Turn Your Bedroom Into A Home Studio

We had a two bedroom apartment down here in Buffalo, and one of those rooms needed to quadruple as a home office/filming room/guest room/storage. We had to think a little strategically about the space. We wanted to create two filming areas for our YouTube videos, a couch section and a desk section, but the catch was the couch area also had to be able to transform into a comfortable bed for guests. We also didn’t have a ton of storage space, no extra storage unit like in Vancouver, so we had to get a little creative on how we stored everything. 

Instead of writing a ton about it (because who are we kidding, you guys are really here for the pics), you can watch the vlog if you want to see how the full project went down!

FURNITURE

VITTSJÖ Ikea Book Shelf

Monoprice Standing Desk Legs

DIY Desk Top

CB2 Sofa Bed

Signal Floor Lamp by CB2

Solid Teak Wood Stool - Round

Charge Station Shelf - FJÄLLBO Ikea

Shelves in Closet - MULIG Ikea

Storage Boxes - TJENA Ikea

DIY Brick wall pt.1

DIY Brick wall pt.2

We started out with a pretty bland and basic space. Because this was a rental, we really had to work with the carpet and trim color. We did get permission to paint the walls but that was about it. So we got to thinking on how we could make this a really dramatic, rental friendly makeover.

How to style a shelf, Buffalo Pegboard by Snack Paintings 

Originally we had the desk pushed up against the wall but in the end decided to float it which helped break up the space into two distinct working spaces. Moving the desk into this position also gave us a second area to film our videos with a backdrop that also doubles as storage.

This side of the room was the most important as it would function as the main set for our tutorial videos on YouTube, but it would also convert into a sleeping area for guests. The mic is on a boom arm that swivels from the couch to the desk without having to be adjusted. You can catch all the gear we use to shoot and edit out videos with here.

I really wanted a brick wall in the space, of course that is not so easy when you are renting. We used the Sorry Girls faux brick wall tutorial to create this foam brick and hand stenciled our Pixel and Lens logo on it. You can see part 1 of that project here and part 2 here. If you are curious, Pixel and Lens Visuals Club is our Facebook community we created for photographers and filmmakers to share knowledge, connect, and participate in photo assignments.

WALL COLOR

We used two wall colors in the space. The majority of the space is painted Cloud White by Benjamin Moore, and the faux brick wall is Black by Benjamin Moore. We would have preferred to use a less creamy white (like Decorators White) but the carpet in the room was cream, and the trim and doors were a warmer taupe. Since the space was a rental, we didn't want to get into painting doors and trim so we picked a white that looked more natural with the finished we couldn't change. You can see a full post on our fav paint colors here.

We painted the faux brick Black. We chose a matte finish to cut down on the amount of light being reflected off the wall during filming. Ok that's it! If you want to see how we put together the space and the thought process that went into the space you can watch the vlog on our YouTube channel.

BECKI AND CHRIS

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