House of Brazier Studio Before + After
Finally! I swear I’ve written this already, but this sweet little studio of mine is finally getting the before and after breakdown! When we bought our house, we really bought it for the property. We somehow lucked out with a 1/4 acre just minutes from downtown and have big plans that are taking their sweet, sweet time haha.
There was an additional space on the back of the garage that the previous owner used as their office. It had a door, windows, and minimal electrical– which was perfect because we were planning on using as our gym. But when I found out I no longer had a job to return to while on maternity leave, we immediately decided to turn that into a studio for my brand new business– I basically had two babies at the same time! The equipment moved out and the work began to transform the space into the studio it is now!
We’ll skip the pics with the gym equipment and all of our other storage pieces shoved in here and go right to the blank slate in process! We had concrete floors, awful textured walls and one ugly boob flush mount. Rob smoothed the walls, added recessed cans, new electrical outlets, ripped out the trim and base, removed the wall unit, and we bought a new door that gave me some character and natural light!
Getting smooth walls is such a process! Mud, dry time, then sanding, more mud, more drying, more sanding, more mud, more drying, more sanding— but it’s oh-so-beautiful when it’s done!
Once the mud was finally dry, the floor went in, the trim and base got installed, and the walls got painted! I wanted a fun floor and found this navy patterned vinyl that looks like cement tile and knew it would be durable and easy to clean in the space.
The walls and trim are Sherwin-Williams Snowbound, SW7004.
With the lighting in and freshly-painted walls, the back wall was ready for a mural! I wanted something that made the space a fun, inspiring and creative place to design and knew that tropical leaves would do the trick! I found this amazing banana leaf print and love the way it turned out!
I ordered the pre-pasted wallpaper, so all we needed was a tape measure, step ladder and spray bottle to put it up– with two people it’s actually super simple! Here’s Kate and I installing the wallpaper! Time-lapse for the win!
Ta-da! Then came all of the furniture and organizing and getting things all situated for a functional workspace where everything could be categorized by material and use. There are drawers for fabric and tile samples, cubbies for material samples of all kinds– fabric books, wood samples, metal samples, window coverings, rugs, product catalogs, wallpaper, cabinet hardware, outdoor furniture samples, solid surfaces, tiles, etc– desks for spreading out work space, a sofa, and coffee table. I wanted it to feel inviting and comfortable– and sometimes it’s just nice to sit on a sofa with a laptop instead of a desk!
I anchored the space with a natural fiber area rug and layered a cognac hide rug on top of that. The coffee table is open and keeps things feeling spacious while the navy blue sofa adds my favorite color and contrast! I love the brushed brass accents throughout and the gorgeous fuchsia orchid!
I absolutely love my studio and am so happy with how it turned out! And since I work from home all the time, I wrote these tips to help you if you find yourself in a new work environment! I hope it helps!
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