Atelier

Lustado says she appreciated how resourceful the team was in using recycled and reclaimed materials rather than generating more waste during construction. “The finished building is much more unique and interesting than new buildings made with standard off-the-shelf materials,” she says. “It saves natural resources and is kinder to the Earth.”

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Before. The crew hung plastic bags from the ceiling to stand in for where the pendant lights would go. It was just one of the creative ways the space came together. “It was a unique artistic collaboration that resulted in this unique, one-of-a-kind magical creative space,” Guevara says.

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Graham took down the garage’s original redwood ceiling, planed the wood and reinstalled it. “My studio would not be the amazing space that it is without Ian’s amazing artistic, creative and woodworking skills,” Guevara says. “He was a major accomplice in sourcing high-quality wood material to repurpose.”

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Repurposed doors stacked horizontally serve as windows along one wall of the studio. Guevara and Graham scoured Craigslist and dumpsters to furnish the space. The floors are original concrete.

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The arched windows were recycled from a Hope Ranch home in Santa Barbara designed by architect George Washington Smith. Graham found an old copper still, cut it up and created a frame over the windows. He also created the live-edge table with a built-in planter in the foreground of the photo.

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Before. Here’s a look at the garage in the process of becoming an art studio. “We knew space and light would be key,” woodworker Graham says. “We never wavered from our ideal and achieved an art studio that became art in and of itself.”

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“What I like most is all the light and the ability to open the studio up to the outside,” Guevara says. “I have many days when my studio has butterflies and birds flying through the space.”Glass folding doors open wide at the studio’s entrance from the home’s backyard. To increase the ceiling height, the roof was raised to 12 feet at its highest point. Its gentle slope allows for water runoff. The exterior got new stucco and the entire studio has denim insulation in the ceiling and walls.

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Photos by Eileen RingwaldStudio at a GlanceWho uses it: Juana GuevaraLocation: Ojai, CaliforniaSize: 400 square feet (37 square meters)Designer: Vina Lustado, owner of Sol Haus DesignWith the help of designer Vina Lustado and woodworker Ian Graham, Guevara transformed her dark 1926 garage into a studio space filled with light, textures and color. It’s here that she paints and creates her encaustic art and mixed-media works. In the building of Guevara’s studio, everything except two structural beams was upcycled or reclaimed and given new life.

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