The Artelier has been like this for MONTHS.

I’m living on the day bed I’ve had installed, surrounded by boxes of furniture and stuff that I don’t have the space to put away yet.

Even though I am suffocating, barely surviving in all this mess (drama 9000 inside), it’s for a good reason.

Today, things are starting to change. The furniture is getting installed. It’s part of my 50 Goals for my next year of life (50 to 51):

Artelier

• get all the furniture installed in the Artelier
• finish organizing the Artelier
• setup gaming desk
• setup big aquarium
• decorate and make the Artelier cozy

I have most of the furniture ready, the rest arrives next friday.

I wanted to keep some memories from that time. It has followed a very difficult time in our home, and even though it is very hard for me to live like this, it is a promise of a cozy, happy future in my Artelier. The piles of boxes will slowly disappear, leaving dedicated spaces for books, yarn and decor.

The desk that was my gaming space will be replaced with a crafting station, where I will put my art supplies and crafting tools. An always-ready space to just leave my work-in-progress pieces, where I will feel free to leave messy because its purpose will be to create and not just exist.

The gaming setup will be build as a customized Ikea desk on the left of it. I’m looking forward to have that 2m desk where my husband and I will be able to game together. I’m already planning to organize it for maximum comfort and fun. I’ll add streaming tools too, since they’re planning to install fibre-optic internet in our street, at long last!

Two more drawers are waiting to be installed in the kitchenette that was built last summer.

I enjoy that kitchenette very much: I have a dedicated space to make tea, coffee, or ice cubes. I have a tiny fridge where I can store some diet cokes (because otherwise I never find any after the kids locust them up in the common fridge. The double sink is great too—one sink, on the left, for dishes and stuff like that, and one on the right for messier stuff like paint, plants watering, and in the near future changing water of my big aquarium.

I’ll have some shelves installed too, at some point, but I don’t know yet how it will look. I’m someone that has difficulties projecting myself in a space that is too far from being finished. I’ll take the time later to add those last details, and it will be great.

My husband and my youngest kid helped me take stuff out from under the aquarium, in order to work out the plumbing and electricity stuff for it.

The cabinets under it are reserved for the filter. It also has a dedicated small water tap for convenience—it will allow me to put water in without any balancing act on a stepladder.

I also have two lazy Susans and two drawers in the right corner. I put decor and aquarium stuff in there. I also have a chest in the garden to keep my old tanks and stuff like gravel or sand. My goal is to have everything I need for aquarium scaping and fish/shrimp care nearby.

Above the big aquarium, I will have a pegboard installed. I intend to put terrestrial plants in the aquarium, and they often are climbing plants, so with the pegboard they will have something to hold on to that will not be my wall. I will also put other stuff there, so it’s a win-win situation.

The future crafting desk has been emptied for customization. I am looking forward to put all my art supplies there once it’s done!

I have hoarded Ohuhu markers, Tombows, Prismacolors, Caran d’Ache Neocolor pastels, watercolors, various oil and acrylic paints, and all kinds of crafting supplies like leather work, resin, wood carving, etc. It’s time to actually do something with those, right?

On the right, I have another desk that is supposed to be a working space. For now, I can’t work-work, but I can still use it for projects in the meantime. And then, in 2027, hopefully it will be used as intended.

All these drawers have to be organized too. It will be done after everything is build, so I can make sure to group supplies together.

My two display cases will have to find somewhere else to live. I’m a bit sad about it, but I need the working space more.

Now that the cats live outside (it was a living hell in here with all the fur and cat puke, so we installed heated cat houses in the backyard, and now I can finally live in a clean environment), I don’t have to hide my precious, fragile decor behind glass doors. No one is going to sleep on it, fur it, claw it, or make it fall on the floor….

On the TV wall, I will have two Billy bookcases for my books. For now, they live in my husband’s Boudoir, but he always need more space for his own books, so it will be beneficial for both of us if I get that space for mine!

On the furniture in this part of the room, I will also have countertops. The countertops will have electric plugs (most of them hidden) so that I can leave my gaming consoles, vinyl record player, etc. plugged in. I also got myself a Govee table lamp, and Govee TV backlight for ambiance. It’ll be the last part of the improvement: decorating and making the Artelier cozy.

I was glad to be able to keep my big Alex drawers. They’re amazing to store all my crafting supplies, and they don’t make those anymore, so I would have been sad to part with them.

There will be countertops on them too, and probably shelves to display all my beloved decor.

And, probably one of the first things that will be done: add three kitchen wall cabinets between the A/C and the aquarium, right about the sink and the kitchen-side countertop.

Again, I don’t plan on spending my time risking breaking my neck on a stepladder, so in those I will put things on display, mostly. I ordered glass doors and glass shelves for that purpose.

It’s time! Our handyman has arrived, and is going to start working on the aquarium. Yay!