MY HOME TOUR PART 9: THE STUDIO

A couple of years after I bought and remodeled the house, I converted the detached garage behind the house into my design studio.  This was truly one of the most satisfying of ALL the projects I tackled with this house!

If you recall, this is what the garage looked like when we purchased the house (you can see the entire property transformation in my remodel post.)

It took us about a year (while the focus was on renovating the house itself), but we eventually got rid of the garage door and added two sets of french doors onto the patio and garden.  This obviously did a lot to bring in tons of natural light and make it habitable, but beyond constructing two very simple built-in work surfaces and some shelving, we pretty much stopped there.  This was my makeshift work zone for another year+ while I was finishing the house, and then pregnant, until I could get to designing a nicer office space for myself.  

Here's the garage office with the addition of the french doors ...

After the baby was born and I was back on my feet but still not back to work full time I felt a huge need to invigorate this space with some color and some personality!  

 The beginnings of my glossy navy blue door with DIY moulding ...

A couple weeks and a whole lotta DIY later ... ta da!!!  The finished space.

The studio was featured on Apartment Therapy just after it was finished, when my little guy was still a babe in arms (he's a big, tall 2.5 year old boy now who just started pre-school and loves it!) 

I shared this tutorial about my DIY giant fabric-covered bulletin boards ...

 And this tutorial about the DIY labels on my shelter magazine storage boxes ...

These metal magnetic bulletin boards are perforated metal sheets that I spray painted gold of course (tutorial here.) I love them.

And just last Spring I fixed up the little patio seating area in front of the studio as part of the fun  "Year of Change" monthly designer challenges I'm taking part in ...

The before and after shots, side by side ...

And with that, it's really and truly a wrap for this home tour.  Sources are at the bottom, as always.

Links for each space:

 nitty gritty remodel // kitchen // dining room

bath // nursery // bedroom // patio 

And the whole place featured on Domaine Home too!

SOURCES
filing cabinets: CB2
pendant light: CB2 Cage Lamp (discontinued)
knock-off tolix stools: Overstock.com
small metal storage boxes: Ikea (discontinued)
wood magazine boxes: Ikea (painted white w/ diy labels)
desk chairs: vintage re-upholstered
accent paint on back of shelving: Behr Lemongrass UL180-4

PUNCHY BRIGHT COLORFUL DESKS

Not to grouse that it's Monday again, but wouldn't buckling down to work or pay the bills be that much more fun if you had a punchy watermelon red or mandarine orange desk to park yourself at!?  I totally think so!
It's on my mind because I'm giving a current client a fun little vintage writing desk that I'm having lacquered in bright mandarine orange, much like this glossy Room Service desk I used in a past client's super fun and colorful office once.
It's a pretty approachable DIY project too!  Search your local thrift shops or Craigslist for an old desk (as you'll see below, almost any style from traditional to modern works for this) and slap some paint on it (both Nick Olsen and Jenny Komenda from Little Green Notebook say that Rustoleum's "Safety Red" spray enamel is a good way to go.)

rosa beltran design

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Blu Dot desk

vintage steelcase desk painted red 

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CB2 go-cart desk

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Next up this week:  I've got some great inspiration photos to share with you for how and when to use rattan chairs like that lovely little number up above, plus a great bargain shopping source for them!

UPGRADING AN UGLY BOOKSHELF

This little bookcase project went down awhile ago, but I think you might appreciate the "workaround" we came up with, and seeing what a difference a bit of paint and molding can make to a plain jane or downright ugly shelving situation.
My client hired me to quickly decorate her office in a mid-century high-rise on Ventura Blvd overlooking the whole LA Valley basin.  So while the upside is that we had views for miles and lots of natural light, the downside is that we also had to contend with typical office building restrictions on what we could do with the carpeting, wall color, and dropped-panel ceiling ... which was nothing.  Couldn't change any of it.

We also had this existing f-ugly bookshelf to contend with.

We initially planned to tear it out and install nice custom built-ins, but frankly time and budget were limited on this project so I decided to re-purpose the existing shelves instead.

I chose a soft celadon green paint color that would work with the blue carpet.  My go-to paint for brush-on furniture jobs is the Benjamin Moore Advance line.  It's a special water-based alkyd formulation that acts like oil paint but is easy to use and clean up like regular latex paint.  It really provides a nice glossy finish and doesn't leave lots of brush strokes.

So with a little help from my carpenter we transformed those ugly shelves in this!

We added a filler board at the top to bridge the gap between the shelves and the ceiling, with crown molding to make everything look custom-built and intentional.  At the bottom the whole unit got a simple baseboard wrap to beef up the base and give it a custom look.

Here are some mid-styling shots ... 

I wound up really liking the way the beadboard backing looks ... you'd think we designed it that way intentionally for some added texture instead camouflaging that awful faux grain, faux wood paneling that was originally in effect.

And that, my friends, is lipstick on a pig.  I'll be back next time with a round-up of some incredible Ikea hacks and DIY customization projects done on inexpensive box-store shelving ... it's amazing what can be accomplished!