It’s finished. Well,it’s finished to the point of use and it houses most of my props, decor and office equipment (sans laptop cause that thing is tied to my side most days). And I love it. A space for us to grow, get our creative on and run this furniture business. Run it to a bigger operation with more freedom to design our own pieces, hardware and whatever else we feel.
I’m not saying it’s perfect. You’ll notice no ceiling (convenient for hanging props) and the windows are missing frames but keep in mind that when we move on or need to make it a bedroom (what it will be in the end), the wall will be built out with drywall, carpet will go down, a closet will be put in and there will be no frames around the windows. I note this because I’ve had people crap on my happy days and this sort of lessens the blow if anyone should be so rude to do it again. It’s mine…ours, I mean, and we’ve never had a space like this which is the best part. And I know you are a supporter of goals and following your dreams (sounds like a PSA) so I have nothing to worry about. Enough talking. On to the pictures. I’ll show you…but please allow me to show you some before shots on how it got to where it is.
Here's part of the room way back whenThen we tore out the carpet and tile floor where we found that tar adhesive junk. Next was a lot of this...but it didn't do much so we moved on to leveling the floorwhich looked like thisNotice the tar still on the wall (very messy) but the drying process looked like some awesome view of the continents or as if we had a view of the sky in an Adam touching God's finger kind of way (or maybe that's me)and then it was gone, ready for us mortals Then came the floor paint (3 coats with one final coat since, after we painted the walls, had some of that color on the floor)...next time we wouldn't get the "anti-skid" sand type and the company lied about how much it would cover so it required a few more trips to the store.Greg is a master with drywall and this was one of the longest steps with all the coats and dry time then sanding and more coats and even then, this could have used more attention but we said "hey, it's going to be a closet one day anyway" and stopped.I chose what's called "eco grey" for the walls in the range of white paint (there are only a trillion shades of white). Sometimes it looks warm and other times cool toned. Hard to tell a difference between the floor white and wall white, I know.This is my "see you can tell a difference between the floor white and the white on the walls" shot.
And this is taking way longer than I thought so clap clap, on to the after (still a work in progress).
My dresser got to come downstairs (and Henry too now that he isn't afraid of the basement steps any more) and it's great for storing my hardware, paint samples, brochures, casters and a dozen other things. I put the only two area rugs I own down here. One that we got for our last apartment and the other chevron one I ordered, waited months to receive then waited some more when we moved into the house (carpet everywhere). I'm a happy gal that this one got to come out.That sawhorse table will be replaced with a better storage/work table piece (when I find it). We made it out of the closet doors and sawhorses we already had on hand.
Who knew all the random things I collect would one day be perfect as props. All of my lovelies are down here. They have not had a place to shine and having them all in one place brings a smile to my face. And I’m a poet and didn’t even know it. No, I’m loco and need to talk about my studio. (ha)
Just some things that make me happyMore happy things
Carboy made it down safe and sound Pay no attention to the junk in the mirror or my poorly handmade banner. The rug is so new it just came from the package and needs the wrinkles to release.Still working on this areaMy brass shade made it too. It's supposed to be in our bedroom but until more things get accomplished upstairs, it will remain here. I love it.My food blog props made it down too hence the cloth napkins and such.
What do you think? We’re working on a few more touches and I’m constantly changing where things go for function and aesthetic purposes but it’s my favorite space in the house. My mustard Chesterfield loveseat might make it down too someday. Then I’m never coming upstairs. By the way, we put the new feet on the larger mustard Chesterfield couch, sibling to the loveseat we’re keeping, and it’s now available in our etsy shop…along with our most recent finished dresser. Take a look-more to come about those later this week.
We're Annie and Greg Witkamp (aka the Wits, aka Em & Wit Design). We salvage, refurbish and design furniture and homes. We're taking a break from an online & social media presence (for the most part). Our time on the blog was memorable and fun, but we're off to other projects and opportunities. Most derived from our shenanigans here. We'll drop in once in a while, but just know we're off chasing our dreams, tackling goals and living a life we enjoy.
Our specialty is wood furniture in rough shape that we come across on craigslist, at estate sales, on the curb, in a barn, you get it. Those pieces are cleaned, repaired, refurbished and good to go for years to come. Sometimes we design our own pieces.
As of spring 2016, we decided to make this website, the Wits, about our remodeling homes and emandwit.com about the furniture. You can shop there, ask us questions, see our newly finished pieces and portfolio.
We sold our second remodeled home near Seattle in August 2018 and moved to Richmond, Virginia. Getting to Washington was a goal that took years to achieve, but we had an opportunity come up and we grabbed hold (again)!
You can watch our journey right here, there, and/or through Instagram.
-To see the projects we did to our first home, check out the home improvement page. To see our current home projects, scroll through the most recent posts. (I need to update that....)
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