Urban Safari Studio - The Reveal!
Well, this is exciting! Room reveals are always my most popular posts, and oh how I wish I could do them more often, because I do love them so.
As you may know, I've been working away turning what was our old guest room into a calm, cosy, welcoming and organised, studio space. Well, that was the dream, but I'll let you be the final judges.
The room got a lick of paint using
- a lovely warm caramel colour that I absolutely adore. The walls get a hard time in our house - kids, deliveries coming and going all the time, so an extra durable paint is a must. I chose to use Dulux Endurance+ which is twenty times tougher than the standard matt finish.
I moved my juju hat into the room to give it a focal point and a bit of drama, which definitely does the trick (I'll be putting some art up in it's place in the dining room). I found a vintage smoked glass table with brass coloured metal base on ebay for a steal, which has replaced my white Ikea desk and it makes such a difference. The glass is reflective so helps to bounce light around and it doesn't feel heavy in the room even though it's substantially larger than my old desk and in a smaller room. I'm super pleased with it! Having a table that is not meant as a desk, rather than a traditional desk, also makes the room feel less formal, and the smoked glass and brass lend a touch of glamour. The extra depth means I don't miss the drawer space, and will force me to keep it tidy!
After maybe eight years of my
hilarious
husband offering to dispose of my beaten up old chippendale chair frame (found in a furniture shop that was closing for £10!), I finally got around to putting a seat base in it, and made some DIY mudcloth using a simplified resist dying technique, which I've used to upholster the base. It's super satisfying that it's being used after all this time, and I love it. I decided to work with the textured coating on the frame that I was originally going to remove, and have left it as is. And my husband has stopped trying to throw it away. Result!
My lovely brown and white greek key rug keeps it cosy, and I've curated a mini jungle on top of my metal ikea cabinet that houses a gazillion paint samples, art supplies and more. I also moved the vintage french coat hooks that were already in this room to another wall to hang a few plants from. I bought the cute basket back from our holiday in Formentera last year, with the intention of putting a plant in it, which I finally have done, and I made the string plant hanger using a brass o-ring I already had, with a little basket from Ikea housing a string of pearls plant. It's so cute and it literally took me less than ten minutes.
I borrowed a few things from around the house, picked up a few African inspired pieces from ebay, and this lovely wooden based cloche from Ikea.
I recently changed the door handles to these beautiful brass ones, which look so good against the wall colour and the colour on the other side of the door too.
I decided to add not only my new desk lamp, but another table lamp to the mix, because I really wanted to enhance the comfortable inviting atmosphere as much as possible. I'll spend a lot of time in here so I want to love being in the room.
I can live with the practical areas of the studio happily, now that I have it organised and rest of the room looking pretty!
The only thing that's missing is some music - something we've been meaning to sort out for years in the house in general. And I haven't decided if I'm going to worry about a window covering in here. I'd originally planned to have a roman blind, but as privacy and glare are not issues, I've decided to wait until winter to see if I want to add one or not. I have a pretty view of the garden (and neighbours gardens!) and an old school building that is now apartments, so I don't feel the need to block it out. Check out this blue sky - if only it looked like that every day too!
I am so thrilled with the final room - it's the first time in years that I've had an organised, calm work space, the first time ever, that I've had a beautiful workspace, and it makes me incredibly happy. Hope you like it too!
This is a sponsored post is in collaboration with
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