Don’t think you can manage to build your own art studio? Be inspired by Michele Byrne, who shares how she planned it, who she worked with, and how she saved money to make a dream come true.
How I Created My Dream Art Studio
By Michele Byrne,
featured in three PaintTube.tv art video workshops
Since embarking on an art career when I lived in Pennsylvania, I dreamt of having a dedicated art studio. I had my first studio space in my basement. I later moved it upstairs into my sunroom and then finally it took over my living room.
In July of 2020, when I moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico and started house hunting, finding a home with a studio space was my top priority. I ended up falling in love with and buying a 1945 adobe home with two bedrooms, one bathroom, and a very large back yard. From the moment I saw the yard, I envisioned building a studio there.
I settled on my home in December of 2020. I immediately started looking into building a studio. First was to get approval, since there is a city sewer easement running through part of my yard. I also started looking for a builder and a design for my studio.
Since I was new to Santa Fe, I didn’t have a lot of knowledge about contractors, permit laws, and building practices. For almost a year I planned the studio and looked for a builder. I had no idea how to go about building an art studio. I had always lived in older homes and had never been involved in new construction.
Through a referral, I met with an architect and showed her my ideas so she could create the blueprints. The cost was $1,000 and her team would make changes as needed. In hindsight this was a rather backwards way to do things.
I met with many builders. One tried to convince me to build it with straw bales and a mud floor. I read up extensively on those materials and decided it was not best for me. There were many more quotes from many other builders, none within my budget.
While I was plein air painting in downtown Santa Fe during all of this, a bicyclist stopped to chat. She turned out to be an architect and said she would stop by my house and help me with ideas. For example, originally the art studio was going to be a separate building. However, I decided it would be best to have it attached to the back of my home and add a second bathroom.
We worked together for quite a few months before she left with her soul mate to Israel; while some of her ideas were pricey and elaborate, some were good and solid. One was to have a hallway from the living room to the studio.
After many phone calls and changes, I had a set of floor plans and still no builder. I submitted the plans to the city and applied for a homeowner’s permit. This was one of the most complicated things I had ever done. Besides the fact that Covid was raging and no one ever answered the phones, it was a long, complicated, frustrating, and difficult process.
Then finally, my realtor suggested a man in the neighborhood who was thinking of retiring from building, but might do one last project. I called him and found his quote was somewhat reasonable and he had some good ideas, one of which was to install radiant heat, which I didn’t think was within my budget. We signed a contract, the permits were ready and they broke ground on January 31st, 2023.
Basically, it was two men that built my studio – Mazatl and Humberto. They are both originally from Mexico, so I listened to a lot of Mexican music and songs along the way. I also started learning Spanish (the Duolingo app is great).
Aside from everything mentioned earlier, there were so many challenges and issues that I cannot begin to list them all. The prices of wood and materials surged and the builder under-quoted. There were weeks when nothing was happening and no one showed up. The electrician didn’t call in the electrical inspection correctly and we waited a month to resolve that.
I tried to do as much as I could to cut corners. For example, I shopped in the “boneyard” of a retailer that sold unused doors and windows. My friend Mimi, a retired interior designer, went with me and I found a large clerestory window ($150), hallway window ($50) and beautiful outward opening French Doors that were leftover from a top-rate local hotel ($575). I did have to find a front door and two other clerestory windows, but the boneyard was a great place to start.
Besides having Mimi’s interior design skills (which informed my dream bathroom), my neighbor, Michael, happens to be a lighting engineer. He told me exactly how he would design the lights, helped me order them, and even gave me many lightbulbs and track lights.
While all of my neighbors have been great, it was quite terrifying at times, as a single woman who makes her sole living selling art and teaching a few workshops each year. I have no financial support and as the price of the materials went up, I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay for it all. I had saved some money from the sale of my house in Pennsylvania, but the cost of the studio was more than I had in savings and I couldn’t take out a loan because I had just mortgaged part of my new home.
As the months went on, the builder missed his quoted end date (September 1, 2023), but it became apparent that the extra time was a good thing, because it would give me more time to make money. Then Mazatl announced he was going to Mexico for Christmas, but I didn’t realize he’d be gone for THREE MONTHS!
But once again, the delay (while frustrating) worked out. Even though I hoped the studio would be finished by winter, I kept my plans to drive to Florida for the month of February to paint and teach art workshops. It was a profitable month and certainly helped to pay for my studio.
So now it is mid-July of 2024 as I write this and the studio is basically finished, but I am still waiting for the electrician to finish up a few things before I can schedule my last inspections.
In the meantime, I painted the front door and bench my favorite color (Mexican blue/Cuban Blue), but I have lots of indoor trim to paint and the landscaping is going to be a project for another year. There is still a lot to do.
My studio includes 20’ x 25’ of working space, a studio bathroom with a stainless steel wash tub, toilet, storage space, and a mechanical area that houses the Combi heater. The hallway from the house to the studio doubles as my office/gallery with long walls of track lighting. To the north of the hallway is where I added my master bath.
I am excited for the opportunities my new space will provide. I’ll be teaching workshops here, and will be part of the Santa Fe Artist’s Studio Tour in September. I also hope to have models pose for a small group of artists. The yard is nothing but weeds and an apricot tree right now, but I have big plans for it: The Labyrinth Resource Center is going to help me build a Walking Meditation Labyrinth and over the years I want to build a garden and an artist community space.
It has been a long journey, but when I go out into my art studio in the mornings, I cannot believe that I made this happen. Over the years I have often felt that I have “Art Angels.” The fact that I can make a living selling my art has always seemed quite magical to me. Whenever finances seem difficult, out of the blue will come some serendipitous event that helps me propel forward.
I feel like I miraculously manifested this art studio because it’s something that I didn’t think I could afford. But here it is!
I believe that if you want something bad enough, you can make it happen. You also have to be a bit of a hopeless optimist (which I am).
If you’re not going to dream big, why dream at all?
A Special Note
Besides my local friends and neighbors help that I previously mentioned, I am very thankful to the artists and friends who helped and advised me along the way: Jill Carver gave me the name of the paint she used on her walls (Behr – Arid Plains); Christine Lashley and Suzie Baker were finishing up their own studios and gave me tips and ideas of things to buy, including the Yukon Rolling Tool box; Joe Anna Arnette (may she rest in peace) left me her easel and the large storage unit that her father had built her many years ago; Albert Handell and Linda Wells stopped by to help me plan storage shelves for my bathroom.
Helpful Links
- Visit Michele Byrne’s website to learn more about her art
- Let Michele teach YOU how to paint with her three art video workshops (preview and learn more here)
- Listen to Plein Air Podcast Episode 107: Michele Byrne on Selling Art and More
