
The studio buildout has been going well.. this time it's so much more overwhelming than when we moved into our current space and slapped some new paint on the walls though. The first thing the guys did was put up a couple walls to divide the retail area from our studio. We decided to use wood paneling instead of drywall because of the effect (I will paint it the wall color but there will be some character & texture to it) and because it was cheaper (we're on a strict budget here).
We were originally going to leave the concrete floor as-is but ended up deciding to put wood floors down in the retail area. It just adds so much and I'm really glad we decided to do it. You can see the raw wood in the top picture (it's Blue Pine).. we're planning on painting it with milk paint to darken it to a deep brown/black. The milk paint still shows the grain but covers the wood a lot more evenly than stain and has a great effect (I also wanted to play down the color differences in the wood).
Next steps: painting and the guys are working on some custom shelving for products in the retail area & exterior signage and window boxes. It took me forever to pick a paint color but I eventually decided on Benjamin Moore's Ballet White. I really wanted to go for something a little different like a mint but the simple cream just works with everything and I couldn't resist.
Although the place has a bit more work to go, we're planning on moving in over the weekend as our lease wraps up here at our current space. Nope, I have nothing packed or ready and my plan kind of involves just throwing random things in my car and making a ton of trips around the block to the new place to unload!
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p.s. Apologies for the lack of posts.. things are a little crazy around here and I haven't had much time to write or visit the blog world. I also have not forgotten about the Business Series.. I got a little intimidated about writing it but I am trying to work on some posts that should be up soon.