#studio progress

It's unbelievable how much progress can happen in just three weeks! The construction crew has worked tirelessly to get the studio done, and I'm constantly hearing from friends how shocked they are at how fast the studio has come together.  Having any renovation or new build move efficiently is solely based on the crew you hire and the amount of work you're willing to devote to the project.  Being a furniture painter and designer, I've naturally got a great deal invested in my own personal spaces!

I wanted the kitchen and really the studio as a whole to be a testament to my work as a painter and designer.  I opted to paint the kitchen and bathroom cabinets myself, along with the sliding barn door. The color choices in the main space are entirely neutral, but in contrasting shades and textures, allowing everything to coordinate while still providing a 'blank slate' for the changing pieces of furniture that will make their way through the doors each week. On the exterior, the path leading to the studio is currently being finished. It's probably the most important part of the construction process, since I can't really bring any furniture or clients in until the path is complete.

It's unbelievable how much progress can happen in just three weeks! The construction crew has worked tirelessly to get the studio done, and I'm constantly hearing from friends how shocked they are at how fast the studio has come together.  Having any renovation or new build move efficiently is solely based on the crew you hire and the amount of work you're willing to devote to the project.  Being a furniture painter and designer, I've naturally got a great deal invested in my own personal spaces!

I wanted the kitchen and really the studio as a whole to be a testament to my work as a painter and designer.  I opted to paint the kitchen and bathroom cabinets myself, along with the sliding barn door. The color choices in the main space are entirely neutral, but in contrasting shades and textures, allowing everything to coordinate while still providing a 'blank slate' for the changing pieces of furniture that will make their way through the doors each week. On the exterior, the path leading to the studio is currently being finished. It's probably the most important part of the construction process, since I can't really bring any furniture or clients in until the path is complete.

It's incredible how much progress can happen in just three weeks! The construction crew has worked tirelessly to get the studio done, and I'm constantly hearing from friends how shocked they are at how fast the studio has come together.  Having any renovation or new build move efficiently is solely based on the crew you hire and the amount of work you're willing to devote to the project.  Being a furniture painter and designer, I've naturally got a great deal invested in my own personal spaces!

I wanted the kitchen and really the studio as a whole to be a testament to my work as a painter and designer.  I opted to paint the kitchen and bathroom cabinets myself, along with the sliding barn door. The color choices in the main space are entirely neutral, but in contrasting shades and textures, allowing everything to coordinate while still providing a 'blank slate' for the changing pieces of furniture that will make their way through the doors each week. On the exterior, the path leading to the studio is currently being finished. It's probably the most important part of the construction process, since I can't really bring any furniture or clients in until the path is complete.

It's incredible how much progress can happen in just three weeks! The construction crew has worked tirelessly to get the studio done, and I'm constantly hearing from friends how shocked they are at how fast the studio has come together.  Having any renovation or new build move efficiently is solely based on the crew you hire and the amount of work you're willing to invest in the project.  Being a furniture painter and designer, I've got a great deal invested in my own personal spaces.

I wanted the kitchen and really the studio as a whole to be a testament to my work as a painter and designer.  I opted to paint the kitchen and bathroom cabinets myself, along with the sliding barn door. The color choices in the main space are entirely neutral, but in contrasting shades and textures, allowing everything to coordinate while still providing a 'blank slate' for the changing pieces of furniture that will make their way through the doors each week. On the exterior, the path leading to the studio is currently being finished. It's probably the most important part of the construction process, since I can't really bring any furniture or clients in until the path is complete.

It's nothing short of incredible what can happen in one week! Since the last time I posted, the studio was insulated, drywall was hung, mudded, taped and sanded, the kitchen and bathroom cabinets were installed, and a massive ditch was dug surrounding our entire lot in order to house the electrical and plumbing lines. Just in case you're not familiar with what all this looks like, I included a series of photos taken over the last week. [see below!]

As of this morning, the plumbing pipes were set, the gigantic ditch is currently being filled in [thank goodness!], all the wood trim was installed, and [hopefully!] the tile guy is on his way to work his magic. Tomorrow, the painters are going to get cracking on the interior and exterior, so by the start of next week, things will start to look really polished!

At the rate we're going, we could easily be done in the next week and a half, but unfortunately countertops seem to take FOREVER, so they'll likely not get installed until the first week of May, which means the backsplash can't be installed until then, the vent hood can't be hung, and all the last finishing touch ups will have to wait. Sigh.

I'm so excited to take you on my backyard studio construction adventure! If you're a friend of mine, there's a good chance you've already witnessed the rapid progression of my studio via Instagram and Facebook. I've taken photos every day of the progress. When I went to grab a series of them for this post, I was so thankful for my trigger happy tendencies! It's so satisfying to scroll through and see the progression!

Construction began in the third week of March and now in the first week of April, the rough ins for plumbing and electrical are done, the windows and doors are all in, the roof is on and all inspections are approved! From this point forward, all the 'pretty' things will begin: the siding is being delivered today and will be installed tomorrow. The drywall will hopefully go up as early as this Saturday. At this point the space will begin to feel finished and my interior design and painting chops will come into full swing! Next, I'll share some of the interior planning I've done so far, and some of the details I've already ordered for the space!

March 17th!

Hey friends! I know, it's been a while, but it's about time I get back to posting again. The past six weeks have flown by! I traveled to Iceland [it was incredible and inspiring!], had friends and family visit Atlanta [all the way from Boston, California, the Philippines and Singapore!] and had not one but TWO weekends of birthday celebrations [when you turn the big 3-0, you get to have as many birthday parties as you want!]. I'm still painting furniture, but what's taken up all my time as of late is the construction of my new studio space! It's been in the works for months now, but once the plans were approved by the city, I didn't realize how fast construction would happen! Here are the plans for the studio:

Though I'm predominantly using this as my work studio for painting furniture, working on my design business and teaching classes, I decided to finish it as a guest house, with a fully working kitchen, bathroom and closet. In the future we could use it as a rental, or have an extra space for when friends and family come to stay.