The Revamped Closet Core Files Studio

Hey y'all. If you follow me on instagram you probably noticed a flurry of photos last week while I was working on a new home studio. You might remember my old set-up; it was the first thing you saw when you walked into my apartment. Which basically meant I was greeted with a huge mess whenever I came home. I wanted to be able to shut the door on my cats (they live to screw with me when I'm working), isolate my work from the rest of my life, and get a little more sunlight. My living room has a big north facing bay window and it's nice and bright all day long so I moved next door.

When I was looking for studio inspiration (you can check out my Pinterest board here), I gravitated towards bright, white, Scandinavian-style spaces. White walls help light bounce around and let whatever you're working on be the focus of attention. I was craving something clean and calm; the sort of room you can spend hours in joyfully.

Being in this room is like taking a Xanax. I've never take a Xanax but I imagine it is exactly like being in a room filled with shades of white and weird ceramic monkeys holding radishes. If I'm wrong I don't wanna be right.

The desks are glossy white tabletops from Ikea with gold spray-painted trestle legs. I whitewashed my old pine shelves and bought a big piece of foamcore to use as an inspiration board over my sewing station. An old frame I found in the street a few years back was the perfect fit for my thread rack. And plants. Lots and lots of plants.

The only thing left to do is to switch out the light fixture for a chandelier I have in the other room so I have more light at night. I also bought a huge sheet of pegboard for my serger thread but I don't want to take up any more wall space so I currently have a huge bag of spools with no permanent home. Baby steps.

And I built the greatest cutting table of all time. WITH MY BARE HANDS. After years of hunching over my dining table, my number one priority was building something at a comfortable height to cut fabric and draft patterns. It took a few days of sanding and staining, but I now have a huge 3' by 6' table on castors that I can move around if I need to. This is a completely affordable DIY project requiring minimal tools and know-how; I'll be sharing a post about it's construction next week in case anyone is interested in building their own.

I made sure I left one wall blank if I need to photograph makes in the dead of winter when -30 temperatures make posing outside a challenge. Since my cutting table table is so mobile, this wall doubles as my pressing station.

All the stained glass in apartment makes me feel like I'm in a little jewel box while I'm working. In short, I'm in heaven right now. Ten hour days go by in the blink of an eye. I shoulda done this years ago!