Art Areas

It was the summer of 2013 that I originally planned to create an outdoor art area on the upper deck but we ran out of time so it didn’t get completed until this summer.  Since our most recent indoor renovation meant giving up the sunroom as a dedicated art area the indoor art area and dining area now share the same small space.  This made creating the outdoor art area very important. This is the new outdoor art space;

It can be used rain or shine and I even have some plans for wintertime use ;-) and the addition of some woodworking supplies too.  All summer the school-age children spent ‘quiet time’ here while the little ones were napping.

Of course the little ones like to do artsy stuff too so I had to make sure they had some space too.  The indoor dining/art area is easily supervised – unlike the dedicated art space we used to have in the sunroom – so the little younger children have access for independent art activities throughout the day.

However, because our indoor space is very limited I knew I was going to miss having a big art table for group activities with the little ones during the long winter period.  So, of course I came up with another ‘multipurpose’ idea.  This is the bench where the school-age children sit for meals and independent art activities;

During the school year it is not used between 8:30 am and 4:00 pm – seems like a waste of space to me.  Now I can flip open the top;

Add a table cloth, and the school-age bench becomes a toddler art table;

It’s the perfect size for the little ones to paint on;

Do some lacing;

Or much more….