I Transformed My Home Office into My Art Studio

A few of my acrylic and oil landscape paintings on the center wall of my yellow studio.

I transformed my yellow home office into my yellow art studio. My cozy, one-window,

100 square feet office was home to my racing medals, my100-mile ultramarathon buckles, plaques, other race memorabilia, and books.

I wrote my blog posts and my memoir in my office. I graded papers, and taught my university classes virtually during the first year of the pandemic. But I lost my adjunct professor position to the pandemic. Had I not lost my job, I would not have become a self-taught painter. I began playing with paint in 2021.

My office served as my painting space. I also painted outside in our backyard under the canopy during the spring and summer, and warm autumn days. In the winter, I painted in my office. In 2025, our kitchen became an additional painting space. In January 2026, I cleaned out my office and transformed my office into my art studio.

A few of my abstracts also adorn my studio. Old mail slots that we had are repurposed to store 8"x 10" canvases, paints, bottles of gesso, linseed oil, cans of varnish, etc. A light-weight 4-tier rolling storage cart, that I found in someone's curbside trash while on a run, is home to paints, brushes, etc., and two peg boards on the wall are perfect for tubes of paints and brushes.

And after throwing out a twenty-year-old love seat, I have space for a painting table and floor space for frames to lean against the wall.

The only new items that I purchased for my new studio were an area rug to place over the old parquet floor, and a clear vinyl runner over the rug to protect it from paint.

A panoramic view of my 10'x 10' studio.

So far, I have painted 2 acrylics, 3 oils, and 1mixed media in my new painting space. I no longer need to paint on the kitchen table. But on nice spring and summer days, I can still paint outside under the canopy.

Had I never transformed my office into my studio, I would have never painted my latest painting. It was inspired by a photo I took of my messy painting table after painting an oil landscape of a creek in a state park.

"Yellow Studio" 16"x 20" acrylic on Naples yellow canvas. Painted February 20, 2026. Painting no. 116.

Now I write on my painting table in my studio or downstairs on my desk in the family room, where my books have a new shelf life. And my racing medals, buckles, etc. have found a new home in my home gym, where the walls are also yellow.

Is there a room in your home you would like to transform into your home studio? Get creative and do it!

Check out my newsletter.

Follow me on Instagram and Threads

©2026