I could use input on my studio at the new house.

[TBM]

DH was going to surprise me by having the space finished, but thankfully decided to ask me first.  Whew! 

Unfortunately, that means making some decisions before ever setting foot in the space.  We are going to have some other things done to the house and can get the studio added on for very little, since they will already be there.  We just need to decide on doors, windows or both.

MY future studio is the room/building on the right


The
front entrance leads to a courtyard...front door to the left
as you walk in and and future studio to the immediate right.





The rest of the house from the courtyard....I want the studio to relate to it somehow



The
future studio is around 12x17, (the door is on a 12' wall, and there is a window on the wall opposite the door), and DH says that it had a
toilet and a sink in it at some point in time.  Weird space.  The sink hookup is in the middle of the 17' wall that faces the courtyard.

(sorry, bad photo courtesy of appraiser)



We planned to replace the door with some sort of modern door with glass, to give me a view of the front entrance, and I was hoping to have a view to the courtyard (which will hopefully be pretty some day).  We are going to put a sink in the studio for dyeing and cleaning up after art endeavors, but the hook up is in the middle of the long wall.

If I put a door toward the back corner, it doesn't give me much of a view, but it would be nice for taking wet stuff out from the sink without walking out into the middle of the courtyard.  There is enough room on either side of the sink for a full sliding door or french doors, or a window and single door.....I just don't know.

A window or door toward the front corner would afford me a view into the house too, but it seems kind of redundant, so close to the door on the entrance deck.


I am open to suggestions, but I want whatever goes in to relate to the rest of the house.  I care more about that than symmetry.  I am not big on symmetry anyway, but I can figure out something to give it some visual balance later.  I have plans for a decorative screen treatment on the front of that building, and could always do something similar on the courtyard side.


If you made it this far, thank you!  TIA for any suggestions.

[emjacobs]

I think a nice big window over the sink with a door in the rear corner would be nice.

[TBM]

Mar 15, 2013 14:53:52 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

I think a nice big window over the sink with a door in the rear corner would be nice.

That was DH's first thought, (before he went on a symmetrical/balanced kick that annoyed me-lol). 

Do you think that would look like it belonged to the rest of the house?  None of the other windows facing the courtyard are like that....everything else is very vertical and comes from much lower.

[emjacobs]

I think as long as you match the style the different size window would work fine. Plant a nice bush below the window and no one would ever think twice. My OCD / balancing nature does want to mimic the windows on the front across but I think that would tak away from the usefulness of the wall for working.

You would be doing fabric work in here correct?

[TBM]

Mar 15, 2013 16:00:12 GMT -5 emjacobs said:

My OCD / balancing nature does want to mimic the windows on the front across but I think that would tak away from the usefulness of the wall for working.

You would be doing fabric work in here correct?

Are you talking about the big blank wall from the front yard?  DH talked about doing that, but I reminded him that I need a full wall of shelves for my stuff.lol

It would be mostly fabric work, along with painting and of course, being on here. ;p

[emjacobs]

Yeah the wall on the front but I see your need for storage.

[munkii]

What about mimicking the room diagonal from your studio?



So modern glass door, larger than usual sidelight, window wrap on the corner, and then do solid panel French doors or sliders next to that. Would that leave enough room without interfering with the sink? Then you can put shelves/storage on the other side of the sink.

[TBM]

Mar 15, 2013 16:50:05 GMT -5 munkii said:

What about mimicking the room diagonal from your studio?



So modern glass door, larger than usual sidelight, window wrap on the corner, and then do solid panel French doors or sliders next to that. Would that leave enough room without interfering with the sink? Then you can put shelves/storage on the other side of the sink.

I would love that, but I think the window wrap might be a budget buster.  I will definitely run it by DH and see what he thinks. 


You have given me some other ideas....

[hausfrau]

Mar 15, 2013 17:26:25 GMT -5 TBM said:

Mar 15, 2013 16:50:05 GMT -5 munkii said:

What about mimicking the room diagonal from your studio?



So modern glass door, larger than usual sidelight, window wrap on the corner, and then do solid panel French doors or sliders next to that. Would that leave enough room without interfering with the sink? Then you can put shelves/storage on the other side of the sink.

I would love that, but I think the window wrap might be a budget buster.  I will definitely run it by DH and see what he thinks. 


You have given me some other ideas....

Would something like a bi-fold patio door work instead of just a window wall? Something like these: www.marvin.com/patio-doors/bi-fold-doors/ or www.nanawall.com/systems/folding. They may not be practical though if you want a good amount of wall storage inside.

[TBM]

Mar 15, 2013 19:39:21 GMT -5 hausfrau said:

Mar 15, 2013 17:26:25 GMT -5 TBM said:

I would love that, but I think the window wrap might be a budget buster.  I will definitely run it by DH and see what he thinks. 


You have given me some other ideas....

Would something like a bi-fold patio door work instead of just a window wall? Something like these: www.marvin.com/patio-doors/bi-fold-doors/ or www.nanawall.com/systems/folding. They may not be practical though if you want a good amount of wall storage inside.

 I looked into them when we were considering building, and they were crazy expensive. 

I think I need to come up with a design for a reasonable cost that doesn't compromise the look/feel of the house/courtyard.  Almost anything will be better than that building is now.


Deciding all of this now goes completely against the way that I normally work.  I like to get the feel of a space first, and designing it without having set foot in it is a little scary to me.  Especially since it is a space that is all for my use, and not anyone else.

[TBM]

Oops...I misunderstood, and the wall facing the courtyard is the 12' wall.

I think we might have a couple of options for the contractor though. DH is working on a drawing on autocad right now to see if it might actually work out.

We are both leaning toward adding a window on the door wall, kind of near the corner, rather than being a sidelite, and then around the corner having a window/sidelight and a single door. That would put it pretty close to the plumbing, but far enough to work out.

[house]

Mar 15, 2013 14:30:08 GMT -5 TBM said:

So DH and I were discussing this post and we were thinking maybe you could mimic the window wall in the center of this pic




on this side of the studio. So it will be like a mirror image of the window wall opposite of it.



And you can still replace the door with the glass sliding door.

My DH's first response was replace door with glass sliding doors and replace the wall (that has cinder block in front) with glass wall only. This way it won't be too matchy matchy but can still tie in to the rest of the house.

Another idea is to put sliding doors on both walls you see in the last pic above. In that way you can walk out as you wanted to from the sink.