Welcome to our new studio
It's been a long road, but we're all set up in our new Home/Studio, woo-hoo! Thought you might like to see some snaps of the process, who doesn't love a before and after!
Back in the summer of 2018 (when all we had to worry about was England's progression through the World Cup) we spotted a bungalow for sale nearby with great views over the surrounding countryside. Somewhere with the possibility to extend and have a studio. The usual thing, no plans to move house, current home all finished and lovely, kids settled etc... but it seemed like fate wanted us to move, even if Dave and the kids weren't seeing the signs as clearly as me! It took four viewings to persuade him, lol! and in October 2018 we moved in.
First six months were interesting, no bath, leaky toilet, and the classic Grand Designs story, we were coming up short when the initial quotes came back. Probably should have known better given this was our fifth renovation project and my Dad's a building estimator, occasionally there are pitfalls to being overly optimistic!
In the end, it was worth the wait and the hurdles, we found our dream team and in June 2019 started work with Bedfordshire based K&M Carpentry. Craig and Andy are the kind of guys you want on your side when you're going to demolish half your walls and remove the roof... calm, methodical and super organised. So throughout the summer, the building was stripped back and slowly started re-emerging as a space that resembled home.
Roof being stripped back
Wall and roof demolition
Making the new first floor
Many Pinterest boards later, in December 2019 we moved back in (on schedule!) allowing for the guys to finish the studio area and cladding by March 2020 before our rental contract ended for our old studio. We all know what happened in March this year, so we were fortunate to get everything together in time to continue working through lockdown. Of course the studio became a home school too, where the boundaries were definitely blurred, empty crisp packets found stuffed in desk drawers, hair grips strewn across our usually neat studio floor, but like everyone else, we cobbled it together.
Front elevation – October 2018 and March 2020
Back elevation – July 2019 and March 2020
The front door and hall
The kitchen/diner
The garden, the meadow is slowly growing back
During that time, we couldn't have Liza our fab right-hand woman here to help pack orders because of social-distancing, so it made it all the more sweeter having her back from July when restrictions were eased. Since then we've been joined by ace photographer Adrian too, he's come on board to help with our social media and many of the images you'll see below were taken by him.
Having the kids back to school this week has brought a sense of calm to the studio and it's exciting to have some free brain space to ponder new designs and have a self-indulgent mess around with ideas. Already sketched out are new music Icons and we have plans for a new print collection too, so watch this space.
