Studio Construction

My poor little studio has undergone many changes over the years.  I started out in a corner of our walk-out basement with just a few shelves of wool and a couple of baskets of patterns. As the years went on, we expanded that space so it was larger and walled off from the rest of the family room space and then finally, rug hooking took over most of it.  I've had classes and open houses and allowed shoppers to come shop by appointment.  But as I accumulated more and more merchandise and traveled to teach at workshops and camps, my studio truly turned into more of a work/storage space and less of a "shopping" space. 

Right now I can't even bring myself to post a picture of my studio because it has been overtaken with bolts of wool, rolls of foundation cloth, shelves and drawers of patterns, and merchandise stacked up to be packed for the next show.  I have longed for a place that can be my "store," so people can come and shop and put their hands on all this wonderful wool that I have to offer.  A place that I can keep merchandise displayed and it won't get moved or packed up because it is "pattern drawing day."

But good news is coming!  Ken and I have been dreaming of turning our little three-season room (breezeway) into a little rug hooking shop and now it will become a reality!

 So much was needed to be done!  New windows, new flooring, new electrical, adding insulation and siding and heating vents.  Raising the ceiling and painting.  Ken has decided to tackle most of it himself.  You probably know how much we travel so it has taken a while....but we think it should be operational this summer.  Fingers crossed!

I've taken some pictures of the progress so here they are:

 Just about a year ago, Ken started to remove the drop ceiling.  He also started replacing the windows.

Drop ceiling removed and new studs put in.  New electrical wiring, new insulation, and dry wall going up.

New dry wall was installed and the original knotty pine paneling was put back up.

Insulation and dry wall goes on the raised ceiling space.  The old siding on our house was kind of cool but not in good condition to leave it exposed.

Ceiling is drywalled and new lighting is functional.

New pine paneling is going up over the old siding.  Ken experimented with covering the brick but it didn't work out to his satisfaction so now our plan is to mortar wash the brick to make it looked old and reclaimed.

Ken did a little Christmas decorating in his construction zone...haha!

 We were inspired by a friend's wood paneled ceiling so Ken has installed shiplap on the ceiling.

Progress is made...he had to cut around all the ceiling beams and lights!

 He's almost finished!  You can see he uses a scaffold to reach the high spots...and you can see all our junky treasures piled up during the construction. Some of that stuff has got to go!
We will white-wash the pine paneling to give it a light, airy look.

So, you see, slowly but surely Ken is getting things done.  There is still painting to be done but we have to wait for the heat to be installed....coming in 2 weeks!  And then perhaps the flooring is next.  Whew!