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We’re pretty excited to show you our studio reveal today.
If you’ve been following along for a while, you know that we planned to have three bedrooms upstairs, where we’re all residing for now. It’s a smaller home circa 1976 and a complete rehab, with plans for the basement, and an eventual addition. So our kiddos are all sharing a room at first. Small spaces need to work hard, and since we work from home, we knew we needed a hybrid space of sorts to serve a plethora of needs.
This will eventually be our youngest’s bedroom. But when we first moved in, we almost changed our minds and went for the separate spaces thing. After some debate, we decided just go with it on the shared spaces front, and have absolutely no regrets. People ask for updates often, and the kids have actually loved sharing their room. We think that with a transition as big as the one we went through this past year, they actually preferred it.
As soon as we put what we now refer to our very own studio space together, they came home from school that afternoon and immediately placed their backpacks in their own spots. Then they quietly got to work doing whatever it was that they needed to do in the homework spectrum. It’s a great set up where Jamin and I can rotate between all three children and any immediate needs they have.
To say we were humored, would be an understatement. I found that the old adage I clung to in our homeschool days are true… kids crave structure and a space to call their own especially when they work. After all of this upheaval, they almost breathed a sigh of relief when it was finito this fall. They were the two spaces we concentrated on immediately, to get them settled. Then I took my time putting the polishing touches throughout the holidays. While I miss our old homeschool space, we couldn’t be happier to have this new little hybrid area for the kiddos.
And our makeshift office as well, when they’re at school and we’re pulling our own office hours.
A literal studio was born.
A space where we do a little of everything from math homework, to whipping up our latest project for a client… and everything in between.
We knew we needed pieces that could work hard for us, and serve a lot of purposes all at once.
So we brought in our old desks from our homeschool space, and gave them a fresh coat of paint. I was sad to see the red go, but also craved something simpler in the color spectrum since we brought in our rug from our old office. Also, one of them suffered a small casualty in the form of a huge scratch in the move, so a fresh coat of paint was called for.
One of the biggest changes you may spy is that we shiplapped our ceilings throughout the house. It was a big DIY and totally worth it in the end. Check out our how to, here.
We brought in some of the kiddos’ own artwork over each desk and love the sweet unique touch it brings from our fave little artists. We initially planned for shelves, but decided for a simpler approach in the end due to a new configuration.
We accented with our very favorite vintage pieces, and a few fresh finds.
You may notice an old friend above the space. It’s a great Ebay find from Europe and I wasn’t parting with it when we moved from our old house. Sorry not sorry. Chances are, Malone will want something different when we move him in, ;} but we have a while. We’d initially planned to use this chandelier, but even after measuring found it too large for the space when it arrived.
Instead, we can’t wait to find the perfect home for it in our basement overhaul… coming soon.
I think the biggest challenge, as with all hardworking spaces, is finding a nice balance between functional and pretty. Places to store all the much-needed writing utensils, our own home library, and crafting supplies can quickly become a hot mess. And that may be the biggest understatement of the century. We have the help of lots of clever storage solutions, along with a few large pieces like this shelf, our blue piece {below}, and the hall linen closet which is our own makeshift storage for now.
Here’s a quick photo I nabbed in the beginning of our demo process.
And how it looks now.
We brought in some {much needed} comfy chairs for the new workspace. And while we had different plans in the beginning, it’s so funny to see how design plans can evolve over time. We soon realized we would need three desks for all of us to alternate between… particularly with homework in the afternoons. We didn’t initially plan on using our gold desk anywhere and we’re so glad we brought it into the space for both storage, and a useful worktop. It received a facelift and simplified finish when it was sanded down and easy coats of spray paint were applied.
We have a full how to for our gold/glass desk here.
And this awesome X-design Etagere bookcase as well… for a lot of extra storage.
I store the kids extra school papers and tests for each semester in this little makeshift mailbox, available here in our studio. It’s my key to not letting all of the papers and all of the things drive us crazy. We simply clean it out at the end of each semester and either store it away in their memories boxes, or recycle.
Read all about how to make your own bookends, here.
A tutorial for easy crates/drawers here.
We simply placed them on felt, and slide them in and out as needed. It’s a great little design to place in front of the window, without completely bulking up the space. Storage for the win.
Of course it wouldn’t be one of our spaces without a touch of our own pillows and fabrics. And we loved bringing in some barn doors for a lot of character and extra space… more on that below.
I loved whipping up some simple panels throughout our home to show off our pretty trim and windows. We’re a big let-in-all-the-light kinda fam, so these are right up our alley.
I whipped some up with this fabulous fabric from Online Fabric Store. They’re our staple go-to source for all things fabric. This is a nice, thick linen, and adds enough privacy without being too sheer. They kiss the floor, and it’s the perfect touch of warmth for the space. I kept it simple and uniform throughout the home so it looks nice from the front of our house, and they’ll be versatile for later use down the line.
It added great character to the space without covering that beautiful trim we love so much and our new windows from Window World.
You may notice a few oldies but goodies throughout the space. This blue crate {a flea market find} houses extra books and lots of pillows for floor sitting, reading sessions and everything in between.
Our rugs are overstock {woven} and eBay {kilim}
More of the kids art, and sweet keepsakes line our shelves.
We used simple things like baskets and big jars to hold important pieces we need… a plethora of supplies and books galore.
You may notice our blue piece making a nice little return, this time with some new hardware. I stumbled across some in the clearance section of Anthro, and swooned all over the place.
It’s amazing to me how putting a house back together is a whole lot of working within your restrictions. It feels like cleverly placing puzzle pieces together. Each piece influences another, and they’re all related. They come together for the big picture.
