The universe knows what I need and it is sending donations. (part 2)

Setting up a studio with a tight budget

Well, as promised, here is part two of the “setting up a studio with a tight budget series". Today, I am going to tell you about the wood beams that I mounted to the walls.

I came up with the idea (read requirement) of having both a dry erase board and a cork board hanging on one of the walls of the room. While talking to people about it, a friend of a friend who happens to be a carpenter, suggested I screw wood beams to the wall and then screw things as I saw fit onto those beams. He said that this is often done to hang cabinets among other things. The idea is that you get three beams of the same length. One goes at the bottom (i.e. at the lowest point required by your plan) and the other two go on top. Now, what is special about this set up is that the beams that get set higher on the wall, are cut with a 45 degree angle longwise. Then, one of the beams does get screwed to the wall with the angled edge up and facing the wall. The other top beam just sits above it, getting the two angled edges to fit nicely with each other.

This set up is great if you want to keep heavy things hanging on the wall with the thought of perhaps moving them or replacing them at a later time. The only thing required is to “unhook” the top most beam (the one to which you have affixed the heavy thing you want to replace) and make changes to that beam. It is great as a way to limit the amount of drilled and hammered holes on your wall.

So, the carpenter's suggestion became a favour. He purchased a sheet of wood and cut the beams and the top for my work table. It all came to about $60 including the labour. When I went to get the pieces, I found he had already sanded them for me and even rounded the corners of the work table. The base for my work table is from an industrial sewing machine table that I found on corner not far from my apartment. It is all steel, sturdy and strong. I will tell you more about it and show it to you on part three of this series.

After measuring the beams and looking at what I wanted to use them for I decided that the “two beams with angled 

edges” were not necessary. The plan changed a little and I ended up removing the hanging top beam and cutting it in half to set it on the opposite wall. After quite a bit of measuring and planning, I am happy to now have beams on the north and south walls of the studio. On the north wall, right above my computer desk, I have the cork board that I made and the dry erase board. Opposite that, on the south wall, I have the baskets for projects and the shelf for my tools right above my work table.

Note: Places such as ReBuilding Exchange are good for finding reclaimed wood and for getting help cutting them to your needed measurements. The sheet used for the beams and table top that I have in my studio was not reclaimed and believe me, that is a story for another blog post. Stay tuned!

KQ