One swipe, from one magazine that I happened to get ages ago, has created several projects for me.

All I needed was some more light in my studio for evening work, and for the boys as they have a place at one end and it’s so dark. I have a small light on my desk, but I need something to fill the room. I have our light table, but I don’t want to waste the bulbs in it (although the light is really pretty). My husband suggested string lights. I love them! They are like little “ideas” above everyone. From little outdoor cafés to Christmas tree lots, every time I see them, I just think “joy!”

I should have just bought a lamp.

After visualizing how they would hang (I have to have black, not green or white), I realized some of the boys’ stuff was cramping my style (it’s out of the shot). We have always talked about having an area in the basement for them. It’s partially finished, I just need to paint a bit down there, and make it “fun.” This is Extra Project #1. We’ll have a Lego table, and the video games will be down there…It’s going to be great!

“We need to room off the furnace and the water heater” said the hubs. He’s right, our 6yo, even if he wasn’t on the spectrum, will be investigating everything. Hello Project #2.

I’d taken a few things to the basement that the boys don’t use all the time, and I was already seeing that the lighting would work better. Kev had sent me a link to order the lights, but before I could really delve into a plan of installing them, I just wanted to kind of tidy up my space, I had a stack of ‘zines to go through, and papers to file. Stuff to put away…

Enter Project #3. I’d gone through most of my ‘zines, then I hit the page. You know, you see this page and the color is just “right” and you don’t know why you love it, you just do! Here is my page:

You might think “what’s the big deal?” It’s because my studio has needed painting for a long time, that I’m always on the lookout. I like neutrals, because I have so much “stuff” so I don’t want walls competing with it all. So I saw this and thought, updated warmer neutrals…But we have a somewhat open floorplan…

Yes, that’s only two days of dust on my table. We live near a gravel pit. All our walls kind of flow into other rooms. This is looking throught the kitchen to the family room, the color will have to go with the brick and the tile backsplash. So the paint I pick will be for the entire downstairs, including the foyer and powder room. Projects #4, 5, 6 and 7.

This is the tip of the iceberg. I have valances to make now for all the rooms, and we’d already planned to paint the boys’ rooms this summer! They’ll be 7 and 9, and really, really need updating! So, I should get my lighting sometime in the fall, and hopefully I’ll have been able to work on my portfolio as well! Plus any paying work, plus a promotional piece…I am almost done figuring out my new blog banner…And everyone wonders why I’m going simple with it now? ; )