Building an art studio at home...help?!?
 

We just purchased a 30 yr old beautiful southern estate home that we are moderately renovating/updating to suit our family. In the midst of our renovation/addition, I am going to be adding an art studio for myself. This room is going to be roughly 25 x 15 with a natural wood vaulted ceiling, one brick wall (keeping exterior brick wall exposed where the addition is being made) and the other three walls will be sheetrocked. I want to put a comfortable floor of some sort. I am planning a wash sink in some sort of cabinet with countertop and bottom doors. Those are the parts that I know......

now, for everything I don't.

I thought I should flood the room with full spectrum lighting to supplement the south facing large window we're putting in (I live on the gulf coast of Alabama and read somewhere that in the south, a southern constant light was the best...this southern light will be filtered by huge live oaks on that side of the property).

is a full spectrum brightly lit room correct? how bright? any tips, guidelines?

is the room supposed to have white walls to not tint the artwork one way or another?

Im reading on here that a darker, grey-type wall color is best. doesn't that cause a drab look in the room? really didn't want a dark closed in room.

What floor would you recommend? I don't want it too hard (back issues)..don't want carpet nor wood so I don't ruin it when I knock over the terp....vinyl of some sort?

I will have filtered light on both the south wall and the east wall. and the brick wall will be the north wall...can't change the layout, this is the only place the addition can be made. (greatfully blessed to be having a studio of any kind!)

I do have a wonderful opportunity to make an outstanding studio and want to make sure I truly do it correct...I want to work out all the kinks but not go overboard with the room. I want to create a perfect environment for me to do what I love.

Please help..we are making final decisions this week before it all begins and are working with a contractor and an architect who are turning to me for all the answers about exactly how I want my studio and just when I thought I had the answers they needed, Im reading I may be all wrong!

anyone? anyone?

thanks so much!

Hi Monique,
I have some ideas to share, if only you could make a small plan sketch of the room and the approximately placement and size of the windows.

Good even light on the canvas and palette is first priority, no reflected light from the back of you is part of it.

Supplementing light placement, is the ceiling high enough to make the distance to the easel?

Storing place? And so on.

Are you left or right handed?

thanks!!!
 

First of all, I'm going to warn you, I am NOT and never could be a digital artist, heck, I can't even label a picture with this darn mouse! embarassing!

Knowing that, please excuse my very crude labeled prelimary sketch of my studio. My husband just left to meet the contractor with the correctly scaled drawings the architect gave us yesterday. All I have is the first sketch which has changed slightly..I added a wall on the west side of the room which makes the sink now appear recessed in the wall. the ceiling is hipped with the lowest point being 9 ft and I think he said its a 45 degree hip?? as soon as I find out correct information, if it is different from what Im saying now, I'll post it. Initially, the room was 21 x 15 but I think it is a little longer now. the ceiling I want to mimic my new den ceiling which is vaulted with beams and will be in natural pine, I think. a lighter wood just sealed, not stained. So, going into this design, the given's are....natural color wood hipped ceiling, one full exposed brick wall (lighter in value, but variations of color), three sheetrocked walls and two walls have windows...south side is a large 4 or 5 foot solid sheet glass square window and the east side is one 3x5' standard window to the left of a 4' double glass door that has the little square panel windows? tresses?

ok, hope this helps..and Its been a while since i've posted here so I'm going to attempt to upload the picture...hope I get this right!

Thanks in advance for your help! I have one shot to make this great and I want to make sure I don't mess it up!

P.s.
 

as far as lighting from the ceiling, I can do whatever I want...I was asked about drop lighting to be able to light evenly from any angle of ceiling...I found these round drop lights, full spectrum, that are used in situations like gyms, factories or warehouses...you know just hang down from a foot or ten feet...it would look cool, I think with that sort of look with the wood ceiling being hipped and the brick wall...sort of warehouse loft sort of look... cool to me, I think, unless it is overkill, or doesn't fit the lighting needs I have. I have the freedom to do whatever, though, thats the beauty. I tell them what I want or need and they are going to make it happen (within reason :0) )

storage at this point is only under the sink...may have bookshelves or other shelving, not built in..don't know yet..

and I'm right handed

Monique,
the room looks ideel. I would go for the east facing window for primary light. And a light box, with several "daylight" tubes, under the seiling, for night/suppliment light. Maybe hanging in a railing system so that you can chance the placement if needed.

I would place the depot room behind a curtain of some kind, or doors, on the northern wall. The curtain should me a darker, neutral color to avoid light reflections onto the wet paint. The depot should contain ALL objects that you don't need at hand right now. No shelf with paint tubes or decorations, if you get me? It adds up!!!!

You could have a working table on wheels to move around with the easel, containing palette and so on.

I imagine that you stand in the middle of the room, facing towards the south window, and having the working light inn from the east wall window. The south window could have inside shutters to blind out the light if needed.

The floor could be wood and you could have a

[QUOTE=Allan Rahbek]Monique,
the room looks ideel. I would go for the east facing window for primary light. And a light box, with several "daylight" tubes, under the seiling, for night/suppliment light. Maybe hanging in a railing system so that you can chance the placement if needed.

I would place the depot room behind a curtain of some kind, or doors, on the northern wall. The curtain should me a darker, neutral color to avoid light reflections onto the wet paint. The depot should contain ALL objects that you don't need at hand right now. No shelf with paint tubes or decorations, if you get me? It adds up!!!!

