Erica's Tiny House

Watch my new tiny live/work space come together. I'm going to use 300 square feet for cooking, baking, relaxing, sleeping, entertaining, work, and art. Check out some photos of the house and read about my money and space-saving discoveries.  http://ericapopp.wordpress.com/

You May Have Noticed...

That I played with the new blogger design template thing and screwed up the layout of my blog. Hopefully I can get it back in shape soon.

Adjusting to yet another new studio space

I just watched the second episode of Project Runway. (I watch them later online because I don’t have cable.) and then I wanted more so I watched some of the designers’ casting calls and home visits (Peach has terrible taste in those as well). Some of the designers have really nice big spaces that are just for working, some have very little space for their designs, and others, like Ivy, prioritize their homes to accommodate their work.

For the last few years I’ve been struggling with space and lack of permanency. In my last two years of college I moved every 10 weeks because that’s just how they do things at Principia. As an intern last year I didn’t feel any sense of ownership over my dorm space even though I was able to stay in it throughout the whole school year.

Now I have a full-time job and am excited to be moving into a space that I know I can stay in for more than nine months. But boy is it small! It’s also oddly laid out. Despite the space issue (300 square feet!), I am hoping to get a lot of work done in my new home. So let me tell you what I’m thinking.

While it’s not ideal to have a clay studio/bedroom, there isn’t anywhere else for the pottery wheel to go. It just has to go there. Any painting will probably need to happen there too.  There just isn’t any space for an easel in the kitchen/living room/dining room/framing room/office.  Well, maybe the little tabletop easel could make guest appearances.

There’s a great table in my house. It’s actually a part of the house. Yes, it’s built right into the wall. It’s going to serve the purposes of desk, kitchen island, and work table. I might sit there for meals too. I think that the way this happens will be a fun thing to figure out.

I’m going to have to set some tidiness ground rules. You know that saying, “A place for everything and everything in its place”? Well, I can be really great at the “everything in its place” part, but I have to first get everything a home.  That is the trick. I’ll keep you updated and will post photos. Just an eye out. I'll update the Erica's Tiny House blog as often as I can with ideas for utilizing small spaces without remodeling.

My tiny space pre-move-in. The chairs and curtains came with the apartment.

More Blogs

So, I've noticed that my blog is big hodge-podge of information. It's starting to feel as cluttered and unfocused as the rest of my life.

So, in order to pull out some important things, I've created two blogs on wordpress that will be much more focused. Keep reading here and in addition to the weirdness that I already post, I'll let you know when I update the new blogs. Or, this might help you read about just the things you want to read about.

WCA Mentors wcamentors.wordpress.com
This blog is all about, you guessed it, my mentor program! This is brand new so there's not a lot of info there yet, but soon you will be able to read all about the program, the inspiration for it, how Dail and I are thinking about it, and what steps we're taking to turn our plans into actions.

Erica's Tiny House ericapopp.wordpress.com
I am moving in to a tiny little house and am going to be photo-narrating about turning 295 square feet of awkwardness into a beautiful and functional life/work space with pretty much no money.

Pottery for Sale on Etsy!

I told you about my Etsy store. I want to make sure that you know it's not all vintage jewelry; I am including original pottery pieces too! They are going up slowly. After I can afford to fire some of my new creations I will post those for sale as well.

Here's a link to my online pottery shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/VintagePopp?section_id=6932203

Erica Popp - Pink Earthenware Jar - 2006

New Projects!

So, I haven't posted for a while. I've been busy with work, my Etsy store, and playing facebook Scrabble with my future sister-in-law. Oh, and looking for a new apartment. YAY! I'm looking forward to moving soon and setting up some studio space that I'll spend more time in. Not having an hour-long commute everyday should give me more time to make art!

I'm looking forward to starting some print-making projects. For Christmas I received a really awesome print-making book and I want to finally start some of the projects.

I especially want to decorate some furniture for my apartment with the very clever contact-paper reverse stencil method. I think it's going to be fun.