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building BTS studio – Reveal almost final space

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Ready for the big reveal?! Inspection passed and we officially closed our building permit. that doesn’t mean the space is totally done to my vision but it’s a big step!

There is still a lot left to do, our punchlist for the next year or two

  • Final patch and paint touch ups for trim (there are a few spots on doors frames and trim)
  • Finish painting stairs and add runner
  • Hang press and gallery wall in entryway
  • Finish wall of built ins to hold samples, production supplies, & inventory
  • Organize massive amounts of materials and design archives that have been in storage
  • Add a few more pieces of equipment including a pressing table and roller for cutting table
  • Backsplash and lighting for coffee bar

In the meantime there are collections to be worked on and orders to ship. Thank you for following our journey on here!

Between the Sheets Studio reveal floor and stair trim view up the stairs. Neon sign in vestibule with words it was all a dream
BTS Studio Reveal. A marble topped table with metal base sits on the concrete vestibule floor in the entryway to the BTS studio. A large Monstera plant in a black put sits on the table.
BTS Studio reveal. The entrance to the bathroom is shown with metal bows and artwork hung on the walls.
BTS Studio reveal. Inside the bathroom a bronze towel rack in the shape of a woman hangs on the wall near the sink
BTS Studio reveal. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. View towards closed bathroom door and vintage door stop.
BTS Studio reveal. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. View facing towards open bathroom door. Our dog Merlin is seen in the foreground
BTS Studio reveal. Plants, plant stands, and vintage or new prints of vintage art.
BTS Studio reveal. Bottles, hooks, plant stand, and candle holders. Some of the art is vintage or new prints of vintage art.
BTS Studio reveal. Candle holder, business card holder, and crystal pyramids. View through studio window to outside.
BTS Studio Reveal. Alcove with butcher block counter top, sink, green cabinet, and mini fridge. The counter has an automatic espresso maker and an assortment of other objects. Walls are white and tile floors have the appearance of wood. A cabinet with whicker facing is in the foreground with wooden storage containers on the counter top
BTS Studio Reveal. A tufted grey chair and spotted carpet are in the foreground. Brown tile floor, whicker faced black wood cabinet is in the mid-ground and green cabinet with sink is in background
BTS Studio Reveal. Completed table has several small rolls of fabric and a black cutting mat. View is across the table into the studio, towards bathroom and nook.
BTS Studio Reveal. Josh fits final table top section into completed frame.
BTS Studio Reveal. A view down the studio stairs showing the black painted handrail and brass handrail brackets.
BTS Studio Reveal. DIY re-caned chairs sit on brown tile floor. Sewing machine and white walls are in background
BTS Studio Reveal. Framed artwork near coffee nook. A large white lamp is in the foreground. Sink is in the background
BTS Studio Reveal. Candles, crystals, and tarot on the black glass coffee table in the nook. View from the side.
BTS Studio Reveal. Candles, crystals, and tarot on the black glass coffee table in the nook. View from the top.
BTS Studio Reveal. Candles, crystals, and tarot on the black glass coffee table in the nook. View from the stop with lit candle.

In total this build started in May 2023 and we were able to close our building permit by January 2024. Pretty proud of us for going out of our comfort zone and tackling so many things for the first time with this project.

Ultimately taking the time off from designing/producing collections to build a home and find balance has brought me renewed joy in my work and helped me recover from burnout.

Gardening has taught me that seeds germinate in darkness – so it makes sense that creativity is born and can be recovered in isolation. Trees lose their leaves and hibernate every winter, so it makes sense if we need periods of rest to produce creatively. And I’ve also learned that we can travel even though we stay in one place – as the world and landscape has changed around me I have been grounded and grown at the same time.

So stay tuned as we post updates on other projects as we ready the space. We still need a few more things to get up and running before we can begin proper in house production but we’re well on our way there. I can’t wait to begin to bring new collections and restocks to life once it’s all done.

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

building BTS studio – bathroom & door

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View facing towards open bathroom door. Our dog Merlin is seen in the foreground

Painting bathroom door and trim

We could have gone the easy route with a pre-hung door for the studio build… but no I really wanted to have a door with half glass since this bathroom only has one tiny window. Most of the prehung versions I found had clear class but when I came across this frosted one it was perfect.

