Some Exciting News- A New Workshop!

      If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember several posts over the last three years where I've prattled on about how much I would sincerely love to have a workshop. You can see from my portfolio that I work through a pretty large quantity of furniture every month. Currently, all that furniture has to get hauled up onto the driveway, through the basement hatchway, and then back into the basement storage room until it finds a new home. The other option is to work on the furniture in the basement, where the ceiling is low, the lighting is bad, and I can't sand or photograph. It's a pretty sucky situation, but that's about to change!
        Behind our house we have an oversized 19 x 27 garage with 10 ft ceilings and lots of natural light. It's a beautiful structure, but my husband got first dibs on it back when we first bought the house, and he's been using it as a music studio, complete with a grand piano. WELL- Early this fall we're going to be having a two story 18 x 24 studio built in our backyard. We just happen to find this amazing local company that builds the most wonderful buildings, and it's absolutely perfect for my husband's music studio. And that means that I'll be getting the giant garage as my workshop!!! It works well for everyone. I need a more industrial space, the garage doors lend themselves to moving large pieces in and out. My husband needs a more finished space that feels comfortable and professional. Can you tell I'm just bursting with excitement!
        So I've been spending some blissful time with a glass of wine and some colored pencils and planning out how I'll reformat the garage into my workshop. I want the space to serve both as a work area and as a showroom/salesspace/girl hangout place, so I'm looking at ways to make the room multifunctional and attractive. I thought you'd like to see a couple of my schematics, wish list, and inspiration. We're hoping to have everything set and settled before 2014. Hurray!

Here's the pre-made sample of the 18 x 24 structure. We've modified our design slightly, raising the roof two feet to have a full upstairs, re arranging to windows for more light, and doing a regular door and two windows in the front instead of the shed door. What do you think? Cute right!

And here's the building that will be my workshop. Thankfully, that silly basketball hoop isn't there anymore. We're going to be re-paining to building white with black trim as well.

           Here's the floor plan I've created. The bottom section of the sheet is the front of the workshop

I've always loved black window trim, and I'll be painting all the trim black, just like this elegant room. 

I've amassed quite a collection of interesting small pieces, artwork and accessories, that will be for sale in the workshop. I'm going to display them on long white shelves just like in this beautiful room.

I really like how neat and tidy this workspace feels, and I have an antique ladder that I definitely want to integrate into the space.

I have an antique desk, made by a previous owner of our house, that's really folky and unique. I'm going to float it in the middle of the room with a couple great stools like these above and use it as a work station.

I'm toying with the idea of adding wainscoting to the space, to warm it up a bit. This room is so stunning. 

I've wanted an antique store counter for as long as I've been an antiquer. I've never before had a spot where one would fit though. I'm determine to buy one for the workshop. This is a stunning example.

Just last month we painted the cement floor in a big black and white checkerboard. It was fun to do and looks awesome, so that will be staying when I take over the space. 

No workspace is complete without some beautiful living plants. Fiddleleafs are by far my favorite. 

I would love to have two or three gorgeous vintage style lamps like this 

For the color scheme I'm thinking pure white for the ceiling, with black window trim, and possibly black doors. I really like this neutral mocha-y color for the walls.