DIY: The Studio

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Over the weekend I worked my tail off painting the office/studio white. It was originally a buttercup yellow, which didn’t jive well with my plans for being the computer/photography studio. It was a ton of work, but I’m really happy with the room! I have yet to really organize it and make it look pretty, but I thought I would share with you what I did.

Maybe you can do something similar, too?

I just used a basic bright white (no pigments added) for the paint in a satin finish. Come to think of it, I probably could have gone for a semi-gloss, but what’s done is done. With the white paint already on the walls, it took all of two seconds and $10 to create a virtually seamless white studio.

I realized that the corner of the room was really going to be the best place I’ll have in the room (and the house) for lighting and space for a permanent photo backdrop, so I set out to buy some plywood and paint it white for a little platform. Lo and behold, while I was browsing Ikea’s As Is department, I came across their corner table top in white. It’s a much warmer white than I’ve used on the walls, but for $10, my work was done! I may recover this thing with a white vinyl in the future, but for now, it works.

Now I’m just struggling to get my dual monitors to have the same white balance. It’s incredibly hard to process my photos with the screens so different from one another. I’ve spent hours trying to calibrate them to be exactly the same, but my iMac’s screen is natively darker and warmer than the LED monitor. Chris doesn’t notice, but it’s a crazy difference to me. I need to get over it though.

I also had a heck of a time trying to get Felix to sit still for more than half a second so I could snap a couple shots of these adorable kiddos. Finally a little Mac plug kept him occupied enough. Penelope was accommodating, though.

I’ve been through so many different photography backgrounds in the last two years!! Let’s see what we’ve had:

  1. Ugly closet doors.
  2. White curtains on a rod.
  3. Grey yardage sewn to a curtain rod.
  4. White unprinted vinyl tethered to the ceiling.
  5. White walls and a white faux floor.

I think that last one should do the trick. I hope.

 

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    1. kristin says:

      good idea with the tabletop! nice to have this sort of thing already built in for darker days expecially – i tend to experiment around the house for different projects, depending on who’s modeling and the colors of the outfit. funny how much differently you look at walls once you start blogging. ;)

    2. Melissa says:

      I sort of go batty about the lighting. Chris is so amazingly supportive of it all. I was SHOCKED when he suggested I take the two upstairs bedrooms and relegate the kiddos to the basement. SHOCKED.

    3. I am loving all white walls myself. I want to repaint our living/dining room bright white. This perplexes and disturbs my husband bc he doesnt believe in white…the mouldings are white and in his mind this is just wrong. Haha. But I love those all white bright almost stark walls you usually see in European homes but with great eclectic decor thats a mix of vintage-mid century/tradtional/modern.

      AWESOME backdrop. Its perfect! I am currently stuck with the side of my house which is bricks. Not too bad…but the light is always bad unless its evening. And my house is so small I’d have to rearrange furniture to use a wall. Haha!

      I can’t wait to see more of your new space. I know you’re so happy and excited.

    4. Melissa says:

      You should do a really light grey, Laura!! That would be super neutral and help the white moulding to pop.

      The bricks look fine! You’re at least very consistent. I’ve not been consistent one bit over the last 5 years.

    5. Nikki says:

      Genius. Best one yet!

    6. bmerry says:

      nice

    7. dana says:

      haha. too funny….I actually thought, in our next house I should just buy an IKEA table top like the one I currently use and put it on the floor. Ding! You’re brilliant. Great studio!

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