before and after by Kate Pruitt 28

before & after: collaborative studio design

It makes me giddy to think about a blank slate space where anything is possible — within a budget, of course. This collaborative studio renovation from Kristen of Five Dot Design and a group of fellow creative professionals in Newport, Kentucky, is a great example of how far creativity and hard work can take you. They smartly settled on a very reasonable budget and factored in the amount of labor they would have to do themselves to stick to it before they began. The interior looks completely transformed; the red accent wall against the white, wood and black is lovely, and I love their use of beautifully restored furniture pieces to bring in character. Amazing work, Kristen & Co. ! — Kate

Have a Before & After you’d like to share? Shoot me an email with your images right here! (Low res, under 500k per image, please.)

Read more about the studio redesign after the jump!

Time: about 5 months

Cost: We decided the renovations would need to stay around $2000. That meant we would be doing the manual labor ourselves — ripping up carpet, chipping away old tile, painting, refinishing the floors — everything. In the end, we ended up going over by $500.

Basic Steps: The walls just needed a fresh coat of white paint — a clean slate. We all agreed that with all the photography on the wall, and knowing those images would rotate, we couldn’t marry ourselves to a color on the wall. Once we began to see the space evolve, ideas would come to us. Some worked, most didn’t, so we would try new things that popped into our heads. For instance, the gold checker floor came about after we figured out we wouldn’t be able to get the carpet glue off the concrete. The initial idea was to stain the concrete, but gold metallic paint is where we ended up. The teal buffet was going to go under the TV originally, but once we put the white table on the checker floor, a dining room of sorts unfolded, and the style of the buffet best suited the table and the entire look of that corner. The flat files were originally going to be put in the back for us to use as a workspace, but when we couldn’t get another idea we had for wall shelves to work out, we brought the flat files to the front to fill the space on the longest wall in the studio.

Be prepared to run an audible. There were many times we started to bring our initial idea to life, but found it wasn’t going to work, and we were able to find a solution we liked, in most cases, more than the original idea. Don’t be afraid to mix styles and be bold with your choices, especially if you have such an expansive space as we have in the studio. We also made “to do lists” every few weeks because we weren’t all able to be in the studio at once to work, and it was important that everyone knew who had completed what and what needed to be done before something else could be completed. The most important bit of advice I can give is to be prepared to eat, sleep and breathe a project like this, especially if you go the same route we did in doing all the work yourself! — Kristen

Members of the studio include

Kelly Ledford :: Cinci MakeUp (makeup artist)
Tiesha Frazier :: Event Elixir (event coordinator)
Kristen Becker :: Five Dot Design (custom invitations)
Jacalyn Mains :: JMM Photography (photographer)
Marti Thompson :: Marti’s Floral Designs (florist and event designer)

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28 Comments

Anni

So impressive that such a huge change is $2500… what a lovely job. The wood floors bring so much light and such a modern feel. What a transformation!

drae27

oooh. So excited about your checkered floor. Is is straight gold metallic paint or does it have poly over it to protect it?

J Markley

Excellent idea to play down the ugly black TV on the wall. Paint the wall black.

Bérangère Bouffard

What is going on on the wall between the two white armchairs with the great saturated wedding portrait? It’s simply amazing! Exposed bricks? Plaster? Concrete wall painted white with hatchings? What ever it is, it’s an awesome texture. Such a cool contrast to the simple composition. I like it so much I dragged it in my inspiration file. Cool space!

Elizabeth

Creative use of all the elements the space has to offer!! Great launch party too:) CONGRATS to you all!!!

Katie

Turned out very pretty! The console in the second after picture is so cute! Beautiful wood tones. I also really like the white chairs with the little red table.

Diane Kidd

Fabulous job! I can tell that you guys did a tremendous amount of work yourselves to get that kind of results with the budget! Creativity and Flexibility……..Amazing Finish!! Good Luck and Much Success! Diane Kidd, Kidd Interiors

Meredith Ericksen

I really enjoyed this before-after. Love the idea of a creative collaborative studio!! The red desk plus updated hardware is my favorite. Enjoy your new space. Meredith Ericksen, Tuscan Blue Design.

debbi siebert

kudos to your efforts; it helps us all to see a timeline and budget info for a reality check and to know we can do this; those wood flat files are way too gorgeous to be hiding; thank you for sharing

Aggie Burgess

Who wouldn’t want to have you all as their wedding team after stepping into this
dazzling studio? Impressive! Congrats!

Tania

Wow! I love everything about the after, can’t believe you only spent $2K. You’ve mixed many diff styles, textures and colors and it looks great. I’m so jealous of the flat file cabinet, what a great piece. Loving the contrast of the broadway lights over a more vintage looking piece. That wood floor is gorgeous.

I’d hire y’all in a minute.

Carl

Love the studio…I’m curious, is there a favourite location(s) to conduct indoor studio photography sessions?

Regards,
CReid from T.O.

betsy

I’m sorry Grace, I cannot believe d*s posted these photos. The apartment is beyond tacky and there are even boxes in the background of the living room photo! The quality of the posts should be more important than the quantity. I’m sorry to sound harsh, just trying to communicate my advise as a long time reader.

Teddee Grace

I cannot believe they painted over the beautiful wood of that absolutely gorgeous credenza or buffet.

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