Guess what? I ordered it during the build, but despite knowing we needed extra room for the door to swing, framed the opening in the wall the exact size of the door. This was truly the only big mixup of the project, and I managed to sell the too-big door on marketplace and reorder a smaller size in the same style so it worked out, but yikes. Then despite being advertised as pre-primed, the door really didn’t hold paint the same as the pre-primed trim, so I touched it up after install and it all worked out.

We needed to paint the interior of door one color to match the bathroom and the exterior to match the overall space. I masked off the glass with tape/plastic and used the sprayer and a ladder to paint this outside while temps were still warm enough to do so and we finished up the project in the middle of winter after floors were done.

BTS studio bathroom door with frosted glass window in cardboard box on concrete garage floor
Bathroom door is propped against a ladder on front lawn. Layla uses a paint sprayer to paint door black on one side.
Painted bathroom door is propped against a ladder on front lawn to dry. Forested area in background.
Close up of painted bathroom door propped against a ladder on front lawn to dry. Forested area in background.
Painted bathroom door is propped against a ladder on front lawn to dry. Cardboard and other painting supplies are on the lawn,
Black painted bathroom door drying on cardboard on garage floor. Matching trim pieces lie next to it.
Bathroom door is laying on cardboard on front lawn. Green painted side is drying. Coffee nook cabinet is next to door and is also in processes of being painted green.
Bathroom trim, bead board, and cabinet face are set on cardboard on front lawn after being painted green
Green painted bathroom door drying on cardboard on studio floor.
Green cabinet door and trim lay on drop clothes to dry in garage.

Installing beadboard

Beadboard wasn’t tricky to install, but there were some not straight sections of drywall along the floor that left us with baseboard trim gap, thankfully the two worst spots ended up being behind the toilet and sink.

Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls
Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls
Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls
Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls. Trim is added at top and floor. Plumbing is fit through holes.
Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls. Trim is added at top and floor. Plumbing is fit through holes cut in the beadboard.
Green beadboard is installed on bathroom walls. Trim is added at top and floor and along alcove.

Hanging door

To hang the door we had to mark and router out for hinges on the door frame, install that. Then make sure we marked same spots on the door *but with a 1/8 gap all around*. This is again where my measuring and marking skills saved us bc there was no room for error. Josh executed the cuts with a jig and the router and we literally cheered when it opened and closed and had the perfect gap and didnt hang crooked. I like to think this was more than beginners luck, his practice woodworking and my patternmaking background made it happen, but I would most definitely not recommend this to a beginner DIY’er!

Green bathroom door is set on top of a work bench in the studio. A router and jig is used to cut away for hinges on the door and frame
Green bathroom door is set on top of a work bench in the studio. A router and jig is used to cut away for hinges on the door and frame. The jig is shown.
A router and jig is used to cut away for hinges on the door and frame. View looking into bathroom with sink in the background
Josh hangs the door by screwing the hinges to the door frame and door.
The bathroom door is finished being hung.
Newly hung bathroom door is closed. Black painted side faces into studio
Bathroom door is propped up with a vintage doorstop. View into bathroom and towards coffee nook with chairs and coffee table.

Door handle and latch

Did you spot the brass bathroom sign?! Yes part of my vision had been an old office door, but none we found would fit this tiny space, so the brass sign and frosted glass give that vintage look to a brand new door. Next step was installing the handle and latch, equally as stressful as the hinges. Executed with a jig and we chose a matte black handle to match the door.

A special jig and hole saw are used to cut into the door to install the latch.
Josh uses a vacuum to clean up after cutting the holes for the door handle and latch
The jig is removed from the door, next the latch/handle will be installed.
The jig is removed from the door, next the latch/handle will be installed.View into bathroom shows cardboard on floor and a paint tray used for touchup

False wall & Alcove

Flash forward to the spring and we tackled the final item (besides touching up paint) which was making a false wall to hide the water heater in the bathroom. We used leftover 2×4’s to make a small frame to attach beadboard and trim in the same measurements as the space then painted and slid it into place. We also finished trimming out the rest of the space and had to leave a gap on the far end to allow this to slide in front of the baseboard/top trim on the back of the alcove. We also did some nitpicky trimwork that no will ever see in the lower section of alcove but that will cover the gap between tile and wall/ceiling (since the wall here is angled and not perfectly straight this was the tricky part.

