My studio space first started as a table in my kitchen. Once the kids were in bed I would get the supplies out of the garage and start creating. Time was limited so I decided to make a space in the garage where I could work, it meant I could leave things out and get started at any spare moment.
I loved having the freedom, but it was a garage. It had poor lighting, was very cold and I was creating amongst bikes, lawn mowers and probably a million spiders.
Slowly we carved out more space. We bought a shed and transferred the bikes and tools into it. I painted the walls white and had a window installed, even my husband started to eye up the space when working from home.
A few months later some insulation made the space unrecognisable, I painted the walls and the floor. I knew I would get it messy with all the paint splurges - its always a studio / workshop - we still call it the garage, so I wasn't too precious about the finish.
I'm a messy painter, I sometimes wear overalls other times I walk around in paint stained clothes. I will go out and someone will say "you know you've got paint on your jeans" ... my studio chairs were rescued from my neighbour who was throwing them in the skip, my table is currently a piece of old timber with legs attached, my palette is a piece of perspex that I can clean off periodically. It works for me and I love having a sanctuary to work in.
It's not an instagramable space, but when the sunlight cascades in through the window and I'm sitting there with a cuppa I find myself not quite believing I started off on the kitchen table.