You could have a working table on wheels to move around with the easel, containing palette and so on.

I imagine that you stand in the middle of the room, facing towards the south window, and having the working light inn from the east wall window. The south window could have inside shutters to blind out the light if needed.

The floor could be wood and you could have a

You should get the working light from one source only, being it from a window or a group of daylight tubes.

The wooden floor could be covered totally with vinyl, wich can be removed later, or it could be lacquered heavily, for protection, and later sanded to remove paintdrops.

The brick wall.... is it only the dark section that is raw bricks? If so you could place the depot on the eastern wall.

Wall color is not a big issue, light, rather neutral, is what I believe in.

'll be back later.

I recently moved into a new room.
I made a light box with 4 "daylight" tubes and hung it in a rail so that I can move it a bit to the side if I want to shift the light direction. The light is situated ca. 3.5 m ( 12') above the floor The light is much more even than in my old studio where the distance was about the half.

I want to be able to change the setup easily, to paint model, still life etc.

Is it possible to make the depot behind the new western wall?
The light can slide on a long rail.

Monique, we've just finished building a house which includes a new studio for me, so new I haven't been able to move in yet. We put a wood floor in the studio. Obviously I haven't painted in here yet, but I spent four years at an art school with wood floors. It was an old building with old floors but they've stood up well to the use and abuse of the students. I've found that paint wipes up easily, and I spilled turp too and it didn't cause any problems either. I also like the idea of having a wood floor for including it in a painting.

Monique, I finished building my studio last year and documented what I had done on my blog--

www.caseychilds.blogspot.com (there's a link at the top left "The New Studio")

My studio was patterned after my mentor, William Whitaker. I patterned everything I could from his studio (within my limited budget) but, most importantly, the north facing windows. Because I work only from natural light this was essential to have. If you plan to work from natural light (daylight) I would recommend making use of the south windows. The goal with natural light is to have a diffused light, if you use the east window you'll have too much direct sunlight and would be impossible to work with, especially when working from life. You'll find on my blog a post dedicated to my choice of wall color which you might feel is a little dark but it's a beautiful color when working from natural light. I would recommend some neutral grayish color on the wall so you won't have light bouncing around and causing distractions when painting. Painting is hard enough as it is. The sink is a wonderful idea, I haven't regretted mine one bit. If you can, I would recommend a DEEP sink. It makes things a little easier when cleaning up and such. Oh, and I threw down laminate for my floor since I've got a concrete floor under it. I was worried about it at first, not being wood and all, but it's actually been good. I don't worry about spilling stuff and "ruining" it with my everyday studio activities because it's only laminate. :) It's nice to have a floor where you can move things around on it easily, which is why I would recommend putting everything on wheels--easels, tables, etc.

Thank you guys so SO much! I don't think i'm going to do the wood floors for now, (sounds beautiful, though) but may go ahead with a laminate...down the road, upon resale, wood floors can go in, but I just don't feel compelled to do it for my use..I don't want to worry about it! I'm not generally messy, but accidents have happened before and I don't want to be tiptoeing around my own playground! I'm leaning more towards the grey tones and will find a nice one to use.

As far as putting a depot in the west wall, well, that's my master closet...so, not possible.. definately going with the deep sink and still debating about which sort of lighting to use. My plans originally were to use the south large window for the primary light source. I will be putting some sort of window treatments that I can close at night and will keep the east window closed off while using the south light to paint. at least it sounds like i'm on the right track!

I'll look at your blog and am very interested in your journey since im about to begin mine!! very exciting to me!!!!!! I just can't bring myself to imagine a wonderful space exclusively for me to be creative in! blessed doesn't even begin to express my feelings.

GREAT looking studio! care to share the reason for the ledge under the paintings along the wall? writing surface? just curious..is the wall color a gloss or is it just a camera thing? i would think a flat or satin finish for non-glare? am I wrong? love the color...your laminate floor is a wood look? my ceilings will be tongue and groove naturally sealed wood. good color contrast to that color wall. I likeey! thanks for the tips and pics...anything or anyone else? keep it coming!

Allan, I see you have the exposed brick too...mine will be slightly darker than yours, more of a red clay and brown and white, (called "old mobile" brick... but unless your from around these parts, you have no idea what i'm talking about, lol) anyway, I think the colors discussed here will look great together and serve a good purpose at the same time. track, directional (adjustable) lighting is looking more and more like an option to me. thanks!

Monique, you could check the light conditions by actually paint in the room one whole sunny day.
The reason why I suggest to go with the eastern window is, that you will only have the direct sun into the room in the morning.
I once had a west facing skylight that led the light into my studio in the afternoon which was very annoying on a sunny day.

Monique, it's been awhile since I've been on the forum, but let me answer the questions you had.

Since my studio is a garage that function as a studio, the foundation was poured like a normal garage with 12" concrete walls that the stud walls are secured to. This left exposed concrete below the walls that needed to be covered. So we decided to build a ledge wall around the base of the wall to cover the concrete. I didn't realize how useful this would be when we first built it! It's been so nice to place unfinished paintings on to stand back and look at as well as just keep them off the floor.

I think the color is a semi-gloss, maybe satin...not quite sure, but it's definitely not gloss. And the floor is laminate (put down directly on the concrete) from builddirect.com, it's been good to have--I don't worry so much about getting stuff/spills on it like I would a natural wood floor.

Sorry about the late response, I hope you're enjoying your new space!