Tag: Studio

Making Room for Baby

Among all of the congratulations (thank you!), one question is popping up repeatedly. How are we going to make room for another baby? After all, our hundred-year-old bungalow is just 1400 square feet, and I run my stationery business out of it.

My sweet, colorful, lovely little studio is going to move into the scary basement. I’ll miss you, studio!

I’ll be honest. I’m pretty sensitive to my surroundings, so working in our unfinished basement is going to be a bit depressing. Plus I scare easily and I think my assistant Erika might too, and I can see us both being weirded out by spending time down there. It IS a little spooky, but we don’t have any other options.

Eventually Brandon and I would like to put up drywall and make the lower level feel like the rest of our home, but we don’t have the budget right now. We’ll clean it up and arrange things as best we can, but I fear it will still be icky.

*Update*
I mentioned the basement walls in a couple of the comments below, but here is a photo. Unpaintable, bizarre crackled tiles. No ceiling either, and wires everywhere. Here’s a link to view the photo in a larger size.

My studio will become Eleanor’s new room though, and that will make me happy. It’s going to be adorable! And the room (12×12) feels so much bigger than her current space (7×14 with sloped ceilings), so that will be nice for her. The nursery will stay a nursery since it works really well as such. I do plan to make at least a few changes though, regardless of gender. I want the new baby to have a look of his/her own.

Now all of this puts greater urgency on #9 of my 30 Before Thirty list: Clean out the basement. All of this shuffling of space hinges on getting it ready, and I am SO not looking forward to that task.

August 19, 2010
The Library Alcove’s New Storage

As my shop (Pink Loves Brown) has grown, so too has my need for more storage. The library’s alcove is right outside of my studio, so it’s a perfect place to store some of my inventory and supplies.

The alcove used to be more pared down and it looked nice, but it didn’t really serve any function. I put four bookshelves with doors together in an ‘L’ shape, and it’s a much better use of space. The unit in the corner is only half-accessible, but it’s working out just fine.

The knobs on the doors were from Anthropologie. I bought them when we moved in for my closet before we decided to use sliding doors, but they were so pretty that I decided keep them. I had never found the right spot for them until now.

Also, note that I finally found an Orla Kiely pitcher (that I’m using as a vase) in green! I thought it was going to be yellow from the photos I had seen, but the green is nice.

And because I know someone will ask if I don’t source them… Those are dried billy buttons in the vase. I bought two big bunches a while back, and they’re always showing up in various spots all around the house.

March 9, 2009
A Little Pick-Me-Up

Jessica (of {BLACK. WHITE. YELLOW.} fame) was kind enough to pick up an Orla Kiely pitcher for me when she spotted one all by its lonesome at Target. She knew that the pitcher was the one item that I had been most looking forward to in the Orla collection, and I was having trouble finding it. How thoughtful of her!

I had been planning to use the pitcher as a vase all along, so I picked up some asters and kermits when I was out running errands today. So cheery.

Oh, and I highly recommend checking out The Pioneer Woman’s Photoshop Actions if you like the faded look of the photo above. I used the “Seventies” action on that one, but they’re all pretty amazing.

March 6, 2009
Studio Tour!

I spent the weekend tidying up my studio, and I realized I had never posted proper ‘after’ pictures. I’ve shown little snippets here and there, but never the whole thing. Time to remedy that, yes?

The studio is where I package up all of the orders for my shop (Pink Loves Brown). The room may not always be this tidy, but it usually stays fairly neat because everything has a place. That makes my little perfectionist heart happy.

It looked like this originally (eek). Brandon and I put in the bamboo floor ourselves, painted (walls, ceiling, and trim), installed new closet doors, and switched out the ceiling fixture. I made the curtains out of Moda’s uptown “mom’s couch” fabric.

Here’s the view in from the doorway.

This is what I refer to as “the shipping center”. It’s my least favorite side of the room (all of the open storage looks a little cluttered), but it’s very functional and necessary.

I’ve shown this photo of my order sorting process before, but here it is again. I put patterned paper along the back of a shoe cubby from Target.

Here’s the underside of the table with all of the shipping boxes and supplies. The white shelves are also from Target.

I store envelopes for my cards and stationery along the open shelves of my IKEA VÄRDE kitchen island. Most of my crafty supplies are inside the closet. I removed the clothing rail that was originally in there and I assembled shelving from The Container Store to hold everything.

Here’s a peek inside.

I store some extra envelopes and my ironing board behind the door. You can also see a little of my photo shoot setup along the right (which I’ve shown before) tucked into the funny little alcove there. I store extra shipping boxes under that table.

Here’s another view. Those suitcases along the top of the bookcase are for sale in my shop.

So there you have it. My studio!

October 27, 2008
Studio Floor, Finished

The studio looks good, even while empty! It’s amazing how much difference some molding can make – the new bamboo floor looks sharp.

Kim (Four Beds Two Baths) and Raya (The Paper Pony) are installing wood floors right now too… I’m looking forward to seeing their finished results!

October 11, 2007
The Studio Has a Floor
We installed the bamboo flooring this weekend in the studio!

Day 1
We emptied the room, shoving everything into the library and future guest room. Brandon ripped out all of the carpeting, pulled up the baseboards, and removed all of the staples and carpet tack strips from the subfloor.

An underlayment had to be rolled out and trimmed to size before the actual flooring could go in. One should use a sharp blade to cut through the material. One should also exercise caution when dealing with sharp blades.

Day 2
We started working around 10:00. Two hours later, it seemed we had barely made any progress.

The first few rows are the most time-consuming. There’s a lot of measuring and planning to center the planks, and they don’t stay together very well in the beginning. Another three hours later, and we were much further along.

By 6:30, we were done! Yes, the bamboo floor took a mere eight or nine hours of hard, hard work (we are so tired).

We still need to:
- measure for the baseboards
- buy the baseboards
- paint the closet and alcove (and do touch-ups around the room)
- install the baseboards
- prime and paint the baseboards
- clean up
- move the furniture back in
- move everything else back in
October 7, 2007