False wall for alcove is built in garage using left over wood and bead board.
False wall for alcove is built in garage using left over wood and bead board.
False wall is set on floor of garage and trim is added.
False wall and trim pieces are set on cardboard on front lawn to be painted green to match bathroom trim.
False wall and trim pieces are set on cardboard on front lawn to be painted green to match bathroom trim.
View into bathroom alcove. Beadboard and trim are installed using a nail gun.
Detailed trim work in bathroom alcove
Detailed trim work in bathroom alcove. Nail gun, level, and t square are on ground.
False wall is installed in alcove
Detailed trim work in alcove using nail gun
Detailed trim work in alcove using nail gun
Bathroom door and false wall are complete.

We’re getting close now, stay tuned for the space reveal!

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

building BTS studio – cutting table and fabric storage

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Getting this studio space off the ground means a big piece of equipment that I’ve never had before – a cutting table. Part of the reason for a space this big was to be able to house this exact thing so the floor plan was designed to ensure we had room for it.

Bringing fabric from factory partners/storage

Over the years I have stored the many bolts of fabric needed to produce BTS collections at our manufacturing partners’ factories and in storage units first in NYC and then in the Hudson Valley. Building the studio space for Between the Sheets and purchasing the cutting table, finally created an area to store fabric in our own space, and not have to rely on rental units or factory temporary storage.

BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. The interior of a garage i shown with numerous bolts of multi-colored fabric stacked in cross-hatched layers. A shipping pallet is stacked with cardboard boxes containing the components of the cutting table.

Assembling cutting table

The cutting table came in modular sets consisting of legs, side pieces, and braces that could be assembled into 4 foot long sections of table. I decided that a 16 foot long table would allow for cutting robes and other large items. Because the table has to be sturdy enough to hold hundreds of pounds of fabric, the frame and table top are extremely heavy (the weight on the shipping confirmation was over 1000 lbs). Getting the pieces upstairs was no small feat. The metal frame pieces came packed in boxes. They were heavy, but manageable. The heavy table tops were another story and required me and Josh to use a lifting strap and move very slowly up the stairs.

BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs for the cutting table are partially assembled on the floor. Area is surrounded with sewing machines, garment racks, a mannequin and other items.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs and sides of table frame are partially assembled. Area is surrounded with sewing machines, garment racks, a mannequin and other items.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs and sides of table frame are partially assembled. Our dogs Merlin and Hazel inspect the progress
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs and sides of table frame are partially assembled. View is from the far end of the table, looking towards bathroom and coffee nook
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs and sides of table frame are almost entirely assembled. View is from the far end of the table, looking towards bathroom and coffee nook
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs and sides of table frame are almost entirely assembled. View is from end of the table near coffee nook, looking towards opposite wall and stairs.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Legs and sides of table frame are assembled. Pieces of the wooden table top are stacked on the floor.

Josh assembled the frame piece, by piece, bolting the legs, sides, braces, and a rail for a fabric spreader together. The table, 16 feet in total length, was built of four interconnecting sections of 4 feet each. After the frame was assembled we brought up the sections of laminated table top and placed them into the frame.

BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Josh fits sections of table top into the completed metal frame.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Josh fits final table top section into completed frame.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Completed table has several small rolls of fabric and a black cutting mat. View is across the table into the studio, towards bathroom and nook.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Completed table has several small rolls of fabric, a black cutting mat, a fabric covered box, and several other items. View faces sewing machines, a mannequin, storage shelf, and a skylight.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Completed table has several small rolls of fabric and a black cutting mat. View is across the table towards skylights
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Completed table has several small rolls of fabric. Yellow vacuum is in foreground and smaller table with computer is at end of table.

Loading with fabric underneath

After the table was fully assembled, with the top securely fastened, we started carrying all of the rolls of fabric to the studio from where they had been temporarily staged in the garage. Fabric rolls were organized and stacked under the table.

BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Completed table rolls of fabric on top and loaded underneath. Several rolls of fabric are on the floor next to the table.
BTS Studio Cutting Table and Fabric Storage. Completed table has rolls of fabric on top and many rolls are stacked underneath.

Want to see all the stages of building our new BTS HQ in the Hudson Valley? Find the whole series here BTS Studio Build

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Between the Sheets Inc – purveyors of luxury lingerie, designer loungewear, and luxurious lifestyle products brings you a blog about our brands, collections, and life’s simple luxuries.

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