My crowd funding campaign to help me realise the dream of building a new studio came to an end about 6 weeks ago. I’ve been extremely busy with work, studying and also in my personal life so I’ve not had much time to blog.

Even though I did not entirely reach my goal I did just about raise enough to go ahead with the build. I am using a lovely local chap who has vision and ideas and talent, and coupled with his extremely green ideas on up-cycling we are aiming to build a very unique space.

I had two enormous Eucalyptus trees at the end of my garden which had to come down before the build could even be considered. They were each over 70 feet tall and growing bigger daily. They were very beautiful and it was pretty heartbreaking to take them down but they are not indiginous to this country and they grow like weeds. Once I had been told they could reach 200 or more feet when adult I knew I could not keep them. So a couple of weeks ago 5 guys came down and spent the best part of two days taking them down. It was pretty spectacular!

Within an hour I had more light in my flat and now they are gone my garden seems twice the size and is one huge suntrap!
We are slowly clearing the shrubs and then taking down the old sheds, in readiness for the work to begin in earnest in a few weeks time. Andrew who will be building it for me is hoping to be done by the end of August which is brilliant timing, as a new school year can then be seen in in a new studio!

It will be a good 4m x 5.5m which is about 3 times the space I have now, and I won’t be sharing it with a sofa and tv (I currently teach in the living room!), it will all be dedicated sewing space. I will have a ironing and cutting station and a huge central table for students to work at. I will have lots of yummy storage. I will have a cute burner to keep us toasty in the winter. I can’t wait!!

Obviously the picture above is just a cool picture, it wouldn’t actually be a very practical studio for me to work in, but I do like how it reflects the upcycled and found element that we are certainly aiming for. So far we have reclaimed french doors, two huge windows, we are using rafters and wood from the existing shed as well as having been donated a ton of beautiful oak veneered MDF by a local furniture maker. If you have anything we could use (2×4″, insulation materials, good quality shiplarch for cladding, please get in touch!)