More Cottage Studio Progress Photos

T hings are moving along in the studio and I'm really excited about some of the changes that have taken place in the last month. I will admit, I did not originally plan to dramatically change the studio as much as we have. Originally, I wanted to just paint the walls and make a couple of important pieces of furniture. I wanted to quickly get to what I've been been dreaming of doing for a very long time - crafting for a living.

However, when I was working on the studio floor a few weeks ago, I was looking around the space and I started thinking. {Hubs always holds his breath a little when I "start thinking"...} I started thinking about how this little studio space has so much potential. I started thinking about how I wasn't sure anymore about the robin's egg blue paint color on the walls {it didn't seem as I started thinking it's now or never. cheery with the arrival of fall and darker weather as it did in the spring and summer}. I started thinking about how much I love the color scheme in the kitchen {white, cream, red, and dark brown} and how I wished I could use the same palette in the studio. I started thinking about how I wanted to use more red in the studio because, well, I'm addicted to the color red. And finally, I started thinking about when I finally get busy crafting, I won't want - or won't be able to - take the time to tear apart the studio again at a later date to do all the things I wish I would have done to begin with. I started thinking it's now or never.

So I devised a new plan and moved forward. First, we changed the color of walls to the same color we've used in the rest of the house - Valspar's Malted Milk in an eggshell finish.


Then we attacked the door and windows with nice, wide farmhouse style trim. Though we still have the french sliders to trim out, I think the studio is looking more like a studio that belongs at Twice Remembered. Those little windows just sing now! {I've always said that a window without trim is like a face without eyebrows!}



I wanted to really beef up the door at the top of the steps. Actually, there was an unsightly boo-boo that I was looking to cover up somehow. The landing there will be a pretty special place when we are finished - lots of plans for that little area. The red mirror in the photo will not be in the room. It's just being stored in the studio at the moment.


I bought a sparkly baby chandelier to hang right here above the door...


Another major focal element that we've added is 8 foot tall beadboard on one of the walls. I would love to do the whole room, but our budget won't allow it, unfortunately. Even so, I think just one wall of beadboard goes a long way in adding cottage charm to a space. We added wooden brackets and will be installing a long shelf the whole way across the top of the beadboard.

I spray painted the brackets with an oil rubbed bronze spray paint {I got the idea after the brackets were already installed, thus the overspray.} I love the rich, dark brown of this shade - just what I was looking for!


We used wooden beadboard panels {4' X 8'}. It is somewhat rough to the touch to begin with but after a little sanding, it's a lot smoother.


The beadboard will be primed well and painted a nice, crisp white. The shelf that will go above it will be the same dark brown that the brackets are painted. And I have big plans for the wall space above the beadboard!



We've had this pine armoire for about 13 years and at one point was going to put it in a yard sale. It ended up in the garage and we instead used it for storage. I decided to dig it out for the studio, but it needed some major work first...namely, some additional trim {we still have a little to add} and a top so that I could sit things on it.


I think in the second photo from the top, you can better see the nice top hubs added to the armoire, but here is what the back now looks like. Impressive, huh? The back will go against the wall, of course, at the bottom of the steps.


And here is bit of a side view along with a view of the french sliders that need trim.


I have several small studio projects lined up and one includes creating a huge piece of art from this piece of plywood to sit on top of the armoire. The wall across from the beadboard wall needs something tall to balance it out visually and make the ceiling height seem proportionate.


Oh, and there will be more red!


I can finally say that we've put a little beadboard up in the kitchen. This is the door that leads into my studio. My heart is telling me to paint this door and all the main doors in the house red, but I don't know...{I know I've already asked for opinions on this in the past - I thought I decided I'd paint it/them white, but why am I hesitating? Why does white seem too safe for Twice Remembered?}




I hope you've enjoyed these progress photos as much as I enjoy sharing them with you. There is still so much to do but everyday puts me a little closer to being finished!

By the way, do you Twitter? If so, you can follow my progress as I tweet throughout the day about the projects I'm working on. If you're not into signing up for Twitter, you can still see my Twitter updates there to the right of my blog page.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

P.S. I'm sorry about the poor photo quality of many of my pictures as of late. My photo editing software {what makes my pictures purdy} is on my studio computer, which has been unplugged and removed for a few weeks now. I'm using an online editor on a different computer which seems to distort the photos after I edit and save them.