When I designed this room, I knew that I wanted a designated shipping station that I could stand at with a separate station to design and another station to solder and use all of my tools that make a mess. I also wanted extra desk space in case I decided to hire on help, especially during the holiday season. After a lot of thought, I decided to build a wraparound desk and wanted to create or buy an island as my shipping station to package my orders. I wanted to stand, so that I wouldn't be sedentary all day and that would force me to get up and move around. If I wanted to, I could also add a stool, but I really enjoy standing there and haven't felt the need to add one yet.
Whenever I start a new design, I always start by making a visual collage / Mood Board of a color scheme with furniture, flooring, and accessories using the Canva app on my phone. I really wanted my studio to be feminine, bright, cheerful and mid-century modern / minimalist and a place that I couldn't wait to enter and something completely different than the rest of my home. This collage was the first thing that I created and I highly recommend doing this whenever you're trying to design a new space. I've added all of the links in this collage below.
My work bench / wraparound desk was built out of 3/4" plywood and we attached it to the wall using wall-to-wall supports we made out of 2x4's. We nailed the top of the plywood down to the supports and then we added 1x2's as legs to support the weight at the seams. We used real wood veneer edging to finish the plywood edges. That is really easy to use. I used a hot iron to attach it to the edges of the desk, followed by something hard to smooth it down, making sure that it adhered. I then went over it with a razor to cut off the excess. After we edged the desk, we put wood filler over all of the nail holes, sanded, and painted the entire desk Chantilly Lace Benjamin Moore with cabinet paint in a satin finish. I didn't want anything too extravagant for my work bench / desk because jewelry-making is really messy and it's only a matter of time that it becomes dented from hammering and stained by soldering. But, it's more feminine and looks less like most work benches, so I'm very happy with it.
To create more storage I bought these rolling carts and I made sure that they fit underneath the desk and I now have one at every station to hold my jewelry tools and extra supplies that I don't want to store on top of my desk.
The wraparound desk with the island shipping station definitely allows me to utilize all of the different stations and I have enough room for at least 5 people to work in the studio comfortably. My 4-year-old daughter plays down there while I'm working and she has her own spot for painting and this design would really work well as a craft room.
I also purchased a custom name sign spelling out my business name, ABRAU, which I think adds to the luxe theme I was going for and it's a great spot to take photos for my Instagram and it makes me feel so proud of the business that I created. Seeing these letters puts a smile on my face everytime I enter the room. I chose these shiny gold frames to place around the room with different articles that I've been featured in and photos of the celebrities that have worn my designs. i also bought these mid-century modern prints and white oak wood frames that I feel tie up the mid-century design nicely.
For bead and chain storage I highly recommend purchasing this wood drawer organizer. It's made for pens, markers and brushes but it works so nicely to organize all of your beads, cabochons and chain. It is real wood, absolutely beautiful quality. To make it easier, try placing them in order of the colors of the rainbow a la The Home Edit.
For the flooring, it was the first time that we ever laid LVP flooring down. We chose CoreLuxe in a gray-ish brown and we got a great deal at LL Flooring. We chose to switch it up for the rest of our renovations, however, because I fell in love with a product by CoreTec that looks so much more realistic for the rest of our house and it is much easier to install.
It's really pretty for this space and what I love about LVP is that it's stain, water and dent resistant. It holds up really well to animals and kids.
Here's another little tour of my jewelry studio! I hope you get some inspiration for your own studio or craft room design and organization.
Check out the full reveal on my Instagram page below.
Please stay tuned to this blog as we share what it's like to be DIY'ers--the good, the bad, and the ugly (crying)! We'll also share details on this remodel in the next post and I'll link exactly where to get everything that I purchased. Renovating has been quite the journey and I'm so happy to be sharing it with you all!
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