I’ve been so excited to share with you the big reveal of our home studio space! You might remember from this post, but this area used to be a very dark storage room in our basement with a huge hole in the wall (see before pictures below!) that we transformed into an all white studio space for my Say Yes team to craft, shoot, brainstorm, and hang out in. Happy to partner with Home Depot’s new decor line for this project. Yup, that’s right! Home Depot now sells furniture: modern desks, lighting, rugs, couches, shelving, tables, etc. It was so fun to start with such a clean, white slate and then style a few favorites. Keep reading for a ton of photos and some easy projects we worked on for this home studio…
Say Yes Home Studio Reveal
Here’s a little overview of this project (you can find our inspiration post here): In our basement, there was an unfinished, large storage room with one north facing window. Insulation hanging from the ceiling and disorganized storage boxes all over the place. Pretty quickly when we moved it I found that it got some nice light and we started using the corner space by the window to shoot some overhead shots for Say Yes.
The guest room close to the storage room was where we housed all the craft supples, and did the majority of our work. But I really needed my own space, and so we brainstormed a few options for how we’d transform it.
The biggest issue was the ceiling and flooring. It was concrete, which was fine and cool in its own way, but I really wanted everything to be white for the most light. This past spring, when we were redoing our kitchen, we painted the concrete floor white, removed the insulation out of the rafters, and painting those white as well. Everything got a fresh coat of white paint. It makes the low ceiling feel a lot taller!
The exposed rafters also makes it really easy to hang things, as you’ll see in some of the projects we’ve done. We kept it empty and white for a long time (see above). And it was a great place to work but we still ended up doing most of our crafting in the guest room down the hall. I really wanted to make the space completely useable for every part of our content creation.
The crafting area
Hooray for pegboards. It’s crazy how much they transform a room and can make you feel insta-organized. We used two pegboards from Home Depot (under $10 each), and some hooks, baskets, and acrylic shelves to organize all of our crafting tools. Oh man, I love this spot so much now! Before, we were mostly crafting on the guest room floor carpet, but this area is about 1000x times better to work in. Also, hanging scissors and ribbon are some of my favorite things.
My favorite part of this crafting area might be the hanging rods we hung from the rafters to hang our backdrop paper on. It makes an endless backdrop that much easier. Before, when we needed an endless backdrop (like for outfits of Halloween costumes), we had to set up two stands and a bar and then put the paper on there. Now, with rafters, we just hung some string from a couple hooks, bought a large dowel from Home Depot, and sawed in a couple notches to make the string stay in place.
I can’t get over how easy it is to pull that backdrop up or down when we need it!
Say Yes metal letters are from Hip Hip Hooray party goods.
The table is a piece of salvaged wood we added legs on. The white chair is a Baxton Studio Azzo White Plastic Dining Chair from Home Depot! It also doubles as our desk chair, which is coming up next…
The desk area
Opposite the crafting area is the desk area for computer work. Home Depot has this awesome Home Sullivan Marlowe Flip Compartment Red Writing Desk with all sorts of great storage spots built into it. I love the pop of color against the white space. Again, the white chair is here as well.
You can make a similar inspiration board with some pet fencing from Home Depot cut to size. We also hung some art and a vintage desk lamp.
Hanging Notepad
Hanging this kraft paper for notes and lists was such an easy project that took only 5 minutes to make. I just got two screw in hooks from Home Depot, secured them into the wall, and added a dowel between them to hang the kraft paper. Perfect spot for sketched, supply lists, and daily reminders for the team.
Studio living room area
I call this a living room area, but it’s really just the back corner of the studio where we can sit and relax (and where we’re often found working on the computer too). It feels really private down here, I love it!
This gorgeous ZUO Puget Blue Cotton Linen Blend Sofa is from Home Depot too (crazy cool, right??). It’s perfect for the space and makes the whole area feel so homey. Also, the Safavieh Brogen Gold and Clear Coffee Table is also from Home Depot. I knew I wanted something glass so it wasn’t taking up to much visual space. We piled a few inspiring design magazines and books on top. Above the couch, we hung this Jane Gallagher art print from Minted. It’s a reminder to be straight forward and brave in our work here on Say Yes. I love how intense it is!
Marta made a really woven plant hanger. We got the rope from Home Depot and she found a simple tutorial on making one right here. I can’t go to Home Depot without picking up at least a couple house plants, so we got a few of those too to place around the studio.
Studio swing
Another simple project is making a studio swing (why not a swing in our studio??) from a piece of pinewood and some rope from Home Depot.
We drilled round holes with our electric drill and a round bit, then hung the rope from the exposed rafters (you can just as easily use hooks too like we do for the swings in our family room and on our front porch). Fun fact: this is the fourth swing in our house!
Then, you simply tie a knot on the other end of the hole to secure. It’s nice for an extra seat while we’re brainstorming and hanging out.
Plexiglass dry erase calendar
This was such an easy project. We got a piece of plexiglass from Home Depot (it was sold in this exact size), and then added office decal stickers on top for the days of the week. To hang it, we simply used those Command Strips from Home Depot that hang everything! I love how sleek it looks and so easy to write with dry erase markers when deadlines and schedules change.
Colorful lights around the calendar are from Bright Lab Lights.
Prop storage area
Lastly, we used this Home Depot South Shore Reveal Pure White Open Bookcase to house our props and other supplies for shooting. I love the open shelving of the design and it was really easy to put together.
Behind it and to the left of it is the perfect spot to store all of our surfaces, wood, and paper backdrops for shooting.
I can’t tell you how happy this new home studio space makes me! It’s the perfect spot for our team and also a nice private place to work (working at home is always tricky with kids running around, even with a sitter).
Thanks to Home Depot for sponsoring this post and inspiring our Say Yes studio transformation!
You’ve done a really amazing job. I have always been struck by how the correct color of the walls and lighting can affect the visualization of a large space in a room. If you have design skills, then you won’t be able to complete this without a professional electrician. Only together can you come to such an amazing result
Your space looks great! Do you mind sharing the paint that you used on the ceiling and how you applied it? Have you had any issues with the pipes since they were painted?
Thank you 🙂
This space looks amazing!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Liz – What a transformation!!!!! The space looks amazing, inspiring, bright and so YOU! Well done! xoxo, Sara
Thanks Sara!
This is such an inspiring space and it seems like you have managed to do it for far less buy doing some good ol’ DIY. There are so many amazing ideas in this post that I really can’t wait to try and I will definitely be getting myself a peg board. Brilliant space for a brilliant team, well done!
Holly from The Art of Being Holly xo
Thanks, Holly!
GREAT studio. Well done! And from Home Depot. Who knew??
Congrats on a great space! A place for everything and everything in it’s place! Love all the white!
Wow, what a huge change- this is so inspiring!!
Liz! I’m obsessed with this! And that couch is so cute too, crazy it’s home depot!
Isn’t is crazy. So excited to see so many new decor pieces from Home Depot!
What a HUGE transformation, incredible! I love the minimal white space. If only my office looked like this!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
The minimal white space was such a great canvas!