As I’m working to get our master bathroom photo ready for its big reveal (which I hope will be on Monday, but Tuesday at the latest) and finish up the home gym, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to my studio, which will be the final room to finish in our home pre-addition. (Matt and I are trying to decide exactly when we want to bit off that big addition. No firm plans yet, but at least we’re talking about it regularly and seriously.)
But anyway, back to the studio. I already shared a couple of months ago that there will be some changes coming to the studio. I had mentioned that the green back entryway will be repainted, as will the walls in the studio bathroom. But the more I think about it, and the more we open up our home to guests, the more I realize that the changes in studio will probably be pretty significant.
Until recently, I’ve always considered my studio a separate part of the house. And as a separate part of the house, I never thought it needed to “flow” with the main part of the house. It’s my space where I can do what I want, regardless of whether or not it coordinated with the rest of the house. And because it’s my space, that also means that it’s the one space where I can break Matt’s one rule — no pink walls. That’s his one rule for the house, but in my studio, that rule doesn’t stand.
And while I’ve never planned to do pink walls in the studio, I have been planning all this time to do coral/pink cabinets to go with the bold floral wallpaper. And there will be LOTS of cabinets in this huge room.
I was leaning towards something like this…
But the more we have people in our home, the more my mindset about that room is changing. Rather than thinking about that huge room and bathroom as spaces I get to hoard all to myself, I’m starting to want those rooms to be more incorporated into our main home, and to be available as an extension of the main area of the house. And that means that I’d like the look of those areas to flow with the rest of the house as well.
It’ll still be my studio. MY studio. The function of the room isn’t going to change at all. But I do like the idea of having it available if we need the room to spread out. Matt and I host a weekly home group (people from our church), and on that night, we’ve had from 11 to 15 people. So far, we’ve all piled into the living room (with the furniture moved around, obviously), and it’s been fine. Cozy, but fine. ?
But the max capacity of that room is 17, so if we ever have more than that show up, I’d love to be able to move right into the studio (the only other room in our home that can hold that many people, plus a whole lot more). And if nothing else, I really want that bathroom to be available for guests to use, in addition to the hallway bathroom.
So this new chapter in our lives, which came long after we converted our garage into my studio, but fortunately has come about long before I’ve had the chance to finish the studio, has really changed my outlook on how I want the room to look and feel.
I think rather than trying to incorporate any of my previous ideas into the finished room as I move forward on that project, I’m going to think of it more as a blank slate. I’ll be starting over completely. I’m thankful that that won’t mean a lot of money down the drain. The most costly thing that I have in there (that will most likely be changed) is the wallpaper.
I really do love it, but it’s not something I’d do in the main part of the house. So if I’m now treating this room as part of the main house, then I need to find something else.
Everything else can be changed with paint, plus a little bit of tile. I’m so thankful I never got to the point of having to repaint studio cabinets. I’d do it if I had to. Y’all know I would. ? But I’m thankful that I don’t have to.
And of course, that doesn’t mean boring or neutral. I love color way too much to do a neutral room. And I’m not at all opposed to wallpaper or murals, as should be obvious by our bedroom and master bathroom walls.
But I’m starting at square one. A fresh start. A clean slate. A brand new mindset. I think this will be fun. ? And I’m hoping that I’ll be able to start on it very early next year.
Update:
I see that I’ve upset a number of you with my thought of removing/replacing the wallpaper. ? I do love it, so I’ll see how I can make it work. I’m just not sure that I can do white cabinets, though. ? But there are tons of colors to choose from that would coordinate with that wallpaper, flow with the rest of the house, and be colorful while tamer than the pink/coral. But it’ll still be colorful and fun when I’m done!
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
I hope you’ll join me on my DIY and decorating journey! If you want to follow my projects and progress, you can subscribe below and have each new post delivered to your email inbox. That way you’ll never miss a thing!
