I finally have a dedicated ‘analogue’ art space! Ok, it technically is part of the bedroom, but as our main bedroom spans the entire width of the house it’s a pretty big room and easily enough space for me to have everything I need in one place.
First though, I don’t think I mentioned anywhere that Lewis got my NIKE Eskilstuna drafting table restored this year. I was absolutely over the moon when we got it back. It’s in better condition now than it was when I bought it second hand 33 years ago. The board is a cast iron tripod stand with hydraulics. I pump the pedal to raise the board, then push in and hold to lower it.
Before
After
As you can see there’s a huge difference. It was a little stiff to start with, but works perfectly again. It was so rusty after spending 10 years in my parents’ leaky garage that it wouldn’t shift at all. I can’t begin to describe how happy I was with it.
The art space
When we moved in, the bedroom had fitted wardrobes and a dressing table. We didn’t like them, but were hoping to remove them ourselves. As it turned out, we had no chance. The walls behind them were bare brick in places so we needed a joiner to sort it all out, then we decorated afterwards. The joiner took down the old furniture, replaced the coving and skimmed the walls. We managed to find the exact carpet in Latimers of Langholm. I think they were glad to see the back of it as they sold us their entire stock of offcuts for £10. We’ve still got a load of it stashed away upstairs!
Once the joiner finished we painted two sides of the room in (I think) Autumn Blush, laid some carpet and covered the joins with a rug. The shelving units are Ikea Kallax, and I found a supplier online who made wooden units to fit Kallax shelves specifically. I got an A3 paper stacker and a holder for my Posca Pens. I also bought a few of the fabric covered cardboard inner drawers for the shelves. There’s loads of light in this room as there are two large windows.
I love my art space.
Before
After
