When your pastime begins to crowd out people or spaces in the home, it may be time to think about creating a special hobby room. Hobbies help reduce stress through creativity and escape, so consider this project beneficial to your overall well being. Here are the key points of planning for a hobby room:
Find Space
There’s two options for housing your hobby room: repurpose existing space or build it new. If your budget can’t accommodate a room addition or new outbuilding, then take a look around your home with a creative eye.
Carving out space in the basement, attic or garage is a good starting point. Walls can be erected to make the room, or in the case of a large garage, maybe a loft space above the cars. Clearing room for the studio is a perfect excuse to clean out and organize these areas notorious for holding our clutter (and a garage sale for these items can raise money to fund the hobby room!).
See a one-car garage converted to a quilting studio.
Repurposing a vacated bedroom is an ideal template (sewing room example above), but if that’s not possible, look for a large closet that can be emptied and converted into a work space. Also reimagine rooms in your home with a different use than what they’re labeled for. For example, the front living room in many mid-century ranch homes is notorious for being ignored in favor of the family room. If you can’t remember the last time someone sat in the living room, why not turn it into the studio of your dreams?
Imagine Work Areas & Storage
Once you have a space, picture yourself working in it. Picture the most important steps of your hobby, which helps determine what kind of furniture, surfaces and layout is needed. And here’s a designer secret: constraints create some of the most ingenious solutions. So don’t let a small space keep you from envisioning a productive hobby room.
Every hobby has its own tools and materials. Properly storing and organizing them properly is the make or break aspect of a successful hobby room, and where the most clever ideas come into play. Peg board walls for hanging, bins for stacking and craft tables with cubby holes (above) are the tip of the space-saving iceberg. Sites like Pinterest are custom-made for inspiring storage solutions for your new hobby room.
Think About Light, Utilities & HVAC
A woodshop with power tools will need additional electricity – can your current electrical panel safely handle it? A photo darkroom needs running water – is it feasible to run new plumbing to the space or is there another solution? A painting studio requires abundant light – if there’s no window, you’ll need to recreate daylight with light fixtures and bulbs. Most every activity – even a yoga studio – needs fresh air circulating.
Power, light and circulation are the unexciting but crucial part of planning a productive hobby room. For instance, you can spend money and time to make a studio for model plane building, but if you get glue headaches because there’s lousy ventilation, the space will ultimately go unused. Don’t overlook these invisible components of planning a room, and the more light the better!
For help with designing and building a hobby room in your home, work with the St. Louis remodeling firm Mosby Building Arts. Call the Mosby office at 314.909.1800 or contact theme here.