I’ve been working hard to put together a workspace that works for me and allows me
to do my best work without unnecessary clutter and disorganisation, so I thought I'd share
my progress with you and a few small things that have made a huge difference in making
the most of this space.
If you’ve been here before, you’ll know this is just a corner in my room that I’ve
separated with 2 billy bookcases from IKEA.
This is where I spend my workdays; making art, editing videos and running my online
shop.
Starting with the bookcase, it’s two Billy Bookcases in oak colour that I joined together
and painted the insides of with regular wall paint.
This is where I keep reference books and sketchbooks, some decorative pieces and a few extra art
supplies.
As well as being a room divider it also acts as a nice backdrop to my YouTube videos.
So starting at the very top we have this old stereo that my mum gave to me.
Moving further down are a few of my favourite books to use for reference and inspiration.
I like having them in a vague colour order just to turn the books into a display of their
own.
Flanking those, I have this tiny easel and picture with a candle and fake succulent and
my gold spraypainted mannequin.
On the next shelf down is a nice little display of a wooden trinket box my grandma gave me.
Anytime she sees something with an elephant on she has to pick it up because she knows
I love them.
I’ve also got this heavy solid block of marble or faux marble and some sage in an
abalone shell.
Further down still are a couple of wooden boxes from car boot sales.
These are both empty at the moment but I like to use them sometimes to store excess paint
tubes.
And then I have my porcelain pallet which I'm currently using with my Daniel Smith watercolours.
Down on the bottom shelf here are a few books that I find inspirational with really nice
images or useful information in them.
This side of the shelving unit is a little bit more sparse.
I always like to leave myself some room to grow in a space.
So this is a collection of my sketchbooks and notebooks, they’re sorted into order
of how full they are so these on the left are all full.
They're separated by this DIY prompt jar where I just have a few drawing prompts ready whenever
I need an extra push for ideas, and then as we go along that row we come to the books
that are half-full and currently in use and then right on the end are the empty sketchbooks
and notebooks that are just crying out to be filled with ideas.
This shelf is purely decorative.
I have a cluster of fake plants and candles, this nice geometric ball I think I got from
Sainsbury’s- I'll leave as much info for things as I can below- my essential oil diffuser
and of course my YouTube play button.
And then not so decorative but certainly functional is my heavy-duty paper guillotine.
It was quite an investment, it takes up a lot of room, is heavy an ugly, but it has
made such a difference to streamlining my workflow, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
In front of those shelves are some IKEA drawers.
These house some of my more boring work stuff, packaging supplies, computer stuff and video
equipment.
To tie them in with the shelves, I covered the drawer fronts with this wood effect contact
paper.
In terms of what’s inside....
In here I keep a small selection of the postal stuff I go for most often.
So I’ve got a4 envelopes here, some smaller envelopes in there, my weighing scale for
calculating shipping weights, some plastic sleeves and some postal tubes.
The drawer under that just holds my USB lightbox, a small paper trimmer and a cutting mat with
a small collection of craft knife blades.
And right at the bottom here I just have my 2 Huion drawing tablets with a box of wires
and spare pens.
Moving on to this side.
This other side of drawers is a bit more difficult to get to so I keep things here that I reach
for less.
So up at the top are the extra bits that go with orders; so I would normally have business
and thank you cards, I’ve got some stickers here, customs labels, packing tape, tissue
paper.
Right now I’m low on everything so I'm using this space to keep some of my mini zines easy
to access for any new orders.
I also have a selection of paper samples from different printing companies to refer to whenever
I’m looking to print my next project.
Now these two final drawers are really hard to get to.
I actually have to unplug my tv aerial to open this one so I don’t use this stuff
often.
This is just some big umbrella lights that I use for filming videos and the lightbulbs
that go with them, and right at the bottom here, the obligatory junk drawer.
This is where I keep laptop cases, boxes and of course a tangled mess of wires and batteries
and adapters.
Moving on from that side of the room, this is my easel, it was a gift to me from my mum,
she used to use it back when she was in college.
And strung over the top I have an apron and some overalls ready for whenever I feel the
urge to do some messy work.
I also have this new plant, a birthday gift from a couple of good friends.
And then we come around to this wall.
This is still what I consider to be part of the office space, rather then art space.
Nice and compact, but it still allows me to get both office and artwork done.
Along the top shelf, I have some of my favourite notebooks and books that I just find really
lovely to look at.
My origami crane from Maisons Du Monde.
On the next shelf is a box of stickers and some excess stationery supplies.
And next to that are a few jars to hold water when I’m painting.
And then back here this box holds my spare printer inks, I’ve got a candle, fake plant,
paper clips, sharpener and my google smart speaker.
As I was saying, I essentially have my desk split into 2 sections, my office section and
my art section, so having this all-in-one desktop here means that there’s no extra
space taken up by a computer tower.
It does cover up my printer but I haven’t used that at all since I got my thermal label
printer.
This is a Dymo label writer 4xl, another thing that’s really changed the game for me and
my efficiency in this workspace.
This is the printer I use for my art prints- I have a video on that- and then underneath
here is where I keep the paper for that printer.
This box shelving unit is from IKEA and it serves as my table support as
well as a good lot of storage.
As well as printer paper, I have a couple of oversized sketchbooks to the side here
and one of these folders is a kind of catch all for all my scrap cutouts and art I don’t
have a place for yet.
This bottom shelf here is just where I keep all my paperwork and documents and receipts.
And these two boxes hold the things that I occasionally need within reach at my desk.
Some cleaning supplies, my bigger harddrive, headphones and a speaker.
And down at the bottom, a few lesser-used art supplies that always might come in handy
at some point.
Up on top, my computer is a Lenovo ideacentre all-in-one 520, that’s a mouth full.
I was lucky enough to have it sent to me by Intel and it’s been a real game changer
in upgrading not just my workspace but my workflow as well.
I’ll have a dedicated video on that coming up so if you have any questions please do
leave them below.
Moving on to the window ledge by the desk, I have a notebook to hand for jotting things
down whenever I need to, beside it is a desk tidy from Amazon which holds anything I might
need to hand; washi tape, go-to stationery and sticky notes.
Underneath are my wireless keyboard and mouse.
Under the desk again and we’re transitioning to the art area.
The shelves on this side are all my less-used art supplies.
I’ll have a full art supplies storage video coming up soon.
My chair is from Amazon and you might notice the weights I keep under my desk which I’ll
occasionally pick up during quick breaks in work.
And then over to the right are the drawers that keep all my most used art supplies, beautifully
organised and always to hand when I need them.
And you’ll see that’s been the whole point of this space.
I’ve laid it out in a way that works best for me, that compliments how my brain needs
things to be to function.
Everything I need is where I need it when I need it.
And that wraps up the overview of my workspace.
It will continue to change as my needs change but for now it flows just beautifully and
allows me to get the most out of my workdays.
Stay tuned to see how I’ve organised my art supplies to do the same, how my computer
ties in and let me know if you’d also like a video with my cleaning and tidying tips.
Thanks so much for watching and I’ll see you in the next one.
Bye.