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Building and design…4th Street Studios up next!

Summer at the 4th Street Studios will be a big one!

I’ve loved remodeling houses and designing unique features. In 2002 after living in France, we bought a house and I expanded my love for architecture and design by completely remodeling our house and adding a studio/workshop and 1,000 square feet of living space.  Learning about tile, stucco, wall texture and concrete was so much fun!

Since then, I have remodeled and designed commercial and residential properties for others but mainly for our own properties.  (www.MyAirbnb.blog) Most houses we have kept and rent them to short term guests that visit Laramie, Steamboat Springs and Austin, Texas.  My husband, David, has an eye for finding houses that are solidly built.  Together we come up with concepts and the personality of the houses and then I get to work with the design and bringing in the electricians, plumbers and framers to help out.  We do the rest!

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Some of our work.  Stained concrete floors and stucco exterior texture.

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Through time, design, hosting guests and construction have become my full time job and I love it.  We use recycled materials in all of our projects especially doors and bathroom fixtures and lighting when possible.

After purchasing this historic property in the fall of 2017, we’ve been finishing up work on other properties in Steamboat Springs and Austin Texas.  Now that we’ve got those properties where we want them, we are focusing on bringing this unique and historic property back to life!

 

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The front of the Austin property.  Main house and guest house before landscaping.  

We have enjoyed opening the studio to the public for workshops, an art exhibit and for jewelry and sculpture retail sales.  Jeff, the studio manager, has been busy painting and working on much needed TLC around the property.

We are bringing some features back to the house from 1915 by bringing back a claw foot tub, restoring all of the light fixtures, refinishing all of the wood floors and restoring the boiler heating system.

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The greenhouse after clearing out the brush. We are just getting started!
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From 1915, we will polish and reuse in the house. I love these!
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The neglected property.  Watch this transform into something special!

The barn has rotten wood and some awesome wood so we are reinforcing the entire building and then reusing original barn wood where we can and adding back electricity and insulation/heating to the barn for year round access.  This barn is a gem that was ignored and not seen as having any value but we are so excited to bring it back to life!

The greenhouse is amazing and we look forward to spending time and having guests over to enjoy this place all winter.

Give us some time and be patient as we work on this gem.  Enjoy making art when you can (see the Art on Demand Menu) and look for updates on our progress.  We look forward to sharing the property and hosting fun events in the future.

René

 

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