my studio, much like the rest of the house, has been waiting for me to get to it.

The Plan:

So, now the studio is at the top of my priority list, and my next project. It will not be a huge project, but I do plan to completely remake the room. My vision for the space includes:

• Finishing the floor in a yet to be determined finish
• Painting the walls and ceiling
• Building two worktables, one of which will be on wheels
• Mounting large panels of cork to use as idea boards
• Drying rack for prints
• Creating a comfortable seating area to chill
• Unpacking and decorating to make it my own.

What is not happening for now is the inclusion of a sink for cleaning up. In the main part of the house, there is currently no plumbing above the first floor. Part of the ‘now on indefinite hold’ master bath plans included running plumbing up to the third floor to hook up a sink for my studio. It will come in due time, just not yet.

Check back for my next post where I plan to present my plans for the space. All I will say at this point is expect dark walls (no surprise there).

And Now for Some More Self Promotion:

Did you know I co-host a podcast with Stacy Grinsfelder from Blake Hill House? Have you listened to any episodes of ‘True Tales From Old Houses‘? Stacy and I interview fascinating folks who share our passion for old houses, Q&A listener questions, and more! There are over 25 episodes waiting for you available on your favorite platform (including: iTunes, Stitcher, TuneIn, IHeartRadio, Google Play, and more). Or you can just go to the website and listen from there!

And Finally… A Brief Check In:

With all that is going in, I thought it may be nice to include a brief check in at the end of this post, and perhaps the next several posts. 
Yoav and I are VERY aware that we are in a fortunate place right now. While the world is falling apart around us, we have for the most part been able maintain some level of normalcy (save for the fact that we have virtually zero life outside of our house). For the time being employment is secure. We aren’t at any risk of losing our house, nor are we very likely go to hungry or run out of toilet paper. As of now, we have no known family who have contracted the virus, however I do have one friend who is in the hospital in Spain (with many prayers for his recovery).
Because I am immune compromised post-surgery, we are both doing our best to minimize leaving the house for anything other than walking the dog. We are working hard to reduce the risks wherever possible. 
For those who have no choice but go to work to keep things going, we are enormously grateful. We cannot imagine the anxiety so many services workers, who are being paid so little, are going through. Be sure to say thank you to the cashier when you check out. They are more important than ever. And when you have dinner delivered from your local restaurant, be sure to tip well.

Till next time. . .

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