My Fabulous Studio!!

The idea of a studio to give me the space to create came about quite suddenly.  My husband and I were discussing how big the shed we were going to build needed to be.  What I thought was sufficient, and what he thought was sufficient were two different things.  I was thinking somewhere along the lines of an 8x12 shed.  Nope, he says-way too small.  More discussion.  Then he says-"Let's make it big enough so you can have a studio. Someplace where you can actually work-you do remember how to do that, don't you?"  I'd spent the last year or so working on this house and getting ready to sell our other house, and oh, did I mention we had two daughters get married 6 months apart?!?  So, I do remember how to work, I just hadn't done much of it lately.  So it was decided that my studio/storage area would be 16x24.  The studio is 16x16 and the storage side is 8x16, and everyone is happy-very happy.  My husband and I actually built it from the ground up.  This is the back corner of the yard we decided it would occupy.

We did a little at a time.

Weekends mostly.  Had a bit of a work stoppage due to our not getting a building permit. Oops!

Our building inspector was very gracious, however, work could not continue until we had that little piece of paper in hand, um, in the window.

The weather was warming up, at this point in the game it was the end of April,2009.  We had to man-handle the 4x8 sheets of Smart Siding.  Not having fun.

We made all the walls, installed the windows and doors, put the smart siding up...then he tore his MCL.  We were at the point of figuring out how to do the roof.  I was not sure we were capable, so his injury made the decision for us; we couldn't do it.  We hired a framer that did alot more work for us after this project, and he finished it up for us.

What a relief!  I was having nightmares of the inspector coming in and telling us we had to tear it down and do it all over! We insulated it, had our electrical stuff installed and had it sheetrocked.  I put down a VCT (vinyl composite tile)   floor from Lowe's-around 70 cents a square foot.

  Our electrician installed 4 recessed lights, a ceiling fan/light and outdoor lights. Oh yeah, lots of outlets for all my machines, lamps, radio, dry vac, drill, sander...air conditioning will keep me cool when it heats up, which we all know will happen way too soon.  I am in Texas after all!  I haven't figured out window treatments yet. My settee is a work in progress, and I'll be painting the cabinet I picked up for storage.

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The wall color is cookie crumb-I think. It's pretty much a non color, at least for me.  I'm afraid if I paint it a "color", it'll affect the light in there.  I think I'll have to keep you in suspense about the interior pictures at the moment.  There's still work/decorating I need to complete before I share.

Grand Total?
After all of our blood, sweat, tears, torn MCL, sore muscles, outsourcing some of the labor and a few choice words....
right around $4,500.
Not too shabby!