As the potential centerpiece of the studio cottage, the living space required a total hauling-over.
Just as with the kitchen and bathroom in the studio, we first stripped the entire area down to its bare structure. If you’ve ever done a total gut job, you know how hard it can be. If you haven’t ever done it then I suggest wearing a full body suit, mask, and gloves, and get it done as quickly as you can. It’s a very dirty job.
We took out the plain existing windows and replaced them with sturdier casement windows from Haselton Lumber. We added four windows in total to the main space. It opened up the room and added a lot more light.
Then we tackled installing the insulation. We covered the walls and the ceiling with 4” polyurethane.
It was one of the best decisions we made for the cottage! The insulation buttoned up the whole cottage tightly so it stays warm in the winters and cool in the summers. Because of this, the cottage requires significantly less heat in the winter and doesn’t require any AC in the summer. It’s so cozy and a fantastic money-saver!
After setting up the electricity, we continued working on the walls. Todd put up the sheetrock and handled all the nailing and plastering himself. He’s such a trooper!
Before finishing the walls and floors, we gave the studio a wood cathedral ceiling that made the whole cottage feel both more spacious and cozy. More about that process coming up in our next post.
With the ceiling installed, I then went about painting the walls a very light cream color to give the cottage interior an airy atmosphere. We put in base molding all around the floor and painted the trim a bright, silky white.
We found a beautiful, fifteen-paned glass wood door from Home Depot and painted it white after replacing the old one.
Then we sanded and polyurethaned the existing floors— we were lucky that all we needed to do was reveal the beautiful hardwood that was already there.
Once the floor, walls, and ceiling were finished, we got to decorating! In keeping with the airy theme, we used white and sage accents. We found a great green-gray rug from Pottery Barn to cover the area where the bed would go. I bought a California King-sized bed and some beautiful white linens and a comforter in the same color family as the rug. I also bought the most amazing Linen curtains from Pottery Barn. These curtains add an amazing aura and style to the space.
With a few final additions—ceiling fan, iron coat rack, drawers, white wicker chair—to the vast changes we had already made, the living space was completely transformed!
We like to call the studio our Honeymoon Cottage cause it’s so bright, warm and cozy. A real home-away-from-home and just perfect for couples, athletes or small families.