One of the things we wanted, was to move the vent off the staircase so we would have more wall space available. As you may remember, that didn’t quite work out the way we wanted with our fabulous HVAC crew, as the roofline was too tight above for us to drop it in from the ceiling. They tried and we held our breath and waited but to no avail, it was a no go. The path of the main vent on the staircase was in the bottom part of this bookshelf. We were going to lose the bookshelf if the vent replacement worked when we re-routed it to the ceiling. Secretly, I kind of wanted to keep it, so when it wasn’t possible, we weren’t devastated.
We were honestly just fine with it.
So we compromised by doing prettier vent covers to add a little character – stay tuned for this hallway revamp – I’m ready to add some final pieces to the upstairs and our own bedroom, for sure!
Slowly but surely.
And incorporated the vent covers throughout the house with these beautiful pieces. It’s all in the details.
And in the meantime, {back to the space on the other side of the wall….} we added some trim for more detail, and embraced what we have.
Sometimes, in the world of rehabs… its nice to find that compromise.
A lot of this rehab, was being clever with the use of space.
One of the big changes we made, was knocking out the wall between two closets that backed up to one another, to create one larger walk through. It’s incredible what a big game changer a seemingly small change could make.
We were thrilled to install these beautiful Pergo hardwoods throughout the home for a gorgeous, classic feel. It helped create a uniform flow between each room.
Paint colors used throughout our home:
- PURE WHITE {HGSW4006}: trim, some ceilings, and our main cabinets.
- SAND DOLLAR {HGSW3117} on our kitchen island.
- NEBULOUS WHITE {HGSW4057}: On our walls
- DIVERSE BEIGE {HGSW3086}: A few of our doors for a nice deeper grey, and accent colors throughout the home.
- SWIMMING {HGSW1327}: The blue you spy throughout the rest of the home, on the ceilings + some walls
We love the way the two spaces link together to the kiddos’ shared space.
Eventually it will be the boys’ rooms on each side, and they will share the walkthrough closet.
We love the transition of colors from room to room – and our barn doors which actually afforded us more space in between. We loved the hardware we used from Artisan Hardware – a true fave of ours that we keep coming back to, again and again.
Be sure to read more about how we built our barn doors here! {We have another tutorial here.}
You can find a how to for this artwork here. We love the way it found a happy home in a new spot for the room.
And this great little pouf for more much-needed sitting space.
The lamps on each desk are perfect for the space. They have these pretty edison bulbs that put off a generous warm glow. They also have a classic mixed with quirky feel, which was perfect for our space and the general vibe.
And that wraps up our little tour and studio redo for our home.
Such a hardworking space that we’re glad we stuck with. It’s made a huge difference in how things feel in the home.
As always, let us know if you have any questions. Have an inspired day!
:: Some products in this post have been provided through our partnership with various brands. We only put products in our home that we personally stand behind and would recommend to our own moms. All opinions are 100% ours. Please read our full disclosure pertaining to partnerships here :: ::
Kelly says
Beautiful! I love how you are making the space work for you! We have been thinking of turning our sunroom into a similar space with a desk for our computer and a work table or two for the kids (please get the papers/markers/crayons/play-doh off my floor!). I was worried it would look odd to have so many desks in one room, but it looks so great in your room! This may be a silly question since I am frequently behind the times when it comes to technology, but….where did you hide your CPU? I would love a cleaner look with our office equipment instead of clunky machinery sitting around. Congrats on your move and your new design business! Hope it’s going great!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Hey Kelly! Thank you so very much for your sweet words and support! Are you talking about my computer tower? If that’s the case, Macs don’t come with one. At least this one doesn’t, so it’s a big benefit to going with this model. It’s just the screen and keyboard/mouse. Our wireless hub thingy {also not with it on technology ;}} is downstairs behind our TV alcove, and our printer is currently in our bedroom, but we have a plan for it also that involves a shelf in a closet because I hate clutter and how dusty it can get on the floor with our dogs. I hope this helps! ;}
Jenna says
Gorgeous! Love the rug and how you’re using the space. You guys are so clever and I adore your approach to a realistic approachable home.
Rachel says
Such smart thinking with the layout. That closet blows my mind. I just love your approach to everything from color to application. Unique doesn’t begin to cover it!
Stephanie says
That extra office/studio room looks great!
And I love all of your area rugs! They’re so bold and fun!
http://aneducationindomestication.com
Kirsten says
I’m new to your blog. I love those desks! Where did you get them? Such a nice space to work!
Annette says
I love your rehabbed space but I want to say how I told my kids I failed them as a parent for giving them their own spaces growing up. Too much space. So much so that they didn’t ever have to connect, or share, or complain or even put the old tape down the middle of the room to put up your “fake” walls and greatest was the kid who had the door on his side of the tape! Haha! Also I’m sure there were some midnight tales that could have been shared somewhere along the line! So… share. It won’t kill them and might even build great relationships in the meantime!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Hey! Thank you for the reminder. I think sometimes we get caught up in the “societal norm” and I end up feeling guilty… or in a rush to finish our house so they can all spread out. In all honesty, it’s really great for them right now. I know they will want more privacy the older they get and rightfully so… but they really do enjoy it. ;} So thank you for the reminder.
Diane@InMyOwnStyle says
What a wonderful space to create and work in. So colorful…I love everything!
ashley @ the handmade home says
Thank you so much Diane! ;} You’re too sweet.
Bonnie says
Ashley, you and Jasmin have knocked it out of the park. I am always amazed at your use of color and creativity. Your studio space is perfect. I can see why the children and yourselves enjoy working in that space. Thanks so much for sharing!