Sneak-A-Peek || Our Austin Studio Tour

I've been dying to share our Austin studio tour with you all and I couldn't be more excited that this day is finally here.  Before I get ahead of myself, though, let's talk about this move, shall we?  The only thing I can really compare it to is having baby.  In my mind, of course I knew that moving our family across the country, deciding to build a house from scratch, and deciding to shack up with my parents in Georgetown until said house was complete would be a transition, but I couldn't possibly understand what that would feel like until we were in the midst of it all.  It's the same thing when people try to prepare you for having a baby.  You are fully aware that you will be exhausted and emotional and all of the other things, but there is almost no conceivable way to really wrap your mind around it until you're in it.  So, here we were, two months ago, living in Austin (well, actually Georgetown) and trying to continue with business as usual.  Meanwhile, so many of my props and other resources are still in storage and we are trying to impose as little as possible on my parents.  It took all of about two weeks to realize Aaron and I were going to need an Austin studio space for work.

We searched high and low for an Austin studio.  We wanted something central or a little more north.  We found a lot of great studio spaces on the Eastside.  The problem with typical studio spaces is that they don't always have kitchens and can feel a little stark.  For shooting purposes we really wanted something that could feel warm and cozy and work for a variety of types of shoots. That's when we happened upon this perfect space which just so happens to be my sister and sister-in-law's guest house.  They just moved in a few months ago and haven't done anything with the space except to put some orphaned furniture pieces from their old place in there.  Here's what the space looked like before I talked her into letting us use it as a studio:

This is what it looks like now, after a little paint DIY and a big Hayneedle shopping spree:

One more time, because it's just so gratifying!

For starters we gave that extra tall 14 foot wall a major makeover with a pink coat of paint.  I knew right away that I wanted to swap the positions of the sofa and chairs.  The sofa blocks so much of that big window.  Plus the pink wall is much larger so it just makes sense scale-wise.  I think this sofa is the perfect color complement to that pink wall!  It makes me seriously happy.  There was so much wood and upholstery in the room with the chairs, the sofa, the tufted bench, and the ottoman that I knew I wanted something completely opposite for the coffee table.  Isn't this table the coolest?!  I'm obsessed and may just have to steal it back when our house is ready!  There's something about all of the black and white prints that really ground the pastel colors, too.  It makes it a little more grown up and sophisticated.

You know how much I love a bar cart!  I love how narrow this one is-- it almost doubles as a console table, but with a lot more storage and interest.

Photography by Kate Zimmerman

Shopping Guide:

Rug || Coffee Table || Sofa || Chairs || Bar Cart || Ottoman || Tufted Bench || Side Table

The Austin studio tour was done in partnership with Hayneedle, a virtual one-stop shop for every interior style and every room in your house!  (My words, not theirs... always!)