Lean-to before creating my playspace

Today has been all about creating a space to play.

I have, for rather too long, been working on the dining room table or floor, spreading out and making my art, only to have to clear it all up again in order for my children and I to eat at the table. For too long now, I have been dumping my half-finished projects in a corner of the room until I have a little window to work on them again. Today, all that changed.

Today, I set about clearing the lean-to at the back of my house and making space for my art. It had previously been a dumping ground; an obstacle course between kitchen and garden; a nuisance of a place, dirty and half falling down. However, in taking my art and my passions more seriously, and determined not to let them take over our living space any longer, I made a decision to change this good-for-nothing space into an inspiring place for me to store my art materials and perhaps use to make art. There is no big table out there, so I could continue to use the dining room table or the big table at the bottom of the garden, housing my projects safely in this new space in between bursts of art. Or, I could use one of the wooden boards out there either balanced on top of the drawers or leaning against the wall, paper taped to it, as I have done indoors or in the garden in the past. It is not big, but it is enough.

In truth, it is the message I am giving myself that matters.

It was only in doing this today… in sweeping up the cobwebs and putting the remainder of my ex’s stuff into boxes, that I realised how truly vital a playspace is to productivity and happy home life for me. It is about giving value to my art and what matters to me and separating that from the necessities of family life, such as eating at the table. Simple, but true. Just took me a while to realise this.

Do you have a playspace for your passions? If so, what inspires you about this place? If not, what could you do to create one? I would love to hear your thoughts.

Lean-to after creating my playspace