Ikea Studio Hack #1

'Meadow Sweet'           8x10        pastel        ©Karen Margulis
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 It doesn't take much to make me happy. It is even better when I can find things for the studio that make me happy and don't cost much. That is why I love browsing the aisles of the Dollar Tree for things to make my art life easier. Ikea is another one of my favorite places for studio hacks.

Last December I spent a couple of weeks cleaning and organizing my studio. I found some things at Ikea that have been very helpful and I have been meaning to share them on the blog. So I am starting a series called 'Studio Hacks'. I will try to share some of the things that have made my life as an artist easier.

Here is Hack #1.  The problem? Messy and disorganized dish towels. I use dish towels to wipe my pastels as I paint. I throw a towel over my shoulder and wipe the pastel in between strokes. It has become such an involuntary habit that I dare not forget to use a towel. That could be ugly!  So I had piles of dishtowels that filled a laundry hamper. The dirty ones went into a basket until I could throw them in the wash.

My old messy dishtowel storage

My Ikea Solution:  I lightened the load and eliminated the clutter with this Ikea hack. 

• I bought 10 of the lightweight cotton dish towels for 99 cents each. These were much lighter weight and looked nicer than my mishmash of old dishtowels.

•  I also bought two small  plastic garbage cans for $1.99 each. I got a white on and a black one. The white can is for the clean towels and the black can is for the dirty ones. After I paint I just throw the towel into the dirty can and wash them when it is full.

Clean and dirty cans

It is such an easy and inexpensive thing that makes me feel oh so organized! Simple things like this make me happy!