Studio Progress

Wanted to share some photos from our in-progress garage-to-studio conversion.

One of the keys to our decision to buy this house was that we would convert the 1-car garage into a studio for both me (books) and Margarite (sewing & fiber arts). The keys would be climate control and good light to work by.

We worked with a friend and his family's construction company, Will Johnson Building Co. Together we worked out that the most important first steps would be 1). to put in a wall unit A/C & heating unit; 2). to insulate the walls; and 3). to add another window for more natural light.

In the photo above, the window to the left is newly installed and framed -- matching the one on the right which was original to the house. (You can also see some of the 60 holes that we needed to punch in the walls in order to blow in insulation. More on that below.)

And here you can see the A/C & heating unit, which they framed securely into the wall.

And finally, the holes for insulation. It turned out that out of the whole project, patching the holes was going to be the most expensive part. So Margarite & I looked up instructions on This Old House.com, modified them for our particular situation, and stocked up on drywall and joint compound at Lowe's. With practically no prior experience, we're becoming a master & mistress of drywall patching. (Or at least good enough to do the studio wall -- not sure I'd be comfortable doing it in our living room...)

We're tackling them in batches of 15 -- big enough to feel like we're making progress when we finish a batch, but small enough not to be overwhelming. Sure it's taken longer than if we'd paid to have it done, but it's good experience, comparatively cheap, and now we both feel a lot more invested in the work and the space.

We're halfway through the final batch of 15. Then, a little sanding, a little painting, and our dream studio is one giant step closer.

On a totally different note, check out this big guy that was on our lawn when we got home from work a while ago! We'd seen huge luna moths at night at our previous house out in the country, but this was right after work, on our lawn in the middle of town. They are really striking creatures.