It’s fairly common among the craft blogging community for people to post pictures of their studios on their blogs. Jenny of allsorts recently did it. Now, my studio is nothing like hers (first of all, mine is geared towards scrapbooking, and the sewing machine only comes out once in a while) but it’s mine and I love it, mostly because I created it all by myself.
First, some background. Our house has what’s called a walk-out basement. Which simply means it’s a house built on a little hill, so that one walks in the front door at ground level (well, okay, we do have 3 steps) and then goes down into the basement in order to walk out the back door. It’s a really nice feature, because it means our basement is only half underground. At the back of the house, the basement is actually at ground level. And that’s where my studio is:
A magnet board for ideas and inspiration (above), and a work in progress (below):
When we had our daughters, and I decided to work from home to be able to spend more time with them, the basement became more of a pressing issue. Not only was it cold (and ugly!) it was not very safe for a toddler and preschooler. I set up a painting easel and a few area rugs on the floor, so they could at least have a place to do messy crafts, but it was not a welcoming space, and I had to be there supervising them – you know, basically keeping them away from the open wires and fibreglass insulation!
So when my youngest was one, we took the plunge and had the basement completely developed, which was a MASSIVE undertaking! I wasn’t working full-time, which enabled me to take on the project manager role. It’s such a big job to do a major renovation, and even though we had a general contractor to manage the job (with a site manager assigned specifically to us), there was so much to do as homeowners, that it was nice for me to be around all the time when small decisions had to be made or major deliveries had to be accepted or inspections had to be signed off. And there were so many of them! The architect’s plans would call for a half-wall here, but when they framed it in it just felt wrong, so they needed our input on whether to keep it or knock it down. The bathroom tiles arrived, but the tiler didn’t know if we wanted them arranged geometrically or in a random pattern. The pulls we’d chosen for the custom cabinetry in the entertainment room were too small…the list went on and on. And although our contractor was top-notch and there weren’t any major glitches, it was still an intensive, exciting, frustrating, expensive and in the end extremely rewarding experience. Here’s a glimpse of how my studio (and the rest of our basement reno) came to be:
The ‘before picture’ (above) and a snap of the basement during framing (below):
This is the ‘almost finished’ stage – you can really appreciate the walkout basement in this picture (my studio is in the area on the right):
Below is the exact spot where my studio is now:
In the end, we absolutely love our basement, and I have a beautiful studio for making crafts. We love the basement so much that I’ve often joked I’d like to move down there and leave the rest of the house!
Are you thinking about a renovation? Be sure you check out the Royale Reno-Cation contest
– you could win money towards your renovation and then a much-needed spa vacation afterwards. Perfect!
oh my…and I really did think that my studio was all that and a box of chocolates! My studio is organized but full of colour and chaos…I quilt and knit and dabble in scrapbooking,I’m constantly coming up with new projects to start…I decided that it would be a really cool thing to make fabric bookmarks that the librarian could sell at my daughters school book fair…on the upside of that I will get rid of a bunch of scraps that I didn’t have the heart to throw away…on the downside my studio always looks like a raft of otters has flown through it!! Thanks Kath for showing me that there is hope and that I too, can one day ~ do you hear the words coming out of my mouth?Who am I kidding-I wouldn’t know what to do without my comfortable chaos….
Okay, how cute is that little baby in pink shoes & a diaper?!?
I love your basement particularly your studio (can I come & live in your basement too??). I’m not that creative but what I just love is the organizational aspect of it. A place for everything!!
And can I say that I am totally jealous that you even have a basement. They are not very common out here in LA. Honestly, I feel like our house has reached critical capacity….there’s just nowhere else for stuff to go!!
Wow! Beautiful space and SO neat for a functioning craft area. Also, cute little blondie baby 😉