My home studio, The Bunker

My home studio, The Bunker

“The Bunker” was my favorite suggestion as a name for my home studio, thanks to my pal “Crazy Joe” Nedjberger. It won out over some equally good suggestions like “The Dollhouse”, “Dollshop”, “BlackBirdCD’s Cave”, and so on.

The room itself is the fourth bedroom of our split-level house in Bothell, Washington, and the largest bedroom in the house. It was partitioned by one of the previous owners in the originally unfinished downstairs. For years it’s been the home office, craft area, and model-building space all crammed into one. Having such a dedicated room is one of the luxuries our modest house offers, but as is the nature of such a space it was rarely comfortable to walk into, much less work-friendly than it needed to be for my new career as a Freelance UX Designer and artist. Let’s face it, the hobby room is the last to be sorted out and organized unless it’s used on a regular basis.

Gone were the piles of half-started, in-progress spaceship models, paperwork and tangles of cables from long-forgotten computer hardware. That’s all out in the adjoining family room now, or in the refuse pile. That which is to be retained has been brought back in carefully, put in its appropriate place, as I re-configured the desks to be more efficient for my work.

Digital on one side:

TheBunker

And my workbench for painting and model building on the other:

EaseliPad

The feature image of this post shows the shelves that I use to display finished models, awards, and books that I turn to regularly for the work that goes on here. It still needs a little love, but that’s for a later date. The photos only show 2/3 of the overall space, the rest is dedicated to my wife’s craft station, and a large closet. Four people can be seated at the central island where the easel is sitting. It’s a good sized room.

Originally planned as a weekend project, the cleanup has extended into nearly ten days of careful re-organization using the existing furnishings. It will never look this clean again, but I’ve already noticed how the change has improved my own efficiency, and my own demeanor when I’m in the space.

If there’s any lesson to be gained from this exercise, it’s gotta be one of the most basic – “clean your room”.

2 comments on “My home studio, The BunkerAdd yours →

  1. I found your article on scratch building Moya from Farscape while attempting to find references of Moya myself. I’m considering making my own scale model of Moya (and wouldn’t mind making “Talon” either), but have not been very lucky in finding viable references. I don’t know if you’d be willing to share your prints or not? I just haven’t found much other than fan made stuff (in which I question the accuracy) and a few frame sills from the show, but aren’t very helpful. I’d very much like to hear back from you (if possible).

    1. Unfortunately John, I’ve since lost all of my material due to a devastating (and stupid) hard drive crash years ago. The only material I have left is posted in this article. You can still purchase the model at Federationmodels.com, and honestly that would be your best bet for reference short of going back and finding screenshots. Good luck on your project!

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