How a closet became a home ceramic studio

There are so many things you shouldn't write when starting a new blog on your site. "Tap tap tap - is this thing on?" being at the very top of that list, so let me instead quickly segue into telling you about how we transformed a closet in our basement to my homebased ceramic studio.

It all started when the world hit the grand stop button in March 2020. The place where I had been taking ceramic classes no longer welcomed humans for an extended period of time. By April I thought for sure we would be back. Well, fast forward to June, before my birthday, it also became increasingly clear that the big party we had planned for my 5-0 was not going to happen. It was a good plan too: there was going to be dancing and fancy food and probably even a disco ball. Not anymore. Which is too bad, because what is life, really, without a disco ball?

We had to come up with something, so we turned (very bitter) lemons into sparkling champagne when we instead rolled the contents of our party treasure chest into my new fabulous ceramics studio. 

Please meet our basement closet. She is small but mighty.

We took out the cabinets, and while, at first glance, it may seem like these were very nice closets, they had very large holes in them up by the ceiling where once the water pipes had run. Pipes we had re-routed into the ceiling for better headspace, not to mention much more user friendly aesthetics. 

The walls were patched and IKEA (delivery) came to the rescue and we put up a row of narrow cabinets along the left wall for a canvas-wrapped worktop. On the far wall - not that far when you think about it - we put in low, deep cabinets. The floor received water proof LVT, same as the rest of the basement. 

On top of the low cabinets, I wanted a gallery wall of sorts. Something that would work as drying space, but could double as a display for finished work too. We drilled holes in some 2x4 sticks of oak, and stuck 8 inch pieces of oak closet rod into each hole to act as shelf pins. Mostly because of how it looks. Later we made some oak shelves and they sit on top loosely so I can re-configure as I need to. 

Next up Frank, my husband, built a dowel shelf system from my design, to be used for drying bats.

While he was busy doing that, I built a rack with hooks to be mounted over my worktable.

Here is the finished space.

The rack of hooks were painted and attached to the wall above my work top. It is very useful for small storage and helps keep the work space tidy. For my work top, a piece of plywood got water-loxed to water proof it, and wrapped in canvas. 

Banding wheel Scale Wire cutter counter stool cabinet door style door knobs- discont. Brush and dust pan set

I spray painted my banding wheel. You are welcome. I prefer a neutral color palette where I work creatively. 

On the work top to the right is a wood frame we built and I filled it with plaster to use for reclaimed clay.

Here is the panoramic view of the finished studio. So clean. 

Track lighting pottery wheel gold frames pottery chair I upholstered mine with foam batting and cream colored vinyl cloth.

And that is how the cookie crumbled.

Still on the list: see how I can get that disco ball worked into my life. To come.

Below is a reel I posted about the studio to commemorate the occasion.