This weekend I light proofed the darkroom. And just how does one lightproof a room with lots of windows letting the light in? Well, I've discovered it's pretty easy when you're surrounded by clever people to give you ideas. Here's my process so far for setting up a DIY darkroom space.

I originally planned to put the darkroom in a spare basement closet, but quickly decided it would make more sense to use the bathroom instead. Why? It's bigger, has running water, and I don't need to run new wiring. However, the window (and the door with windows in it) in the bathroom presented a larger roadblock in terms of light proofing. Why the bathroom has a window and completely non-private door, or why a bathroom like this exists in the basement in the first place, is beside the point.

Since I still want to use the room as a spare bathroom, I chose to preserve it as is and save the light proofing for when I'm making prints. This is also one of the quickest and easiest solutions. I simply sewed together four layers of black felt and attached it with velcro around the door and window frames. I stitched in from the border a bit and left the edges loose to make it easier to smooth them against the woodwork.

After executing a very quick sewing job and sticking up some velcro strips, I put up my “darkroom curtains,” set an alarm for ten minutes, and turned out the light. After five minutes I started to make out tiny slivers of light at the top of the door and window, so I added more velcro and restarted the timer. A full ten minutes passed and, to my delight, I was still completely in the dark!

At this point I have to stop to point out the importance of spending adequate time in your darkroom before doing something rash like busting open a film canister. For a room to be safe for film, you must be unable to see ANYTHING after being in there for at least five minutes. I sat for ten just to be on the safe side. This is my cautionary word, though: just because a room looks dark for the first couple of minutes after switching off the light doesn't mean it won't fog your film. After five minutes, tiny bits of light and maybe even objects will start to appear magically before your eyes.

As you can see, the darkroom is also outfitted with a super snazzy DIY enlarger table and tray shelf. Before too long I'll paint or sand the top of the table and make a little skirt to go around the bottom. The rack can be tucked away in a closet or tub when not in use.

Overall, this project has been relatively inexpensive and easy. As a bonus, I've maintained functionality of my downstairs bathroom and the whole process is completely reversible when it comes time to move on to a new place. I like to be sensible: a person in their mid-20s might not be in the house she'll live in forever, and not every prospective home buyer will be excited by a darkroom in the basement (and no second bathroom).

The next hurdle, just discovered today: the only outlet in the room is controlled by the light switch. I think that's a funny joke for a darkroom space, don't you?

In college, studio space was always at a premium, and that's putting it lightly. The reality: one big room to work in, plus a smaller room for storage of paintings and chemicals, struggled to accommodate around 30 upper-level studio students as well as maybe 40+ intro to painting students (according to my somewhat conservative estimates). It was a mess. I feel like work consistently got damaged in the storage room because there wasn't enough space to store half of what needed to go in there, and space constraints pressured us to create paintings that were portable at every stage of the process.

As an upperclassman producing very large (i.e. taller than myself) paintings and spending up to 18 hours per week in that room, I felt some entitlement to my own space. Along with the one other woman making huge paintings at that time, I left my work out in a corner of the studio. This area grew to include with my palette, paints, and lots of sketches and notes tacked up to the wall. Months later we were admonished and forced to end our “homesteading” in the corners of the room because, hey, what would happen if everyone did that? What a buzzkill, what a serious drag on the creative process. The art building has been gutted and remodeled since I graduated, so I hope students are now given adequate space to work.

As I said on Monday, work space is crucial. So, now that I have a place to call my own, it's time to start homesteading again!

After making a handy drawing of the planned studio/work area, I calculated that I'll have 22 feet of hangable wall space. Plus, even though the house is only 14 feet wide, looking at the drawing I realize there is a lot of floor space to be had as well. I guess all the junk sort of covers it up at this point, but hey, it has a lot more potential than that little corner of the painting studio!

I got to thinking a lot about our house during my week away from home in a condo in Vermont. It felt wonderful to exist in a space populated only by the things we needed. My mind was clear, my ambitions strong, my optimism fully out of its shell.

Maybe I could attribute some of these feelings to spending every day skiing and enjoying fantastic scenery instead of showing up at the office. Who knows, but I came home with plans: hold on to your hats, folks, I'm cleaning out my basement.

Once I returned home I immediately realized why I haven't purged the whole house before: it's hard, it's intimidating, it's overwhelming. For someone with ADD like myself, it's impossible to know where to begin. Not to mention the basement is downright cold and dank this time of year. I voluntarily face these realities now not just because my parents will soon drop off a truckload of my childhood possessions, but also because there is another possibility in the works. There is a reward, a dedicated art space at the end of this tunnel.

Freed from the shackles of clutter, I can focus on populating my space with only the things I need. And at this point I've come to realize I do need a place to store, display, and create art. Everyone does. Imagine going to work in an office every day and not actually having your own desk. Or imagine your desk chock full of junk that's never going to help you get the job done. Our creative space is just as important to developing good work.

More on this to come as the project develops, but for now...before pictures, anyone?

On Thursday evening I'll get into my specific plans/wants for the space, so keep following along. If you have a basement, you can do this too! Already have a fabulous art space in your home? Please share!