When I retired last year, I had accumulated a fair amount of paid vacation time, which was paid to me in a tidy lump sum as I went out the exit. I set aside a portion of it to redo the room I am going to use as a studio, and I've spent several hours sorting, packing, moving and discarding things to get ready to make that room more "useable studio" and less "storage space."
Much of my new workspace and storage was intended to come from IKEA, that bastion of room re-dos and college dorms everywhere.
In February, my friend and I were near IKEA (which is about 40 miles from my home), and decided to stop by and look at the furniture in person. Imagine my horror when I saw all of their EXPEDIT line, upon which nearly everything in my plan was based, tagged with "closeout!" signs. (Of course, "closeout" did not mean "reduced price.") In addition, I was nowhere near ready to buy the furniture, as the room hadn't yet been cleared and I had nowhere to store several large boxes full of pieces. EXPEDIT was wildly popular and it disappeared fast. Its replacement, KALLAX, is only just now hitting the stores - and it doesn't come in the same configuration I'd been counting on for my room.
So, it's back to the drawing board for me. I had planned to have the room work-ready by April; it's more likely to be at least June at this point. And, of course, none of my new options are as affordable as the EXPEDIT would have been. Gah! Decisions, decisions.
Meanwhile, I am continuing to refine the equipment selection. (Doesn't that sound grand and official?) This basically means buying things I have no room for yet, as the studio is in a shambles, but I'm finding good deals that I can't pass up. The friend mentioned above in the IKEA debacle kindly helped me acquire a four shaft Rasmussen table loom, 30 years old, in pristine condition save a bit of dust and rather dry wood. According to the seller's daughter, who was the Craigslist contact for her mother, Mom bought it, wove two pillow covers on it, and stuck it in a closet. I've also picked up a 25" Schacht Flip rigid heddle loom with a host of optional accessories for less than 50% of list from a woman in Texas who was a motivated seller. At least this one will fold and go in a tote bag for storage!
And, in an odd case of "it's such a small world that I can't quite believe it," I stumbled across the woman from whom I purchased my eight shaft Loomcraft floor loom, which is basically a clone of this loom, in about 1998. I was impressed with the fact that she remembered the loom well and made a couple of suggestions on things to update if I hadn't done it already.
Stay tuned; I'm hoping to break the logjam sooner rather than later and actually create a space where I can use all this stuff.
Not to mention Joe would probably like that Rasmussen loom out of the middle of the living room floor, which is its current resting place.
