Arden Ellen Nixon
patreon
A New Year = A "New" Studio Closet!
🕑 Added 2026-01-01 13:00:20 +0000 UTCIt all began with a lost Christmas present. It's tradition that all presents (that aren't for me, obviously) are kept in my studio, specifically my studio storage closet. However, this past crazy year it became a pile of "This sort of fits here, and I don't have time/brain power to think of a better place." Cue me wrapping our families' presents for shipping and being unable to find one because I hadn't put it in the clearly marked "PRESENTS" tote like I normally do. Add in a lost/rediscovered birthday present that became a Christmas present by default, and I decided it was time to tackle my hot mess of a storage closet.
NOW.
Not after the holidays, as I originally planned, but NOW.
Blank slate, ahoy! Cue piles and piles of frames, con gear, and stuff cluttering my studio.
I find I'll follow a system if I've something lovely to maintain. Example: Before our house, my husband and I lived in apartments. The bedroom was always in the back of our apartments where no one else saw it--and we didn't see it until the end of the day--so the bed was seldom made. In our petite castle, everything is on display by virtue of the overall footprint. I make our bed every day, with the exception of Saturday and Sunday (mostly because Nicholas sleeps in on the weekend). Thus, it wasn't enough to just rearrange my studio's closet--it needed a glow-up to inspire upkeep.
As with our bedroom closet's purple redo earlier this year (above), I used what I had on hand. The upper green wall color was leftover from a $15 gallon of Habitat Restore paint; the first half of the gallon went to sprucing up my shed workshop in the backyard. (I have to have somewhere with good ventilation for sanding, varnishing, and refinishing bathtubs--you know, normal stuff.) Once the upper walls were done, I mixed the remainder of the gallon with other, smaller containers of leftover green from other projects, resulting in the darker but complimentary shade for the trim and door. "Free" paint and cleaning out my paint storage stash--win, win!
The free paint helped offset the $30 wallpaper splurge. I wanted my studio closet to have synergy with our bedroom closet, which meant following a similar paint scheme--wall color, darker trim in the same color family--and the same peel and stick wood-grain black wallpaper.
Wallpaper--NOT an affiliate link. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W41JND
I of course didn't order enough despite my best guess and spent a few days waiting for the remaining two rolls to arrive. It turns out I only needed one additional roll, but we all know that I would have run out again had I not ordered two as a precaution! I've no doubt that the extra will find its destiny in a future project--it's handsome stuff.
One of my organizational goals was using the space more efficiently. To that end, I planned shelves to fill the closet's shallow side. The local hardware store cut them to size, and I spray-painted small brackets to match the wallpaper. I had planned on staining and varnishing the wood, only to find the dregs of both my stain and varnish had dried out. I still had plenty of trim color left, so....
Installing the shelves was a surprising time sink. The 4" deep x 32" long space between the door frame and the wall was awkward to work in, especially when contorting to install screws. It may sound unworthy of the effort, but lo!
Thanks to the generosity of friends cruising clearance sales and my own habit of keeping my favorite canvas sizes on hand after the pandemic, I had canvases stored wherever they would fit in my studio. Now they are at last in one place, with some additional room leftover for my mini-space heater, spare brushes, and other supplies. Shout-out to the clear bookends that keep everything in place--they were $8 well spent (with rounded edges so as to not poke my canvases).
Bookends--NOT an affiliate link. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FVDX6CQF
Going up....
... and up some more!
On the closet's deep side, I kept the same five shelf Target bookcase. The shelves were rearranged to suit dedicated purposes: con gear, frame storage, framed print/show storage, matted print storage, and my stair stepper (gotta fit my vintage dresses!). Above on a built-in shelf, I have shipping boxes, the present tote that started all this, and my shipping supplies. Rearranging was further facilitated by a hard cull of all my shipping supplies (half-popped bubble wrap is both sad and pointless), worn-out show supplies, and donating several framed prints to charity events.
The finishing touch was a $3.99 plug-in wall sconce from Goodwill to improve visibility. There is a pull-chain light in the ceiling, but that's 10' above where I need to actually see! Thankfully the power cord fits easily under the door, behind which is my studio's only outlet and zipstrip.
BEHOLD!!!
The central octopus print was a gift from a friend, who had it signed by the artist!
A new year, a renewed respect for myself and my space. May we work in tandem, smarter and harder, to fill 2026 with art!
