Creating Our Studio

The life of anyone who has done freelancing, side hustling, or working from home knows that the lines of personal life and deadlines can very quickly start to become blurry. For the last 8 years, I have been making films out of my bedroom. 8 years of cramped desks, terrible sound, and struggling to find a line between where work ends and life begins. So when Johnny and I finally decided to dive in head first to creating a studio space, I was excited beyond belief.

I wanted a space that would inspire us, but it also had to be functional to the max, with multiple backdrops, great acoustics, and lots and lots of snacks and coffee. I spent so much time on each and every detail of this space. Every color, wall, rug, plant, and picture was decided on with thought and care.

LIVING ROOM. I was determined for this place to feel homey. I know it is a studio, but a lot of the stuff I do feels homey and it was important I had a space to reflect that. Article provided us with the coziest couch I have ever sat on, and one of the most beautiful coffee tables my mugs have ever had the pleasure of resting on. I made sure to fill the space with a lot of personal accents to give it character, and was lucky enough to be provided with framing by Framebridge--this added so much personality. I'm a huge advocate about printing AND framing your photos, being surrounded by our experiences adds so much to my quality of life.

Stools. These stools by Article are stunners. Not only are they incredibly comfortable, but they're also well built and just gorgeous to look at. I've had multiple people already zero in on them and ask about them because they are that beautiful. I also can do a full work day sitting on them which I'm not sure I could say about any other stool.

Coffee Table. The coffee table strikes the perfect balance of modern and traditional, with a warm wood but a funky fun shape with legs that add a bit of extra flair. We've absolutely loved how it fits in the space, and damn does it look good with that rug.

Couch I get it, I've raved about this couch enough, but here is what you DON'T know about this couch. I've been eyeing it for over a year. But the idea of going with a new brand I knew nothing about and had only seen on instagram made me nervous. Especially with it being a larger (both in size and expense) purchase. It has exceeded every single one of my expectations. It is soft, and cozy, and the color is spot on. It is just small enough to work in our space, without overwhelming it, and don't even get me started on the camel colored leather. I die.

Frames. Once I had the furniture figured out, I really wanted to add some personal pieces to the space, and since Johnny and I take photos like there is no tomorrow, framing some of them seemed like the most natural option. Here's the thing, I have actually been big into framing stuff for a while, I love seeing our memories as I walk through a space. I love having my kids ask about different trips and actually remember them because they are up on the walls, every. single. day. I had, however, grown tired with the previous framing options I'd gone with, I wanted something new, and fresh and QUALITY. Framebridge was exactly that. SO freaking easy, so crazy stunning, and the quality blew me away. We blew up a lot of our drone prints to 30" x 40" inches and it is definitely one of my favorite features in the space. If you're looking for framing, go with Framebridge.

Blanket. Johnny and I are both originally from Oregon, and we miss it on the daily. Don't get me wrong, we love DC, but Oregon will always feel like home. This Pendleton blanket was the perfect touch of home for our space. It is SO warm, and cozy, and the colors are just muted enough and just vibrant enough to be the perfect accent for any space. I am already picking another one out for our house!

Coasters. These ceramic coasters also add SO much to our space. I found these to be such a fun way to bring in a bit more of our home state, in a subtle and artful way. They have kind of that retro national park vibe that I love, and it seems like this company makes them for all sorts of places. You won't regret getting a set of these.

Rugs. We bought most of our rugs from a local Afghan rug store here in DC. It was called Marco Polo Rugs and was literally the size of a Costco, filled to the brim with rugs. I could hardly stand the beauty of it all. I also buy quite a few rugs from esalerugs so if you're on a budget, I'd recommend giving their persian rugs a look.

Candle. We wanted the space to have a unique scent, so that every time we walked inside, it would feel familiar. We chose a black candle because, as you'll see in our kitchen, I love all things black, these ones made in Chicago give you a ton of options for scent at a pretty reasonable price for a soy candle. Plus they're beautiful, so....yeah.

Wire basket. I love having things on the coffee table to look through, but hate having to stack them and re-stack them just so afterwards every single time. Instead, I love stowing all of the photo books and knick knacks in a wire basket and love this one so much that I also have one at our house! It is so beautiful with the copper accents, and functional as well. Win. Win.

Floor Lamp. For lighting, we love this floor lamp from Ikea, it is cheap, and quality. We've had one in our home for 4 years and it has never had one issue. I'm crazy about mixing cool toned industrial with warm traditional, and so this was the perfect accent to balance out the room.

Planter. I couldn't find the exact planter we bought, but this one is identical and has great reviews and is cheaper, so I think it's the perfect option. I really wanted to stick with the black ceramic theme, and also wanted to give our fiddle leaf fig a little height so it could have more of a presence in the room, the plant stand did exactly that.

SEAMLESS SETUP. I wanted to make our studio space as multi-purpose as possible, so haveing a wall with multiple background options was a must. Mounting the seamlesses to the ceiling saved on floor space and we ended up loving how the different colors gave the room some pizazz.

Background/Seamless paper. This was was tricky. At first we bought C stands but didn’t love how much room they took up so we ended up on these Impact Wall Mounts which were way lower profile. For paper we used Savage (which is pretty much the industry standard).

PODCAST CORNER. Designing the podcast corner was a really fun project, I knew we'd be filming in this spot as a part of my patreonrewards, so I wanted it to function as its own backdrop, but it also needed to have utility for recording our podcast, and any voiceover needs we might have.

