Our Art Studio (Inspired by The Artful Parent)

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I’ve been wanting to create an art studio for a while now.  After reading, The Artful Parent (Simple Ways to Fill Your Family’s Life with Art and Creativity) by Jean Van’t Hul, it was just the kick in the pants I needed to get started!

The Artful Parent is one of the best books I’ve read this year.  Jean does a wonderful job of sharing ideas on how to create art spaces, gathering materials, and activities for encouraging your young artists.  I found myself bookmarking pages everywhere.

Jean shares on her blog, The Artful Parent, and in the book recommended materials for getting started.  We are loving the liquid watercolors!  Her book also has instructions on creating your own smocks made from old t-shirts and a very cool marker caddy.

After you have your space all set up, you are ready to delve into the next section of the book where there are ideas galore.  We’ve had a lot of fun creating her contact paper sun catchers.

I highly recommend this book if you would like to create a space for art and/or are looking for ideas to bring art into your child’s life.

So, how did our art studio turn out?

Here is the before picture.  This is a space in our basement that really wasn’t being utilized.  With the built-in storage and counter space, I thought it would be perfect for our studio.

And, here is the after picture!

As I said before, I utilized many of the recommendations in The Artful Parent and also collected lots of ideas from Pinterest.  Here’s my Kid Spaces Pinterest board and Things to Make My Life Easier Pinterest board if you’d like to see some of the ideas I’ve accumulated.

Let’s take a closer look at a few of the details.  Please keep in mind that I have a 1 year-old and 2 year-old, so many of the supplies needed to be out of reach.  As my children grow, I will make the materials more accessible to them.

My 2 year-old really likes to kneel in chairs to work, so the larger table and chairs that we already had works well.  I can also sit comfortably which is an added bonus.  We do have a “kid size” table and chairs (not shown) for times when he may want to stand and work.  We also use this table for an “invitation to create station”  or an “inspiration station”.

My super talented mom made the frames for us for Christmas.  All of the frames were recycled and painted in fun colors.  She then placed cork board in each of them.  With the addition of some push-pins we were ready to display our art.  I love that we can easily and quickly change out our masterpieces.

I had two rolling carts from my time in the classroom.  I love the paper drawer.  Each file folder contains one color  of construction paper.  There are multiple hues of each color within the folders.  They are then alphabetized.  Watercolor paper has its own folder.

The labels are from Kristen Doyle’s Teachers Pay Teachers store.  They are the Teacher’s Tool Box Kit- Turquoise Dot Theme and best of all the download is free!  Almost all of the containers are recycled jars and items from around the house.  It was tempting to buy new coordinated containers, but my frugal ways kicked in and prevented that splurge.

We are so excited to have this space to create art especially for illustrating our stories!  Do you have a specific space for art in your home?  Where do you collect art ideas?  As I said before, I love Pinterest and have a board for all the art activities we want to try.  Feel free to browse and pin from our Art Ideas for Kids Pinterest board.

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