Your Workstation & a Place For Inspiration: Setting Up a Creative Studio in Your Home

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We all know being a working parent is one of life’s big pressures, but arguably, one of the bigger pressures is when you make the leap from full-time employment to self-employment. Now, we don’t need to go into the nitty-gritty about balancing your work and life, but what does need discussing is how you are going to work at home, especially if you’ve got young children running around. One of the key solutions is to set up somewhere in your home that is for the purposes of work and work alone. This helps you separate your work life and home life, albeit to an extent. If you are lucky enough to be able to expand your home or have a spare room, turning it into a studio for the purposes of work is an essential option. As opposed to a home office, a studio can be many things; it can be your haven, your workstation, or your place for inspiration. So what are the things you need from your home studio and how can you go about achieving these?

An Inspiration Space

If your line of work is in the creative sector, four blank walls won’t do the job. You need somewhere that gives you constant inspiration. In a family home, where the challenge to keep everything neat and tidy can be dull and uninspiring, to say the least. Having things in a certain order doesn’t spark off any sense of creativity. Think about what inspires you, and think about how you go about your own creative processes. Do you find yourself dry or lacking in ideas from time to time? As time goes on, and you are constantly trying to think of ways to be creative and form new ideas, this is where the studio space needs to provide little nuggets of inspiration, wherever you look. It all depends on your line of work. For example, if you write, it’s a fantastic idea to pepper works of literature around the space. If you find yourself struggling for a certain word or a sentence, you can pick up one of the most inspiring pieces of literature, flick to a random page and it could set you off in a whole new direction. If you are a designer, essential tomes like The Art Book need to be on your shelf, but also, your favourite pieces of art should be located in your peripheries. There’s no reason to not feel inspired, so long as you have enough materials around you.

The Practicalities Of The Space

You might have been able to build an outbuilding, or you are taking advantage of the spare room, formerly the junk room, but whatever your space, considering the practicalities to ensure you are maintaining productivity is imperative. This is all down to your specific choices, from the floor to the colour of the walls, and if you need furniture or working equipment. Sometimes, a space is so small that it can feel stifling to your creativity, but you need to make the most of what you have. If you have a small space, this is beneficial because it helps you concentrate your choices as you can only have the bare essentials in the space.

If you are setting up a studio space where you will, inevitably, make a mess, such as an art studio, then it’s important to not overdecorate it, because you’ll be doing a lot of it yourself, albeit in a Jackson Pollock style! Instead, think about the entire space and if it’s practical to your creative flow. For example, if you are someone that likes to pace back and forth while you’re writing, obstructions and mess are not going to benefit you. Have a shop around, and speak with local contractors to get the safest material for your space, especially if you are building an outbuilding, or completely renovating a room so it’s going to be a proper studio. CARRcrete polished concrete is one of those materials that might not have crossed your mind, but you need to think about the entire ebb and flow of your creativity. Slippery surfaces aren’t going to lend themselves well to your work. Likewise, think about the workstations you intend on using. Standing desks are incredibly popular now because you are working with a bit more energy standing up. But if you are working on design projects, you need a space that is quiet enough for you to focus. Soundproofing boards, such as the ones provided by The Soundproofing Store can benefit your focus. Ultimately, the practicalities of the space need to work with your creative flow, not against it, even if it is to the detriment of your credit card bill.

What You Definitely Need From The Space

Not just these approaches, but there are some essential things you would need to ensure that you’re going into the space to work- not to twiddle your thumbs! Working for yourself means that you can’t waste a single second, so you need to treat your studio space as an office. If you go in there at 9 and punch out at 5, this is the best way to get the most out of your working situation. So what do you need? Apart from the essentials like high-speed internet access, appropriate lighting, as well as sufficient storage, it’s always handy to have a small fridge, as well as sufficient tea and coffee making facilities. We need a cup of tea to keep us going from time to time, don’t we? And if you’ve been up half the night with your little one, that caffeine jolt will be exactly what you needed.

It’s a shock to the system, to begin with, but as any parent knows, nothing ever goes smoothly. If you have made the transition from being employed to working in a self-employed capacity, and you need a space in which to work, these are a few of the essentials that can get you inspired, and focused, but also gives you that space to produce your best work. Dylan Thomas had a boathouse, and Roald Dahl had a shed, what do you need to spark your creativity?