Summer Studio Makeover: A Tiny Perfect Place to Paint

At last! I’ve completed the refresh of my summer studio at our cottage.

Over the past few years, I’ve moved from the dining room table, out to temporary digs in our guest cabin, to finally this year committing to permanently taking over this room. It’s small (8x11’), but I’m super excited to be moving in there and getting to work.

Here's the before:

The plywood walls got primed and then covered in two gorgeous coats of Benjamin Moore Snowfall White (Thanks, Color N Light Muskoka!)

I left the beautiful pine walls and floor. The wood on those walls came from several stunning 80-year old white pines on our property that were taken down by a tornado a few years ago. We were so devastated by the loss of our lovely trees that we did the only thing we could think of to honour them, which was to mill them into boards and integrate them into the cottage.

I’ve tried to keep to the minimum required furniture. There's an old dresser for storage that’s been in the cottage almost since we moved in. My worktable and legs have been with me for decades— I gave the worktable got a fresh new coat of paint in the same color as the walls. And what artist's studio is complete without at least one workhorse Raskog trolley from Ikea? Interior design tip: it makes the small space feel less cluttered to have the big table painted to blend with the walls. 

Under the window, there are a couple of shallow shelves to store paint. I installed a long shelf above them as a combined worktop/display ledge.

Luckily I can store canvasses and paper under beds and around the cottage. My printer is in the main cottage because the wifi doesn't reach out here--yes, I'm still making and shipping prints all summer long, so go ahead and order!

I'll be releasing work from this studio in a few weeks, so get on my list if you want first dibs.