brawlers studio v2 (part 1/2)
happy i finally get to document this, because it means it's finally done. it is on my art thread because, as you will see, i used a lot of my artistic skills to bring this place to life. 1 year ago, i moved out of my dad's house. as much as i loved being there, it was time for me to enter the next chapter of my life. in my new place, i finally got a room just for my work. no longer did i have to dedicate my bedroom to being an all-in-one studio.
of course, though, there were many many other priorities to handle, so actually "setting up" my office was on the backburner. just needed to have a place for my PC to sit. the rest could come later.
i won't get into the details too much, but i was burned the fuck out from everything. and it really did not help that my creative space was still in piles and boxes. i dreaded having to spend my time in there, i was actively avoiding being in that environment. so at the beginning of this year, about 8 months after moving out, i decided to finally get it all together.
i would like to walk you through the timeline here, so you can get a visual of this journey.
here was brawlers studio v1. the room i spent 25 years of my life in. i don't have too many pics on hand, but brawlers as we know it was all made from here. all client projects, personal projects, etc.
working and sleeping in the same space really fucked up my body man. i couldn't sleep, because my mind was always "on the clock". severe stress, heart palpitations, many many all nighters. it became real bad. but im glad i had the space to do all this at all.
but now, i would finally have a space just for my work. one that i have complete control over. so, how did it look for the first 8 months?
it was miserable. Lol. all my stuff was packed away or in piles behind me. no art. just white walls. no speakers, cramped as hell. just a miserable setup but one that got me back to work as quick as possible.
i was focused on the rest of my new place, which needed a lot of loving. i learned alot about interior design, lighting, what i did or didn't like, and learned A LOT about assembling ikea furniture, etc., which was great! i could use all this newfound knowledge on my office. In Dec. 2024, i finally tackled doing my workspace. i watched a great video series by Matthew Encina on his workspace and his home office, which really inspired me on mine.
So, i measured my room and very accurately recreated it in blender. Then, i went onto ikea's website, looked through their products, and used their online measurements to see how they would fit into my space. this was a game changer.
i picked up a larger desk, a drawer system, and one of their Besta TV units for above storage (an idea stolen directly from Matthew Encina). Oh, and the doughnut lamp also from ikea (i have on in my living room as well but i loved it so much, i got another). It all fit exactly how i measured it in blender.
but, the rest of my mess persisted behind me. only decorations i had were those higround keebs and mousepad. my trophies for my dutiful service to higround. ironically, i have been using the same keyboard for about 15 years now, i don't really have an interest in mechanical keebs. anyways, it was time to start figuring out the rest of my decorations and junk. Unfortunately, no matter where i looked, i couldn't find anything that fit my space or my needs. That was when i decided to get a little adventurous.
In Matthew Encina's video, he shows off a lot of awesome custom work. I had not considered that for myself, but I talked to a carpenter i met through my dad, lightly mentioned some ideas, and he responded positively.
this opened an (expensive but worthwhile) door for me.
i went back to my blender file, and started designing exactly what i wanted. since my space was already recreated to accurate measurements, all i had to do was design my stuff however i wanted, use blender's ruler, and convert it back to inches. then of course double check those measurements in my real space, but yea. very simple all things considered!
these blueprints changed a few times, but i am including it here to give you an idea of how things were laid out.
here were my ideas:
CRT stand would elevate the CRT enough to sit under/level with the windows. the cubbies would need to be big enough to house ps2 games vertically (this was the standard of all the shelves). i have a large gaming collection that i would like to store tastefully.
shelves would need to hug the walls to maximize the room, since it is rather small. floating shelves (corner and above desk) would be painted white like the walls, but the floor systems would be darker wood, to complement the lighter wood that the floor currently is.
the floating shelves above the window were not included, i had changed my mind about them. and the poster placeholders were just to give me an idea of how much empty space i would have after all this.
so, i sent all the ideas and blueprints out to my carpenter pal, and waited...
and waited...