Table. I wanted the feel of a dining table, so that we could be a good distance from each other while recording and so that it would be multi-purpose incase I ever want to entertain in this space, I can easily remove the mics and use it as a proper dining table! I love this table, especially for the price, and feel like it adds a lot of warmth and character to this little corner.

Mics. We wanted something super easy to go straight into our computers so we got these Yeti Blue mics which are USB mics. Which make it incredibly simple to get up and recording onto your computer.

Mic arms. We used these Rode Mic Arms. They’re flexible and sturdy.

Cameras. We've collected quite a few film cameras over the years and have used them off and on. I'm always so happy when we do, and so excited to see what we've created once the film is developed. This Holga is a great starter camera if you're looking to start shooting film and is small enough to bring with you when you travel. We've had it since our first international trip together 8 years ago!

Frames. As I mentioned previously, all of our framing was done through Framebridge. I can't recommend them enough, it was a breeze and every piece came out perfect.

KITCHEN. I designed the kitchen to be its own backdrop since I plan to do a cooking series but also because I love to do filmmaking tutorials with cooking examples. I went with an all-black theme (all Ikea cabinetry), accented with the dreamiest custom walnut countertops. So freaking excited to start shooting in there.

Coffee Setup. This coffee setup from Fellow is a coffee lovers dream come true, with the adjustable temp gooseneck kettle, to the beautifully designed and amazing tasting pour-over Stagg system. The matte black of the kettle works perfectly in the space, and functions as both appliance and decor which is awesome is a small space. We use this grinder, and have absolutely loved it, simple & compact. PS, these are the filters we use with the system.

Coffee Beans. Now the key to any productive day is, of course, you guessed it, coffee. Johnny and I are both absolute snobs when it comes to our morning caffeine, so we decided to go all out. Our very favorite coffee in the whole world is by irving farms.

OFFICE SPACE. This area was actually the hardest to put together, I wanted optimum functionality, but I also wanted a calm space that was comfortable to be in. We got these adjustable standing desks from Fully, and they have changed the game. They strike the perfect balance between, function, comfort and movement.

Lights. We’re not studio lighting people. We love natural light. But if we were going to invest in a studio, we had to at least get one light. So we picked something that would give us a great look with just one light source which was the Aputure 120d ii along with a nice big dome soft box. The dome is massive but totally worth it for the soft light it creates.

Desks. These desks have been incredibly stable and flexible. They are so customizable, and the monitor and laptop arms make such a big difference in expanding your desk space and workspace flexibility. We went with bamboo and love the look and feel, and have become completley sold on the subtle cut out the desks have that allow you to get nice and close to whatever you're working on. We love how you can put in height presets so you just hit a button and the desk raises or lowers to a specified height. Amazing.

Chairs. We got our chairs from Fully as well. These chairs are incredibly functional and ridiculously comfortable. With adjustable height and multiple ways of sitting in them, we have enough ways to sit so we're able to avoid any back pain or discomfort during our long work days. We can honestly say that is a first for us.

Monitors. We plug out laptops into these 28-inch Samsung monitors. These are affordable as monitors go and give us a much bigger editing space to work with. The color match isn't quite as true as an apple monitor but for the price, we felt it was the best option.

Headphones. Johnny uses his trusty Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones that have lasted 3 years and hundreds of flights, he loves them and I am convinced it is because the noise canceling is so strong that he is able to pretend he doesn't hear me asking for some of his snacks. I just started using these Marshall bluetooth headphones which are quite a bit cheaper than the Bose headphones, and I love them. They are, first of all, beautiful, but also have really great sound and function smoothly.

Permanent camera setup. We have one camera setup at all times on a tripod. This means we can quickly be shooting whenever we need to with no set up time. We use our trusty Sony A7iii atop a Manfrotto Tripod . We then stick a magic arm on the tripod which allows us to have a video monitor rigged up at all times. We’ve been using the Atamos Fire Ninja Monitor (7 Inches). This rig has changed everything for us. It’s easy to move around and means there’s very little friction to doing a quick shoot.

Keyboards. We use the Apple Magic Keyboard (The one with the number pad) and love the lack of wires. The number pad is useful for certain editing and animation hotkeys.

Mouse. Iz uses the Apple track padand Johnny is experimenting with this Logtiech wireless mouse (and really liking it after about a month of lots of use).

Pegboard. We love pegboard! We tons of our hard-to-organize gear on these cheap pegboardthat we got from Home Depot. We added a bunch of hardware to make it customizable for all of the different hanging/mounting needs we had.

Planters. I found planters anywhere from target, to our local nursery, to home depot, to urban outfitters. I gathered as many different looks and feels so that they could all add a little texture to the space, and then I filled it to the brim with plants, because, duh.

Since we finished our studio, we've been able to cut our commutes out almost completely. This has been the biggest lifestyle shift I've had since starting a youtube. We are able to be back when Henry gets back from school, and linger a bit in the morning until right before he leaves. We've even been leaving our laptops behind for the evenings and weekends which let me tell you, is a first. I don't know that I even recognized how much work was seeping into life, but it was and it feels good to have established some new boundaries that allow it to a little less. Our life is still crazy, and we still work more than is likely reasonable or normal, but we've been trying to create room for more distraction-free moments, without electronics and notifications and buzzes or beeps. I've found that I'm laughing a little more, serving a lot more, and stressing...nope, I'm stressing just as much, but whatever, one thing at a time right?