Alright y’all. It’s time to come clean. ALL year, we’ve been testing out a blog method where we do a room and THEN show you the goods. But, we have to say – it’s killing us. Not literally, but it just seems to suck the joy out of it for some reason.
And truthfully, we started this blog because we want to bring our friends and family along the journey. Showing you the fully staged ‘after’ photos just doesn’t seem to have the same kind of impact as bringing you along with us each step of the way.
Soon (actually basically with this post) we are going to go back to our old style of honest, up-to-date blogging where we show you our rooms as they actually evolve IRL (Nana, that stands for In Real Life. My Nana reads my blog, you guys.)
We have a few main rooms that we are tackling in the next six months, so we want to feel free to show you the progression – so we can all celebrate the wins together! Some of what we’ll be doing will be ENORMOUS and will mean some mammoth DIYs. So much planning is happening, it’s craziness 🙂
With that all said – There’s quite a transformation happening in our basement. Let me tell you! This has been a long time coming. And this is definitely Part One… of this DIY Studio Space Makeover.
Setting the scene – this whole space consists of three ‘rooms’ that are all connected- the paint studio, the photography/garden room and the laundry room.
Way back when, I decided I wanted to pull down all the walls and turn it into one amazing light filled office space. But then – money and budget and oh-my-goodness it was going to be expensive because it essentially meant pulling down a supporting brick wall and propping up part of our house and ya – it was about four times more money than we were willing to spend on a non-essential project.
It still may happen *some* day – but not this day.
Instead, I decided to use what we had and maximize it for my needs and wants. This part of the makeover focuses on the room where I paint stuff (and sometimes dance and often curse under my breath) – aka the studio.
It started out looking like this.
Note the baby blue walls (what the HECK was I thinking?!?), the big black door, the terrible floors, the bare bulb light and the general ‘just not working’.
As part of our KonMari efforts, both cabinets are EMPTY! Woohoo! But they both need to be given a purpose and a boost in style. Definitely part of the plans 🙂 
And this wall? Just not working anymore. So those are the ‘before’ shots.
Our plans are:
- repaint the walls to brighten it up
- fix up the storm door
- change the lighting
- organize my tools and paint to be more functional
- lay warmer floors
- hang some accessories and draperies to separate this space from the laundry room
- build in some seasonal storage
Oh – and our budget is $500; hopefully less. I have to say our KonMari efforts have really helped this project along.
The first step was to paint that blue a nice crisp white. Our fave white is Jojo Whitewash by PARA Paints. You can also see in this shot that the plastic trim on that el cheapo door is off. It’s because we spray painted it with Krylon’s Stainless Steel. Man! That stuff is awesome! 
After phase one – it looks like this! Infinitely better, but still much to happen. The door was primed and given three coats of Lunenburg by PARA Paints. I love it so much that sometimes I just stare at it. The subtle hint of the blue-green against the white is divine. 
As part of Phase two or Phase three – I want to hang either some shelves or some baskets or something above the peg board. I haven’t quite figured that out yet; but I need a spot to store rollers and paint rags and the like. We’ll see what I find!
I also hung that curtain between the studio and the laundry room. Why? Because it just helps this space feel more cohesive for the moment. We picked up the rod at our local Habitat ReStore for $20 and the curtains were an old set I used to have in our living room. 
Let’s talk about this little cabinet. First – she’s heavy as ALL GET OUT! Like seriously heavy. Also, she is one of the first makeovers I ever did and it shows. It was once dark brown veneer, but my paint job just isn’t holding up to the wear and tear in this work space. I have plans to spiff this cabinet up (again) and finish it in a way that will stand up to a bit more abuse. 
The tried and true pegboard. I’ve got nothing bad to say about it 🙂 I’ve decided to only put my paint stuff on here. It keeps it cohesive and helps to ensure things don’t get misplaced. 
Now, if you take a bit of a step back, you can see how desperately the floors need fixing. They are all stained (we didn’t do it! we swear! It was like that when we moved in) and they are FREEZING cold. The goal is to warm them up so that it’s bearable to stand down here in the winter. We’re thinking plywood floors – but we’re not sure. Any suggestions? We figure ply will be durable enough and that we won’t care if we get paint on it (cuz let’s be real – that’s gonna happen in here! haha)
One thing we did manage was a new light fixture. I found it on Amazon.ca. I was so excited, I bought two of them! I tried a fancy clear bulb, but it didn’t give enough light. So I’ll have to find a better one to suit the industrial style and also illuminate my space. Phase Two, I guess 🙂 
Speaking of Phase Two – not much happened with this wall except for that I tidied it up a bit. The big plans are to hang wall to wall shelves with labeled bins and crates. My aim is to have as few things on the floor as possible. It gets dusty down here and open floors are easier to keep clean! 
Lastly, this wardrobe/cupboard which is empty. Dan is going to help me convert it into something awesome. I’m hoping to turn it into a submission for the Furniture REFRESH for January. Here’s October’s submission. November’s is set for the 5th and it’s something I’m using in my photography area! – so wait for that!
So there you go! Phase One of my DIY studio space makeover. What do you think? Any suggestions for me going forward? Don’t you LOVE the door now?! 🙂
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