A Studio of One's Own

A photo I took of myself in my new sewing studio

I was so thrilled when I moved to a home 3 years ago that had a little abandoned out-building in the back yard. The space was full of junk, cold, damp, moldy and leaky, but I saw great potential for finally creating my very own sewing studio.

My little studio before it was rescued from obscurity

I set about clearing and cleaning the space. Although small in square footage, it had large heavy sliding glass doors and several electrical outlets at counter height on the walls all the way around the room. This, I felt sure, was intended to be a workshop or studio of some kind. I removed approximately 20 garbage bags of moldy stuff that had been stored there over the years.

After MOST of the random junk had been removed...

When I finally completed the clean up, hired a friend to fix the leaky roof and another to build my work table which included a number of "guest workstations" and brought in a dehumidifier, I was ready to launch my studio with a great party!


I created an event which consisted of an all-day open studio (open house) and clothing swap. All the guests were invited to bring gently used clothing that they were no longer interested in wearing. They were welcomed to choose items that others had brought to take home in exchange for the clothing they were leaving behind. We had a huge pile of clothes on the living room floor. I served mimosas as a daytime aperitif cocktail and finger-food appies. The guests rummaged through the pile of clothes, finding treasures and then we spent time in the studio altering and customizing our selections.

Clothing swap!

Try it on!

Customizing our clothing at guest workstations

Turkey Casserole by Jana

Many people are left wondering after the big Thanksgiving dinner: what in the world do I do with all this leftover turkey? Yesterday, I dreamed up a turkey casserole dinner for my family and it actually passed the Kids' Taste-Test (and they can sometimes be chef mom's worst critics!!).

This is a dairy-free and gluten-free casserole that's pretty simple to assemble. I used a slow-cooker to make the sauce ahead of time, but it can also be done using a regular saucepan.

Sauce:

1 Tblspn olive oil
1 1/2 cups turkey broth
1/2 medium zucchini, cubed*
1 medium onion, chopped small
3-4 large basil leaves, whole
2-3 large cloves of garlic, minced
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 medium potatoes, cubed*
1 - 1 1/2 cups turkey, tear into bite-sized pieces or chop
1/3 cup brown rice flour
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

*the neat thing about this recipe is you can also use some or any of your leftover vegetables from Thanksgiving dinner too (ie. any roast potatoes or yams, carrots, etc)

Combine all ingredients in the slow cooker croque pot, stirring well. Set slow cooker on low heat for 5 hours or high heat for 3 hours.

Casserole Assembly:

340g gluten-free penne or macaroni (I used brown rice pasta but the Go-go Quinoa brand is also nice)
3/4 cup Daiya dairy-free shredded cheese substitute

Towards the end of the sauce cooking time, prepare the pasta by cooking it in salted boiling water until just al dente (usually about 8-10 minutes for the brown rice pasta). Combine the pasta, the sauce and the Daiya shredded cheese substitute in a large bowl until well mixed. Pour into a 9x9" casserole baking dish. Bake at 350 F for 30-40 minutes, or until top is just golden. Serve with salad or steamed veggies.

Before and After - a home transformation

When deciding to sell your home, to get the most value out of your investment, it can be worthwhile  to do some easy remodelling and redecorating. Simple superficial changes, such as tackling flooring, repainting and getting rid of clutter can go a long way to ensure that your home shows in it's best possible suit. Below are some before and after shots of one such project.

Kitchen

The kitchen is the place where families spend most of their time and the one spot in the house that probably gets the most traffic. This kitchen is already busy and the bright yellow paint only assaults the senses further.

A simple toned down colour on the walls, some new tiling on the floor to modernize the look and some cleaning and de-cluttering recreates the kitchen into a tranquil and functional space.

Living Room

With small children, the living room can become another playroom. This is fine at times, but what do you do when you want to entertain guests in this mess?

Again, toning down the bright colour of paint on the walls, removing the clutter and simplifying the space makes it into a tidy and inviting place.

Leaving only a few key pieces creates refined simplicity.

 Children's Bedrooms



Lily's Room

The children have so many beautiful things, but even too many beautiful things cause clutter and make a space look "trashy" and busy. Children can sometimes have a hard time letting go of their pretty things, so we started by just filing some of those things in a box or bin. The kids liked the idea that they still HAD those pretty things, they just didn't have to stuff their rooms full with them.

The paint in Lily's bedroom (above) was originally meant to be whimsical and playful but it ended up just adding to the clutter. Choosing one simple colour made the room much more neat and refined in appearance. As well, taking out the old, shag carpet and replacing it with laminate flooring opened up and cleared the space.

With loads of pretty things and unused items (call them "memorabilia") safely stored away in bins, the room became much more functional with only those things that were needed in attendance, and carefully stowed in organizer boxes on the shelf so that the over-all effect is one of clear space. Even Lily appreciated having space to move and play with ease in her room.

Mia's Room

Like Lily's room, Mia's was stuffed with too many pretty things and unused items that made it overwhelming for her to even consider "tidying" her room, let alone sleeping peacefully in it!

We got rid of the old, dirty carpet in this room, painted the walls a softer, gentler colour and built a bunk bed to make use of the space under the bed as a little reading nook. One small wall unit with pretty figures and crystals and the rest carefully stored away (perhaps for a future garage sale??) and now Mia has a relaxing space to enjoy herself in.

Dining Room

Since we rarely had occasion for formal dining events in our busy family home, we used the dining room as a crafting room for projects, hobbies and another repository for aimless toys. For the purpose of selling the house, we decided it would be best to return this room to it's original function of being a dining room.

This transformation was mainly a process of delegating crafting items to another dedicated space in the house, tidying up and moving a dining room table into the space. Voila! Family dining room! From that point on, we enjoyed many family dinners in this room before the house was sold.