"Mod Lodge" Studio Nook Complete!

I am SO happy to announce that my studio remodel is finally completed! This project was going to take 5 weeks but ended up taking 4 months, which I know is something one should expect when you do any remodeling but it wasn't the remodel that took the longest time--it was the reupholstering of my two Hollywood Regency chairs. I underestimated the time and expertise it would take to recover these two beauties, but if I HAD known, I probably wouldn't have taken the project on and I learned so much from it and met some wonderful people! Since I've already posted several photos of the earlier process, here are more recent ones of the finished project.

Completed faux trophy wall

Completed wire wall

Here's how the chairs turned out. (Don't look too closely or I'm sure 

you'll find sewing errors:)

Side view of the painted wood base and inset panel.

The finished nook by day

And by night

Studio Remodel-Step 3

Yesterday I finally finished the forest "wallpaper" that I envisioned for my new nook. Also the hardwood floors got refinished, along with patching in new wood over the holes left in the floor from the closet wall. The floor guys used some of our original wood that we still had in the basement (from 1936-the year the house was built!) and some new wood so it could all blend seamlessly. I thought they did a fabulous job! Here are the steps to painting my wall scene:

First, I drew the scene very lightly on the painted wall with water soluble fabric chalk pencil.

Next, I started the long process of painting the trees!

The tops were the most challenging part because I wanted the forest to look

"thicker" towards the top, so I had to plan carefully what branches went where.

Voila! Finished handpainted "forest"

Closeup of the floor--can't even see where the wall used to be.

Studio Remodel-Step 2

We went on vacation while our neighbor cut a hole in my closet. I highly recommend leaving for a few days if you're having construction-or destruction-done on your house. Much more peaceful that way! When we returned home, here's what we saw:

He did a fantastic job so now the next step was painting the room and finding some awesome chairs for the nook. I had a Queen Anne style of chair in mind and I wanted to find them second hand if at all possible, instead of buying new. On First Fridays,  I looked around at alot of flea market shops that we have here in KC...and man, do we have a lot! but I didn't find anything Friday night.
Here's a pic of Gary, my studio assistant, laying on his window perch. He was feeling somewhat displaced and kept wandering around the room howling until I brought his perch in. Talk about a creature of habit.

I decided to paint the nook a really dark slate grey because I have a plan to paint a design in that area with the lighter grey that is the room color. I wanted it to feel very cocoon-like but I also wanted a hit of a bright color so I painted the edge of the wall a bright lime green called "New Lime" by Benjamin Moore. Here's what the nook looked like after painting:

Next up was finding the chairs. After I struck out on finding anything Friday night, I went to another flea market we have here called Urban Mining. That's where I found these awesome red velvet Hollywood Regency chairs! So much for Queen Anne. This is much more me anyway:) I also found these fantastic little faux bois tables at the same place. LOVE Urban Mining! 

Next will be getting the floor redone, recovering the chairs and painting the tables. This is taking alot longer than I thought it would and I'm getting a bit tired of having my desk in the living room 

BUT I think it will definitely be worth it.

Studio Remodel-step 1

Take a look at this messy studio-I can't believe I'm actually showing pics of it but it's only because it doesn't look this way any longer! I cleaned out this room completely and am in the process of having the closet taken out to make room for a recessed seating area. We're lucky to have a neighbor who is an awesome carpenter so we hired him to do the job while we were on vacation. More pics to follow soon on the progress and the new space!

closet that will be gone to make way for a recessed sitting area

as you can see, I have waaaay too much junk for this room--I've needed to do

Spring cleaning since well, Spring of 2009!