MCT

Kathy Bastow frequents recycling facilities and second-hand stores to find the pieces she uses for her art.

When Kathy Bastow and her husband, John Jordy, bought their Bellingham, Wash., home 10 years ago, she was drawn not so much to the quiet setting or the number of bedrooms, but instead to the modest potting shed next to the driveway.

"Pretty much the main reason I was interested in the house was for the studio space," she says. "For so many years I just had my garage, and that didn't have heat in it."

She and her husband soon remodeled the shed into a studio, adding windows, bigger doors, heat and loads of lighting for Bastow's many projects.

She started out basket-weaving, then migrated toward jewelry, later making paper and lamps. She now makes a variety of art, such as clocks, out of found objects.

But while the studio downstairs explodes with half-finished projects and art on the walls, the space upstairs is pristine, sparse and modern. Four years after renovating her studio she fixed up the second floor of the space for her accounting business.

"It's kind of my right and left brain in the same building," she says. "It's a tough set of dichotomies."

Not only do they serve different purposes, but the two floors look like different worlds as well. But not to Bastow.

"For me it's a little chaotic downstairs, and that's the process I go through -- making order out of chaos," she says. "In some way, that's what I do with people's books."

Working with those two sides of the spectrum has helped to give her some balance. She doesn't have to make art for a living, which can drain a bit of joy out of it. But when all the numbers get tiresome, all she has to do is head downstairs, where her heart really is.

While having a mind for accounting and a heart for art might be difficult to keep up, Bastow feels much more fulfilled finally having her own space to do both when their time comes.

TIPS

Artist and accountant Kathy Bastow has a few tips for artists who work from their homes -- or those who would like to start.

Try to keep things visible and organized. Having clear storage bins and drawers and open shelves helps keep everything where you can see it. "I love things visible," she says.

Get some good lighting. It'll help you see the details of what you're doing.

If you're somewhere chilly, get a little heater so the cold weather won't stop your creativity.

Leave out an incomplete project to motivate you to get artistic.

Make the mood. Even if you're not feeling particularly creative, go into your art space and just give yourself permission to practice without feeling like you have to create a masterpiece.

Find somewhere to be. "Everyone should have some little creative space in their home," she says. "A little place for them to do what it is they like."