I have a special episode to share with you today all about how my husband and I built my dream studio! We share all our tips for planning and budgeting, how we worked together to get this finished. Thankfully, with some strategy, we did not go into debt over this project! And believe it or not, my husband John had very little construction experience before building this… he learned mostly everything he needed to know through free resources on the internet.
Listen to the episode to hear about the evolution of my studio journey- it has gone through many phases and I share a bit about each one and why we finally decided to take the plunge and build a stand alone studio detached from our house. I’ve shared photos below from each of the different studios I have worked in while living in Tennessee (except the short phase of our bedroom studio). Scroll through and enjoy the journey! Links to the resources John used for construction planning are at the bottom of the post.
Biggest thanks to my husband John for tackling this huge project and working his butt off all last year to get it built! Also so grateful to my parents for gifting us the money we needed to get this project started. And to my patient kids who see every family project as an opportunity to be involved and learn something new!
First studio in Tennessee, rented space in an old school buildingFirst studio in Tennessee, rented space in an old school buildingSecond studio space in Tennessee, the back corner of our guest room (at the time, now we don’t have a guest room)A renovation photo of my third studio in Tennessee, our attic which we transformed into an additional room Completed and in use shot of the attic studio (this is now our bedroom)Attic studio, photo shows the one small flat wall I had to work with! The rest of the walls are pitched and do not allow for hanging paintings Finley working in my attic studio, you can envision the width/size of the roomFirst photo I have of the beginning of my dream studio, after a day of work by the Mennonite guys who laid the cement floor, set the poles and the roofBefore the cement floor was finished, John measuring the walls to order lumberThe studio got to this point before John took over, now the real work begins! Finley working in the studio with John last summer. He was a big help hammering in nails and doing some measuring (really!). River keeping herself occupied by playing trains while John worked on the studio In progress, wrapped and ready for winter weather My finished dream studio! Side view (garage door side is the shop)View from across the gardenShop side with garage doorMe working in the studio before it was finished (drywall up but it wasn’t painted, etc)Inside view with finished wallsInside viewInside viewInside view
