“Turn the garage into a studio?! You must be mad!!!”

6 months ago we decided to convert our garage into a natural light photography studio and office. Here’s the story in pictures. I still can’t quite believe we did it!

Garage conversion to natural Light Studio

This is what faced us in September when we opened the garage door. Believe it or not we’d already got rid of some stuff.

I had a clear idea from the outset how I wanted it to look and used Pinterest to collect all the ideas. Click here to see the board I created for inspiration.

The garage was split into two areas with a partition wall, giving us a utility room at the rear; there was also lots of random shelving stuffed full of camping gear, photography equipment, shoes, bags and other junk.

Where the heck were we going to put everything we needed to keep – tools, paint etc? We’d already filled the existing shed and playhouse.

a metal shed

The new metal shed – Ferb was worried it was going to be a giant dog kennel.

car boot sale

We attempted to off load some stuff at a car boot sale at school…

studio1

Whilst Nic wrestled with clearing out 11 years of junk (mainly his 😉 ) I set about spray painting some bargain chairs and planning a programme of photography courses to run in the new studio.

half empty garage

Around early November it seemed like we were never going to get there. Still so much stuff to shift, re-home or throw.

new cupboards for the photography studio

But gradually some spaces appeared and suddenly we were ready to have the cupboards fitted 20/11. Unfortunately the doors were wrong but otherwise fab storage and laundry area.

photography props

I was able to start organising all my photography props. Meanwhile Nic was organising his man cave…

Almost complete garage conversion

Danger: men at work! Electrics, heating and painting at the end of November.

window fitting

3rd December – window day!. The most exciting day by far! This was the day it ceased to be a garage and became “the studio”! Took under 90 minutes and the window guys were great. EcoSeal – would highly recommend.

photography studio almost done

5th December the finishing line was in sight! I hemmed and steamed 8 curtains and started adding some Christmassy touches. Thank goodness for IKEA!

laying a floor

9th December – Nic worked hard all weekend to lay the floor and I moved my desk in on the Sunday night!

photography workshop

18th December I welcomed the first two clients into the almost finished studio. It worked perfectly.

photography studio at Christmas

We’ve still got a few bits to finish off (still no cupboard doors!) but have been putting the studio to good use over Christmas: Santa’s elves wrapped presents in here; 35 people sang in the New Year and 8 of us sat down for lunch on New Year’s Day! The kids love being in here, on the computer, drawing, listening to music videos. The dogs seem fascinated with the curtains – will post pics of them entwined in them!

Once the cupboard doors have been fitted I’m going to do an official photo shoot from lots of angles for the website. But for now, here’s the classic before and after shot of our brand new natural light photography studio.

Before and after garage conversion

 

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