The Studio

Our own Back Yard Mansion

This was the inspiration for Little Mansions Designs.  In 2007 we quickly realized we needed a community space as well as a separate space for my wife's violin studio.  After building this Tudor-style studio in our back yard people kept telling me I should make my design skills into a business.  So, here it is now---the exterior pictures of our studio.

My Wife and I each had a requirement.  Her requirement was that it have all leaded glass reclaimed windows.  Mine was that it have a tower....neither requirement made construction easy, but when we were done it was all worth it.

The Interior space is completely open.  Weyerhaueser engineered a large beam in the middle of the building that allowed it to be one big open space with high vaulted ceilings. 

 

The bookcase was built out of reclaimed wood from an old barn near Puyallup, WA.  The owners had bought the house to retire in...and the barn was why they fell in love with it.  They finally were forced to take it down.  I found them and they gave me the wood for free!  My favorite wood was the floorboards, which had about an inch of horse dung that had built up over the last 100 years.  But after cleaning and lightly planing with a dull blade, I found the most beautiful old growth fir...still in good shape, but with plenty of "beauty marks" from bugs, nails, and just the perfect amount of rot!

Community Space and Teaching Space were very important to us.  By spanning the space created by the tower and the lower wing, we were able to create a giant square in the middle of the building.  The 320 sq ft building with a small grand paino, has been known to host as many as 38 people for concerts, events, and recitals.