Home Sweet Studio

Studio with futons and a coffee table.
We were able to partner with AllModern to help us furnish the space, so pretty much anything cool you see in these pictures is probably from them.

TWO YEARS. This post has been almost two years in the making.

On November 1st, 2015, we got the keys to a stunning studio space in Minneapolis with 12 large windows and 3,000 square feet of original hardwood floor, brick, and exposed beam ceilings. It was incredible.

Dog laying on the floor in an empty office space.

Also: incredibly overwhelming.

This studio is literally three times bigger than the livable square feet in our small 1940’s house, and we moved in with exactly zero pieces of furniture to get us started. Bjork and I had never had a physical office before besides our kitchen table at home. It was a dream – but a dream that didn’t quit, considering we needed to reconfigure the space for new light fixtures, “walls”, and electrical stuff in the kitchen.

And the process still hasn’t ended even after six months, twelve months, and now almost two years of set-up.

I have been waiting to do this “reveal” until we were totally ready – you know, the day when you finally feel like everything is just perfect and your ultimate vision is finally achieved. But – surprise, surprise – we’re two years into our lease and that day has yet to come. I look around at this industrial-meets-modern-meets-practical space and I feel a huge sense of pride, and I can also easily spot anywhere from 750-1,000 outstanding projects that still need to be both started and finished. It’s beautiful and I love it AND I still have so much more I’d like to get just right. Gah. Is it just perfectionists that struggle with this?

There’s probably a lesson in there somewhere – something about how it’s the journey and not the destination? even in interiors, design, and the creation of a space? But that sounds too serious. This post is not to talk about lessons.

This post is to throw open the doors and say (finally, after two years), GET YOUR BUTT IN HERE AND HAVE A LOOK AROUND, FRIENDS!


Kitchen

Industrial kitchen space.

Obviously the most important place in the studio.

This is a hard-working kitchen that puts out at least 3 if not more like 4-5 recipes per week. There is recipe testing for blog posts, ingredient prep for videos, and lots and lots and lots of eating. The kitchen is probably the most locked in in terms of style – all credit to the chalkboard sign with the handwritten recipe for Magic Green Sauce (thanks, Heidi!) and the moose head on the doors which we still haven’t named yet.

I really, really love this studio kitchen.

Kitchen Style/Decor Favorites:

Lindsay holds a frozen chocolate popcicle in one hand.
Industrial kitchen.
Kitchen space.
Wooden spoons and kitchen items on a white shelf.
Industrial kitchen.
Woman chopping produce on a cutting board.
Chemex coffee maker on a counter.
Industrial kitchen.
Lentils in a jar.
Industrial kitchen.

Offices

Two women working in an office.

Our offices are all super open-concept, meaning that we’re tucked up into corners or against walls but no one really has a walled-in OFFICE office. So when I say “offices,” I guess I just mean the desks that people work at. It’s nice because we’re a small and friendly team, but it’s also not nice when you need something to be quiet or you don’t want people to hear you recording a podcast (Bjork), and tutorial video (Alana), or a nerdy Instagram story (Lindsay). Maybe someday we’ll build out real walls so people can have some alone time when they need to get right down to work, but for now, we’re making it work.

Speaking of offices. If you’re wondering if Sage has a little “office” next to my desk where she works as Chief Lazy Girl of the office, the answer is yes. If you’re wondering if she ever just kinda leans her head out of her ACTUAL HEATED DOG BED to get a drink of water without even standing up, the answer is omg yes and you would die laughing if you could see it. What a gem, that girl.

Office Style/Decor Favorites:

Woman sitting on a desk with a dog in her lap.
Industrial desk.
Cookbooks.
Woman taking photos in an office space.
Dog drinking from a metal bowl.
Woman sitting in a chair in an office.
Industrial office space.
Painted jar with markers.
Women working at desks.

Common Areas

Metal carts filled with cooking and baking supplies and containers.

Common areas is what I’m term-ing the remaining 2,000 square feet that is divided into either more desks, more meeting tables and chairs, workshop space, lounge areas, or video and photo shoot spaces. If you could see the whole thing you’d know that there is some division between these spaces (i.e. the doors hanging up behind my desk area, or large shelves acting as walls) but a lot of it just flows openly from one area into the next.

The downside of this is that sometimes it’s nice to have things formally divided.

The upside is that we can be and have been super flexible in our use of space. For example, when we host events – a branded dinner, a Christmas party, a workshop – we move tables and chairs and couches and use the space differently.

Other Favorite Style/Decor Favorites:

Women looking at a computer.
Camera taking a video of food.
Sitting area in an industrial space.
Women working to make a recipe video.
Kitchen utensils.
Women sitting at a table working together.

The Team

Of course, the studio tour isn’t complete without a shout-out to the people who fill it.

There’s Jenna, Office Manager and Organizer of All Things:

Woman sitting in a chair smiling.

And Alana, Video Specialist and Teacher of Video Stuff on Food Blogger Pro:

Woman taking a video with a camera.

And Krista, Shoot Assistant and Resident Hand Model Babe:

Woman cooking in a kitchen.

And Bjork, Ultimate Tech/Biz Nerd Who I Am Perpetually Crushing On:

Man smiling in a kitchen.

And me! Semi-Awkward Lover of Food and Stories and Photos and YOU.

Woman with her hand on her hip in a kitchen.

And duh. Sage – Chief Napper and Security Guard of Studio. (Answers to Sagerooney, Roontoons, Tooney, and Toons-Balloons).

Dog closing her eyes.

That’s it! Studio tour complete!

Thank you so much for checking in and now may I offer you a chocolate chip cookie or some chips + magic green sauce? You know how we like that sort of thing around here.

Huge thank you to AllModern for helping us furnish and transform this wide open industrial space into something usable and beautiful and all-around awesome.


P.S. If you want to come hang out at the studio with us and practice food photography, sign up for our workshop email notification list!

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