Welcome to the NEW Roxy Marj studio.

My new space makes me sooo so happy and I can't believe it took me over 2 years to move down stairs and be among my other work rooms. The sewing/stock/cutting rooms. 

This room in our basement has served many purposes...guest room, tv room, stock room....and it was painted an awful pink and green...with ugly shag carpet to boot. I'm really proud of my studio because I did it all by myself. I ripped the carpet and padding out, got the shovel and went to town on the tack strips, popping those mothers off...scrapped the tacky glue off the floor with a razor, vacuumed and then painted the walls and polyeurathaned [correct sp?] the floor... I even took the weirdo creepy insulation that was in the window out, and vacuumed that as well. I think Jesse was pretty proud that I took the initiative and went full throttle Roxy Marj Town all on my own.   

Our office has been upstairs ever since we moved into our house over 2 years ago... and because it was upstairs among me and Jesse's space...I didn't feel quite right about taking over and making it all Roxy Marj-esque. But at the same time...I didn't feel totally content in our office either. Crafting and designing wasn't something that I was looking forward to do in our office.  So after talking it over we decided that we could afford to get rid of Jesse's computer [since he uses it about once a month, if that] and sell his desk... and make our office my studio workspace down stairs. 

I feel so.... cooozy you guys! Can you feel it too through the photos? Harley loves being down here, Jesse loves being down here [they're picking up the comfy vibe big time] and it really feels like i'm in my own little world now. I love coming down here and waking up every morning feels like Christmas!

I took as many detailed shots of the studio to share with anyone interested. I think this is an inspiring workspace and I hope it gives you some sort of knee jerk to go and make up your own space... 

One of the things I did differently this time around [comparing to when I lived by myself and really had my own space] was that I tried ever so hard not to cover every inch of the walls and fill my studio up with more clutter. Seriously! I went through my 100+ magazines and collected all my tares and donated those mothers to the thrift store. I feel like a designer that just shed her old skin that was cluttered with so many things....[that's a whole other blog post fyi] annnyways, I'm sitting here patting myself on the back right now... because I got rid of a ton of stuff in order to have a clean and simple studio and with warmth oozing from every corner of the room. I would say that I successfully achieved that feeling...and now I'm ready to tackle the other Roxy Marj rooms and giving them a slight face lift. 

Soo...with all that said, let me take you through my studio! 

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Some of my favorite tares on the west wall. 

I had a different quote above my work desk, but ended up painting over that and going with this one. This is something I can always work harder at. I feel like most days i'm pretty good at being positive and happy and thinking about others, but more often then I would like...I can be self centered and think about me and my feelings... I believe that if I stick with this quote's message...it will take care of a lot of other things no? :)

graphite pencils, paint brushes and some of my art/design books that I look through weekly. If you're curious to what they are, here's the run down:

"The Bauhaus Ideal Then & Now"

"Tramp Art a Folk Art Phenomenon"

"Tomboy Style: beyond the boundaries of fashion" 

"Creating With Paper" 

*that stool...yeah, that was a HIT 11 years ago from Ikea. 

One of the few things I took from my divorce... Wish they still made them.

See my little disco ball hanging in the corner? Harley looks at it often, it reminds him of his days at Studio 54... he was a wild dog back then....now he's just an old soul who loves a good toosh rub. :-p 

This is the east wall where my view is of our side yard...but I don't even see the yard itself, just the tops of trees...and I find that enchanting. 

This little lion and moon guard my window. The lion watches my back and the moon looks out the window for any possible creepers that may try and look in the window...think i'm being dramatic? This was a downside of having the office upstairs...people would look in our windows ALL THE TIME. It gave me so much anxiety being watched constantly.... ooh! no more! 

* That pinata moon was made by the talented @meethaha on instagram for a competition I had this past summer. She recently sent me all the little Roxy Marj characters she and her kids made for the competition. Isn't it the cutest thing ever? Check out her instagram, she's one talented lady!

A quote that I think i've conqured:

"A day without laughter is a day wasted" - Charlie Chaplin.... 

yeah, I laugh a lot! It's my fountain of youth! :-[)

My mobile shelf - this is the easiest thing ever.  EVER!

So we had these old doors from our basement, we took them off two of the rooms and bought some shelves at ikea, chopped them in half and screwed them to the doors... this is soo so awesome because it's mobile! And it's super hearty. If you do try this, best doing it on a heavy door. 

My friend Tisha, who also works for me helped with wrapping strips of muslin around the lights you see... underneath they are the ugly green plastic and by wrapping them in muslin it not only makes the space feel warmer but it looks more expensive. 

The rug is from Target. This was my big splurge...it was $130 and it matches the other rugs in the 2 work rooms. I am very careful with these rugs. Vacuuming straight on this rug quickly pulls up the fibers...I use my vacuum's attachment for hardwood and tile floors. This way it doesn't pull at the fibers and my rugs stay looking newer longer. Also, NO SHOES ALLOWED! ;-]

*That desk is from Ikea and I usually shy away from buying furniture from Ikea because majority of it are misses and not hits... trust me, I've purchased many furniture items from Ikea in my early to mid-twenties...best to save your money. However, I was drawn to this desk because of the fact that it hides all the fugly cords in the back AND it's super heavy. I did make a cloth coaster for my computer's bottom to rest on so to prevent any scratching while moving the computer around, this has been great. 

For the trees, I just made a couple stencils and painted those all over the wall... when I got to the edges of the wall, I cut the stencils in length and width wise so as to make the entire wall look like it was wallpapered...make sense? If not, then excuse my syntax. 

Well, that's the end of my studio tour. Harley's pooped! ha! Thanks for stopping by, if you have any questions about where I got anything or how to do something feel free to ask, I am trying to be a lot better about responding more promptly on here. :) Have a lovely weekend. xo Roxy