When I started Red Fern Landscape Design, our kids were babies and my office was carved out of a corner of our bedroom.  Since that first year I’ve had an office in each home we’ve lived in that was dedicated to the business – that has been wonderful.  Design work involves spreading out lots and lots of paper, so having been able to close a door and not have to clean up the dining room table or the bedroom each day was a big, helpful change.  Our acreage came with a number of animal outbuildings AND a heated over-sized garage in need of some serious TLC.  We plan on dividing the space into a woodworking shop, upstairs storage, and most exciting to me– my studio!  Thinking of having a separate studio space, away from the laundry and other household distractions is delightful.  I can imagine inviting clients to the property to go over plans or see inspiration, having an open house with other designers in the winter, and most importantly my daily “commute” to separate work life from home life. It’s not the most welcoming exterior right now!  And the interior… well, it’s pretty rough.  My amazing husband has been working to demo the “office” side of the building, removing over 50 years of various uses: dog kennel, lambing room, and fur drying area, to name a few.  While I love the history of this property, I’m excited for this space to have a new life as my studio.  In the middle of the demo stage, it’s pretty dismal right now!

The kids helped out with demo this weekend.  A wall came out, strange wall board was removed, flooring came up, trim was pulled off, and all sorts of debris cleaned out.  We worked hard!  Thankfully the weather was fabulous for January in Iowa.  This part of the project is simple – it doesn’t require much thought, just elbow grease.   Lots of elbow grease.  The renovation shows I love on TV don’t do justice to the time it takes simply to pull nails!

Over the next weeks (months?) we’ll be taking the room to its studs, removing every bit of wall board, ceiling, old insulation, and flooring.  After we’ve got it down to the bare bones, we’ll start putting it back together: new electrical, heat, insulation, and on and on.  The room has water already and the *potential* for a bathroom, which is super exciting.  Soon I need to figure out the layout of the studio and get a design plan, but for now we’re just clearing out, cleaning up and hauling away.  So thrilled to see the next chapter of Red Fern Landscape Design unfold- stay tuned!