Photography Studio Renovation Progress | Behind the Scenes
Seeing the Potential
During the search for a photography studio in Knoxville, I compiled a list of things I would ideally like for the space to have. At the top of that list was: big windows to let in natural light, two separate rooms - one for shooting & one for storing organized equipment, and an industrial type of building. These were all very important to me in creating a space that felt bright, clean, & organic because my ultimate hope for the studio was to create a place that could serve as a blank canvas for local photographers & content creators.
One day as I was driving through Fountain City in Knoxville, close to where I live, I saw an empty storefront with big front windows & my heart fluttered a bit. After going to see it, I knew it would need a good bit of work to transform it into the space I envisioned in my head, but it checked 3 of the biggest boxes on my list right off the bat.
The big store front windows let in lots of happy light. ✔️
The space was already separated mainly into two big rooms, with a small office room & bathroom as well. The front room to be used as the studio space and the back room to be used for storing lighting equipment, backdrops, & styling pieces. ✔️
The spot is an old brick building with concrete floors & I would later happily find out that above the drop ceiling & drywall, were raw wood rafters in great condition. The concrete, brick, & wood were all perfect textures to contribute to the industrial feel I was hoping for. ✔️
So, needless to say, we decided to move forward with the space and thus began the renovation process.
Dirty Work
The first thing we did to transform the space was take down the drop ceiling & dry wall. And by we, I mean, my husband. God bless him! Then, after pulling 567 nails and 999 staples from the rafters with a few of my favorite people, I decided that the rafters were going to stay as is! I loved the way the natural wood warmed up the space and added a sort of “modern hacienda” vibe.
My goal with the space was always to work with what it was instead of try to make it something it wasn’t. This is why I wanted to embrace the original textures instead of covering them up.
After taking down some other quarter round, wood, and such that was out of place, we painted what was left and exposed & things immediately looked so much better.
Embracing Texture
Similar to how we embraced the texture of the old wooden rafters, I wanted to make the diving wall into something that blended in more organically. The wall wasn’t original to the space and was painted plain white when we first acquired it. It looked fine as it was, but I wanted to add some more depth & texture similar to the look of lime wash.
We created a faux lime washed looks of sorts by adding several layers of gritty off-white paint on top of the white base layer in criss cross strokes, keeping it light & bright, but giving it much more dimension. In my opinion, the wall now compliments the concrete & wood that the rest of the original structure has. We weren’t going for a sleek, new construction type of feel so this helped bring the newly added wall back into the fold of the rest of the older building. Plus, it will offer a different background to be used for portraits & headshots in the studio.
Studio Finishing Touches
To finish off the front studio room, little touches made a big difference. Scraping the glass windows & door clean with a razor, adding trim to the textured wall, rerouting the ceiling wiring to hide the loose cords, swapping ceramic pendant lights for the big fluorescents, hanging gold rods & white curtains. With each small change the space improved leaps & bounds.
One sort of whimsical project that fancied up the space was converting what was once a receptionist window in the big wall into a built-in shelf to hold a potted plant or vase of flowers.
Stay Tuned…
I will be back to update this blog as we continue to make improvements to the space. Things are changing every day and my excitement for opening day is growing immensely. My goal is to have the studio ready for rental come January 1st. What a way to start the new year! I can’t wait!
Special Thanks
I am so incredibly thankful to the friends & family who helped (& are helping) me transform this space thus far into the vision I had in my head. I had ideas & dreams for what I wanted it to be like, but it was thanks to these people that it all came to fruition. Thank you Harrison, Tracy, Richard, Allie, Jordan, and Sara Grace for the time & the love & the dirty work invested here!