“I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THE PLACE NOW, PARTICULARLY the separate studio WHICH WE CAN STEP AWAY FROM WHENEVER WE LIKE” ~ CECELIA
STUDIO Although both Imelda and Cecelia work full-time, they spend their evenings and weekends sewing and designing for their homewares label Maker & Merchant. Having spent years lugging their sewing machines out to the old deck to work, they embraced the renovation as an opportunity to build a dedicated studio. Positioned along the back of the property, the self-contained, split-level pavilion includes a spacious work area with room for several sewing machines and a huge central table, in addition to a kitchenette, bathroom and office. High ceilings allow for optimum air flow and storage for their products, which are kept on laminated ply open shelves above a row of pop-out windows. “The older-style windows we used in the house wouldn’t have suited the studio, so we were keen to use pop-outs,” says Imelda, pictured next to a poster of Nick Cave by Howard Arkley. “We love their functionality and the black shadow lines they create.”