We have lived in our Lindsay house for a decade and this winter finally made time to refinish the original floor in my art studio, office, and gallery space, which are in the basement of our home.
I designed a new layout that reversed positions of my office zone and my painting zone. Shown above is my new painting setup and I am delighted to be settled in and creating art again.
The panorama shown above is how my L-shaped art space looked a few years ago, viewed from the stairs. The brown carpet was glued directly to the concrete floor with no additional insulation, and had been in place since the house was built 25 years ago.
The gas fireplace that we added 10 years ago made my art studio very comfortable in winter, but I always thought the dark brown carpeting made the space look dark, and its busy pattern drew too much attention. It was also showing its age.
This winter, my husband and I got underway with the flooring project that took 6 weeks. He did most of the work and I assisted where possible. We ripped up the old carpet, laid a sub-floor, and finished it off with commercial grade carpet tiles.
Shown above left is the gallery space just before we began, and on the right is the same room with carpet and baseboards gone, and sub-floor being installed.
Since the sub-floor and 20-inch carpet tiles are modular, we were able to shuffle furniture around and complete the work in one area at a time. Then we moved furniture to the completed section and worked on another section. It was like a big Tetris puzzle.
Once all the new carpet was laid, we refinished and reinstalled baseboards and moved furniture to its final placement. I love the neutral colour of the carpet, as it will go with any wall colour I may choose in future.
Shown above is a wide angle view of the refurbished gallery space. The subtle random pattern of the flooring should stay looking nice forever, and if any carpet tile gets stained or damaged, it is easy to lift it up and replace with a spare tile.
Shown above is the before and after view from the gallery space. In the old layout, my office desk and computer are by the window. In the new layout, my painting setup is by the window. We wanted to find a Canadian-source carpet and the grey one we finally chose was made in Quebec.
The photo above shows the view from the fireplace, looking towards the gallery space and stairs up to the main level. The black steel flat file on the left is one of my favourite furnishings in my studio. Those ten drawers provide an amazing 60 square feet of horizontal storage, where I have organized all my watercolour paper and other art materials, current art projects, future art projects, art card supplies and office supplies.
Shown above is the view of my painting zone from the stairs. I appreciate the spaciousness of this area. When needed for projects, or when my artist friends come over to paint with me, I have several 2 x 4 foot folding tables that I can add to this area.
The big white cabinet has seven shelves that provide 35 square feet of horizontal storage. They hold paint palettes, painting supplies, brushes, backing supports, art panels, frames, and binders of reference photos.
To the right is a black filing cabinet holding my painting records, office files, documentation of shows and art competitions, and other important paperwork. I have two fireproof safes below my painting desk that hold backup copies of my photo archives.
Tucked into the far corner of my studio is my office desk and computer. This is where I write my blog posts and newsletters, post to social media, manage emails, and keep on track with accounting and other administrative tasks. Out of that window I can see the farm next door, complete with a vintage red barn.
I feel very fortunate to have this beautiful, bright, cozy, clean, quiet, inspiring space in which to create my art. Much of my life is spent here, and I couldn't be happier.
I hope you have enjoyed your virtual tour of this latest version of my art studio. Perhaps I will see you in person here at some point in the future. Visitors are welcome by appointment, or during an Open Studio event.
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