Creating a Studio Office at Home

Hello Everyone! The last few weeks I have been busy creating a work space for my daughter, who is an architect student at university. She was needing to work from home during her summer studio classes that she is taking via online. Normally, the students would have studio spaces with all their tools and supplies to work on campus. Since she is doing her classes online this summer due to Covid-19, we needed to figure out a space for her to store all her supplies and get a new desk area for her to draw, build models and work on her computer. We purchased this drafting table at Wayfair that will raise or angle depending on what she is working on for class. She has a huge portfolio with supplies ranging from cutting and drawing tools, 18 x 24 foam board and various large drawing pads, so she needed some place to store all these items and stay organized. We purchased this vintage storage cabinet at Overstock and it is perfect to store all her supplies and keep organized.

When she was home from college during the closing of university in the spring semester, we shared an office space, which worked well for us since she mainly just needed a desk for her computer. She used an art table in my office and that became her desk space for class. I knew that this would not work well for her during the summer semester since she needed more space to spread out. The only space that made since to utilize for a summer studio was our upstairs bonus room.

We rearranged the space, moved out furniture and added her drafting desk and storage cabinet to create an area that she can take breaks and watch tv or work. We purchased this adorable vintage industrial lamp from Wayfair which gives her some extra light as the space only has one window and a few fan lights up there.

I reupholstered the top of the ottoman and bought an ivory linen sofa cover for the couch. I'm really pleased with how the space turned out and she has already been using it for class these last few weeks. She has a little bistro set up in the corner to eat and a chair to relax in that usually the puppy dog hangs out in and watches her work. She can shut the door for privacy and quiet when she has zoom meetings with her peers and professors. The university and the students have adjusted so well to changing their entire program to an online application. She is so happy with her upstairs studio office and we are so happy to have her home this summer! It's a win-win!

Since we moved her upstairs, I have been remodeling my office space and let me tell you, I'm loving it! I'm almost done with the space and I will take pics to share with you next week. We have also been working on yard projects, the back patio and the shed that needed some love. It's taken longer than normal, just because of shopping for everything from plants, mulch, paint during this pandemic and I imagine it will be a few more weeks until it's finished so that I can share it with you all. The patio was in rough shape so I'm taking my time to get it just right.

As we were making plans for the update to the patio, our neighbor behind us decided to put in a half-court basketball court (I'm talking a poured concrete pad next to our fence line) and a giant play house which is now my new view from my patio. Ugggg! I'm not going to lie, I cried when it happened and I don't cry easily, but since then, we have come up with some ways to hide the basketball goal. I'm still working on solutions to hide the play equipment as it sticks up about 6 feet above my already 6 foot fence line. C'est la vie! We already had plans to move but our house building has been put on hold a couple times already this year and I'm starting to loose patience due to the whole basketball court thang! For now, I'm just reminding myself to be grateful and not stress too much about things I can't control but Lord, it's challenging sometimes! I'm wondering if any of you have had something like that happen and how did you deal with it? I would love to hear you're stories if you want to share in the comments below!

I'm excited for all the possibilities to make the yard more private and to achieve better sight lines but the money that will have to be spent to accomplish it will definitely hurt my budget! Sanity or budget? Hmmmm......stay tuned! LOL!