One of my passions is to relove old furniture and give it a new lease of life so it was obvious for me that I would stock furniture paint at Jessica Loves Gift Shop.  When Pammy Gruhn, the Creator of Frenchic Furniture Paint, sent samples over for me to try I was immediately hooked and really wanted to share these amazing products with my customers.  Pammy is so lovely and encouraged me to start running Workshops but space was very limited in my Shop.  My current landlord had a bigger premises down the street and I got the mad notion to go down and take another look which of course, with me being an utter Dreamer, led to the opening of Jessica Loves Studio on the 14th October just 6 months after opening Jessica Loves Gift Shop!!

BEFORE

Tuscany House, 92 North Main Street, Youghal needed a LOT of Reloving so it’s just as well I like a challenge… but I won’t lie she almost broke me at times!  It makes me sad seeing old buildings go unloved but I could see the potential in her and had that final transformation image in my mind from the very beginning.

It felt very dreary inside and I thought the first thing that needs to go is that dark coloured carpet which is not a good option for painting workshops anyway so I ripped it up pretty quickly with the help of my Husband Eoghan.

Outside my unit is the staircase that leads up to the Bathroom and I instantly knew I wanted to paper those risers to brighten up the whole space.  We carpeted our stairs at home so I never had the chance to go crazy there, but here I could bring all those creative ideas I had in my head and on my Pinterest Boards to life!! FUN!

Yes it’s all Fun and Games until you’re told the floor where you want to install your new sink feels a bit springy and after investigating a little further it appears the joists had rotted away to dust… enter Headaches and Stress!  But I had the best Man on the job and he repaired the floors and painted them, painted the ceiling and walls, papered my feature wall and even papered the risers on the stairs for me – an absolute Legend!

All was going well again for a while until a leak broke through the ceiling… now bear in mind this is all happening at my busiest time of year with Awards Ceremonies coming up in Dublin, London and Cork, an insane workload of craft orders leading up to Christmas, trying to organise workshops for when I eventually do open the doors to my Studio, preparing myself for a LIVE TV Craft Segment on Saturday:am and for a Talk in front of 30 Mothers at the Mum Talks Event in Cork and still trying to keep my Gift Shop, Blog and my Dad’s business running and also be a mother to my 2 babies… Phew!!! What a mental 3 months I had there looking back!  Absolute chaos but it was the best few months of my professional life to date and thanks be to God for the help and support of my Husband and Mother.

Anyway, the leak and everything else got sorted and we were finally ready to open the doors to Jessica Loves Studio….

AFTER

Tuscany House Transformation was a lot of hard work but it was worth it in the end.  The first Workshops held in 2017 were the Introduction to Frenchic Furniture Paint, Crafty Crates, Pumpkins & Prosecco and our Guest Hosts Michelle H MUA and Amanda Hogan of Sew Happy also held very successful workshops at Jessica Loves Studio.  You can see how we all got on in my Workshops Blog Post here.

The Plan for 2018 is to organise plenty more fun, crafty and creative workshops for you to enjoy.  I am currently in the process of trying to put in place a Child Protection Policy with Tusla and my Insurance Company to allow for Parent/Child Workshops and will keep you updated on that as soon as I get the green light.

Jessica Loves Studio will be open to the Public on Saturdays 10am – 4pm for Frenchic Product Sales and Reloved Furniture Sales.  You can also book in for Studio Space if you would like to bring along your own piece of furniture to paint – see here for more details.

For more information on upcoming Workshops and for booking details keep an eye on my Facebook Page.

If you would like to run a Guest Workshop yourself, please get in touch by email jessicalovesstudio@gmail.com

Thanks for stopping by and please stop by the Studio! x

Jessica