Dream Art Studio Renovation On A Dime (From An Old Tool Shed)

I remember talking to my mother when I was a little girl and telling her all about how one day I would have my very own art studio just outside of my house. I could envision my loving husband building it for me and spending long hours looking out my art studio window and creating masterpieces. It was such a far away dream for most my life. Then we bought this 1928 bungalow home with an old tool shed connected to the garage. I knew right then and there that the tool shed would become my long awaited art studio. I could almost burst.

Unfortunately our old house came with a lot of issues and major problems that needed fixing first so the tool shed had to wait a couple of years before I could get to it. And by a couple of years I mean five years. Five years of walking by the old tool shed and dreaming of what I would do with it once I could get my hands on it. 

The first things we did was add the big window. My uncles came up one weekend and helped us carve out the rectangle via circular saw. And then We added the glass door. I wanted a glass door because I wanted a second window but there wasn’t enough wall space for another window so the glass door seconds and a window and lets in a second source of light in the art studio. 

Next we installed insulation, dry wall and baseboards. For the ceiling we wanted to add some character to the space so that the art studio wasn’t just four blank walls. So we put up some paneling and then added 2×4’s across. We hired an electrician to add the light boxes and extra outlets but we installed all the lighting and outlet plugs ourselves. We had to look it up on Youtube. 

I got these flush mount ceiling lights from Wayfair. They add a little sparkle and glam to the room, plus some much needed lighting for night time. 

I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on this art studio so we tried to buy used where ever we could. The window was a left over window that came with our house. The glass door, we found at a ReStore for a bargain. A lot of the wood came from our scrap pile in the garage. And for the floor we used peel and stick tile. It was our first time using it but it was fairly easy and we didn’t have to use any special tools for it. We spaced them out evenly (mostly) and even grouted it so it looked more natural.      I had only two big spurges in this renovation project, first was the electrician and second was the light fixtures. But the lights were a bargain to. 

This was such a fantastic beginner project for us to renovate. We learned a lot about dry wall and ceiling details and were able to practice on this space before we moved on to renovate our master bedroom. I have absolutely loved decorating this space and can’t wait to show you that whole transformation as well. But you will have to stop by another time and check out that future post. So stay tuned. 

Did My Dream Come True?

Yes!!! The entire time we as a family were working on my art studio my heart was just so full of gratitude for my hard working family and for the opportunity to get to make this art studio finally come true. I kept saying things like, “If we just work on it this day and that day I could have my very own art studio in just two more weeks!!! I can’t believe it!” In a way my art studio dreams are even better than I had dreamt them. My husband did not build this art studio for me, He built it with me along side my teenage sons. And that’s better than any fairy tale. As far as sharing this dream come true with my mother… I lost my mom when I was a teenager but I like to think that she is jumping up and down for me every time I enter my art studio to start a new project.