It's been about six months since we've had anything to share here about home renovations. So, a bit of catching up to do, I suppose. We had a mad dash of searching for houses in June and ended up choosing something that we didn't think we would ever select -- a flipped house. It was not a house that we fell in love with, but it had what we needed (or at least had the space to add whatever we might need), and because all of the underneath bits had just been done, it seemed like the best choice to make, given that we'd spent nearly eight months prior redoing a nearly 90-year-old house.
This house is completely different from the house in Oregon. It doesn't have the built in charm, nor is there anything particularly special about it. The choices that were made by the flipping company were not anything we would have chosen. It is all very gray and white, which was not particularly exciting for two people who just had the opportunity to pick out all the bits for the former house.
Still, it seems a bit unreasonable to come into a just-redone home and start changing things, so we decided that (at least for the most part) we wouldn't do a lot of tearing out and redoing. There have been a few things and will be some additional happenings, but for now, we are trying to take a less-physically-demanding approach and change things like paint, fixtures and so on.
The first thing that we had to get done in the new house though was adding a studio. Having gone over a year without being able to work-work, it was important to be able to get back to business. The house, however, did not have a space that would accommodate this need, so we had to get to work constructing a new space. Fortunately, the yard is plenty large and allows for this to be built.
The work started simply enough, with a pile of cinder block supports.
Soon after, there was a base on which to build the structure.
And, before too long, there was framing happening as a building started to take shape.
Walls soon went into place, along with the framing for the roof.
In what seemed like quite a long time, but was actually quite quick, the building itself was completely enclosed. One of the things that took a bit of searching was finding the front door for the space. The building is technically a garage and was intended to have a rolling garage door (or something similar), but when a pair of old, solid wood doors appeared - as if by magic - on a local site, we knew that they were the perfect bit of old for this new space.
The doors were such a great find and although it took some adjustments in the framing, they were a great fit for the space.
As for the inside of the building, it started out looking like pretty much every unfinished shed ever constructed.
It certainly wasn't a very inspiring space at this point, but it wouldn't take long before things started to come together inside as well. With some very large, 4ft x 6ft free windows found online, we had some natural light flooding in. We also put up drywall and painted the walls a very soft white-pink color (it's actually the same color we painted the office in Oregon - we figured since it was a nice color, why not use it again).
After the walls and windows were dealt with, we had to do window trim, flooring, baseboards, and... figure out something to do with the ceiling. We pondered simply putting drywall on the ceiling too, but we really wanted to do something a bit more special. Initially, we thought we'd let the cross beams show through whatever we ended up doing, but after finding another great free find, we decided to just let the wood speak for itself. I have to say, it is one of my personal favorite things that we've done. It was a LOT of work to get this wood, despite the fact that it was free, but knowing that it came from a 100-year old house that had been torn down, it felt as though it gave it a bit of new life.
Plenty of lighting was installed too, and between the eight LED can lights and the super fun chandelier, the space was all coming together.
Choosing the exterior color was another selection that took a bit of time. We knew we wanted to do something brighter, but didn't want to scare the neighbors too much, so after putting up several paint samples, a choice was made.
It changes a bit in various lighting, but it is most accurately a slightly purple-leaning red. The one issue is that it didn't really go with the exterior color of the main house... but we think we have figured out a way to make it all work together.
The next issue was that it really felt a little too shed-like on the exterior, so we decided to add a bit of a porch to the building. Initially, I thought it would be nice to have a railing around the porch, but then decided that leaving it open made it more accessible from all sides, so, at least for the time being, it will remain open.
Additionally, a dog door was added so that our pup can come and go as she pleases. The space now feels complete and it's a lovely little space to work.
The inside finished off quite nicely as well once all of the furniture and "stuff" was added into the space. It was a little strange to see things we hadn't seen for some time, but after storing and hauling things back and forth, it's great to have things back in a permanent spot.
And, a photo looking the other direction.
The finished space has been a delight to be in! It hasn't had a ton of use quite yet, but with holiday markets approaching, it is definitely getting a lot of attention. It took about 10 weeks total to complete, but we both think it was worth the investment of time and energy. It was a lot of work to complete so quickly, especially having to construct from the ground up, but in the end, it's a lovely space that functions as a great studio space.
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