The new studio build
I've been working in the big bedroom in our home for the past 3 years, fantasising about the possibilities of a studio all to myself but never really imagining it would ever happen to me. Then, at some point this year my husband convinced me to take the leap! Prior to having kids we would have undertaken the task myself. But there was no way we would find the time to do that now. So I emailed and phoned around to many companies and eventually settled on a company that we felt a trust with.
Where to put the studio? We're lucky enough to have a large garden with the house plonked right in the middle (at a slight angle). We decided to put the studio at the back as the rest of the garden spaces have specific functions (herbaceous border, orchard, kitchen garden, the big law). Please don't hate me for saying we took down a tree for the space. We did plant 7 additional trees in the garden in the same year so hopefully this makes up for it.
We opted for a ground screw base which was quick, easy and we felt it would be better for the environment - avoiding concrete being put into the ground. The company had built the panels in advance of bringing them to site and the timber frame and base was up within a day! Insulation already incorporated!
From then the progress seemed slower but there was a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Walls and plastering, electrics, doors and cladding. I opted for a composite cladding which would be easy to maintain. The light blue cladding was intended to provide a nice contrast with the anthracite grey frames.
The space is bigger than I expected! The acoustics are great (lots of singing is happening whilst I work now!) and I've got lots of plans for the inside. I'll give you a tour of the inside in the next issue of the blog!
