Greetings from Kansas. After several months of work, I'm finally ready to show my new studio. Some of you who are regulars may recognize a basic shape and idea. It's much like "Glasser's" studio built on the second floor of our garage. I was so amazed when I saw her pictures because it looked just like what my husband designed for me. After a lot of hassle with the city and various architects/engineers, we finally got a building permit and were able to start construction in late July. And most of the finishing touches were done last week.
Here's a couple of pictures of the original garage and what the second floor used to be:
They built a real staircase from the back part of the garage:
And then started to tear out a section of the roof:
The framework is up!
And here's what the outside looks like finished. These three windows face north and there are two windows facing south:
Now to the inside. I'm also a "beader" so part of the space is dedicated to that work. First, my little beading desk in a south window.
You can just see the edge of the heating/cooling unit.
This is the storage area for all the "stuff" that used to be in the house. (The guest room almost looks like a guest room again.) To the right of the bookshelf is a storage closet for packing supplies, fibers, things I don't need to get to every day.
And finally, the torch area!
The hoses are already clamped up and out of the way so don't write about that.
We don't have any lampwork studios here, but I gave our HVAC guy everything I could find about ventilation off of this site, and he said it should fit the bill. The fan has a variable speed control on it, which is a nice touch.
I need to live in the space for a while before I really figure out what I need for storage, but this works for the time being.
This is showing off DH's handiwork. He built the bench and used tile leftover from our bathroom renovations ten years ago. When I was torching on the front porch, we had gotten a piece of non-glavanized steel to cover the table I was working on. He put that piece of steel on a piece of plywood and mounted the Creation Station on that. The whole thing clamps to the main bench. I think it's going to be very handy, because the whole thing can be removed easily if I want to use the bench to fuse silver or something.
So... that's my "Little Studio on the Prairie." There's still some touch-up painting to do, and then I'll be able to hang pictures and things. But what a joy to have a place dedicated to my work. I feel like a lucky girl!