If you’ve seen us out and about the last few months, you’ve probably gotten an earful about us having to work in a shared space. To be clear, the complaint is all mine – Tim has no issues. None. And in fact, he didn’t even understand what I was grumbling about. But now I’m finding my own space!
Years to create the perfect space!
For the first 7 years of Zinnia Sky Studio, Tim went to work at 6:30am and came home at 6:30pm Monday – Friday and sometimes Saturday too. That gave me lots of long days to customize my work space to fit me just right. And I did! I set up places to create, keep inventory, ship purple packages and do boring business things.
While I was creating all those perfect spaces, it wasn’t in the back of my mind that I’d ever actually share them with anyone. Then almost 3 years ago, I made the best hire ever! And he came to work in my space.
Now, Tim and I are living and working together … in my perfect space!
It’s quite an adjustment to live and work together!
We planned for a while for Tim to come into Zinnia Sky Studio. We knew it would be an adjustment. We knew it wouldn’t always be fun. But we also knew that it was a great decision! We each have different strengths but they complement each other well.
As you can imagine, I’m 132% artsy – I’m all over the place, I want to do everything, I have the attention span of a fly and everything is all about the ‘feel’ of it. And then there’s Tim who can be creative, but is actually very logical and focused. And now we’re doing this together – all day. Every day. For all time. Eeeek!
For the 26+ years we’ve been together, our days were spent apart. We were very different people doing very different things in very different places. And now we work with and for each other.
How do you fit two people into one perfect space?
Our first year was spent getting used to each other’s working styles, finding our own lanes on the same road and making this new lifestyle comfortable. At the end of that first year, I realized I was not adjusting to losing all my perfectly created spaces. Tim now did most of his work right next to my creative space. What was once a perfect place to move around doing all the things I needed to do, now felt very constricting to me.
Zinnia Sky Studio lives in our house with us. The main working area is the biggest room in the house and right in the center. Our ‘warehouse’ is a spare bedroom accessed by going thru the dining and family rooms, over and over and over throughout the day. And since the studio takes up all the available space possible, that left little room for change.
I needed to find a way to carve out my own space away from the rest of the world but first I had to convince Tim it wasn’t personal to him. Whenever I brought it up, he thought I was telling him I didn’t enjoy being around him which was never the point at all – it just seemed that way.
I found it!
After lots and lots of dropped hints, unproductive discussions, and great ideas that were either way too expensive or unfeasible, we settled on the first idea Tim had suggested. Sigh. Before settling on my new perfect spot, the next best option was a studio shed. It was very exciting to think about how great it would work – how I would arrange my drafting tables, all the places the dogs could hang out, what colors it would be inside and out, how we could build a beautiful little porch off the front where the dogs and I could ponder the world and the gardens I would plant around it.
But then we had to crunch some numbers
And then we crunched the numbers and my new perfect spot is what used to be the dog room! And not surprisingly, it’s also still the dog room. But I love my new studio. My drafting tables fit on one wall with dog beds lined up on the shelves underneath. The dog kennels fit just right under my table of plants in the east window. And my ‘business’ area tucks neatly into its very own corner.
I set up a bird feeding station outside my window so I could be distracted. I put blinds on the french doors so no one can peer in at me while I’m working and got a neon light that means DO NOT DISTURB when turned on. I can’t think of a better place that’s all my own!
This corner is where I spend as much time as I can! Some of my favorite art is here – a sign from our front door in IL, glass and ceramic treasures from my kids when they were young and lots of little things here and there that make my space happy.
I was going to clean it up and make it all picture worthy but I thought you’d appreciate seeing the real thing because this is how it is 99% of the time. The other 1%, it’s even messier!
All those toys are Maizie’s contribution to our room – she brings a new toy in every time she comes to check on me.
That’s Paco wandering around – he refused to look up or move out of the way and I refused to wait him out.
