Vita Boudoir’s new studio!

My husband and I moved to Colorado (Fort Carson) in 2011. We found our home, loved it and bought it. Even though it was just the two of us, and our animals, we purchased a 4 bedroom, 2,200 sqft home.

The intention was to have my studio in our home, which is why we went a little bigger than we needed. I worked out of my home for 3 years and then made the move to a commercial space. It was one of the best decisions for my small business and I am so happy that I did it. When I moved my studio out of my home we had 2 extra bedrooms and a large open loft. We used the spaces as a guest room, storage and an office but the spaces weren’t really needed after my studio moved.

Back in April I realized that the lease at my current studio was coming to an end. I had a few options; stay and renew my lease, or look for another space. I realized that I loved the studio I had been at for 2 years, but I knew that if I stayed it would limit my creativity and room for growth. So I began looking at commercial spaces with a realtor and between the sky rocking cost of rentals, and the underwhelming spaces in my budget I started to get discourage. I didn’t want to stay, but couldn’t seem to find a place that I loved. Another option for me was to find a space in budget and fix it up. The problem with that was the cost would be on me, and once I moved I would have to walk away from all the work done.

After a month of looking I had a crazy thought, why not move my studio back home?! I wondered if that would be a step back, but when I considered the overhead I would be saving, the hour drive a day, and the value added to our home with the remodel it just made sense. In May we started demolition and there was no turning back. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared until the day we finished.

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All in all, we removed carpet (and carpet accessories. Carpet stables are no joke), installed new wood floors throughout the upstairs and the stairs themselves, built a wall to enclose the loft, added French doors, painted all three rooms, added 2 ascent walls, new trim, moved all of the studio furniture from the studio to the house, and up the stairs, assembled the furniture and sets, hung new chandeliers, mirrors and wall art, swept and mopped (are you tired yet lol) all with just my husband and myself. Neither of us had ever taken on a project of this scale, or have much real education or experience but we did it and we survived it.

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I couldn’t have done any of this without the help of my husband. Both emotionally and physically he was a rock star. If you want to test your marriage, take on a 2-month, 700+ sqft remodel on a limited budget and see how well you fare haha. In all seriousness it was a great experience and our teamwork and communication has benefitted tremendously. I hope you enjoy it, and I look forward to seeing you in the studio!

Xoxo

Janelle