studio zerbey / one year in
Studio Zerbey has officially been in business for over a year now! We haven’t taken much time to reflect on that milestone, so I’m glad for the opportunity to do so here. Starting a new business is no easy feat, but one that has been incredibly rewarding for us so far. To commemorate, we’ll be posting a three-part series on year one. This first post will cover an overall look at our firm – what this last year has included and what we’re planning for the future. In the next posts, we’ll talk about work-life balance and get into specifics about the type of projects we’re working on.
+ Start Up: For the first few months our time was divided between new projects and start-up tasks. (The photo above was taken during our first week, before we had ordered our new work stations or set up our offices!) We took care of the basics first: forming an LLC, obtaining state and city business licenses (and later amending those documents after Kyle joined), professional liability insurance, health insurance, setting up a business banking account, creating a website and business cards (thanks to Anna!), seeking out a competent attorney, hiring an accountant and purchasing bookkeeping software. Those tasks weren’t necessarily difficult, but there was quite a bit of legwork to find the right resources, make the appropriate phone calls and review the different options. Actually, I completed many of these tasks during the first few months after Avery was born – ahh, maternity leave for the self-employed! After we were all legit, we focused on hardware and software. Because we provide a professional service in lieu of a product, our overhead is rather low. That said, our computers and digital storage are one of the most vital aspects of our business. We chose to buy the best we could, creating an efficiency that could be passed along to our clients. Additional expenses included some office supplies, reference books and bulking up our materials library. Now that we have what we need, we feel like we’re running a pretty tight ship over here at Studio Zerbey and will have only minimal overhead expenses during year two.
+ Working Together: I was a little hesitant about what it would be like working together, but one year in we’re doing great. One of the big realizations we had is that having career fulfillment is WAY more important to how happy we are as a couple than any challenge or hurdle we’ve faced running a business together. We don’t always agree on everything, but in the grand scheme of things we’re always on the same page, playing for the same team. Last December, we talked about our strategies for working together and we’ve stuck to them. We each have our own office spaces and for the most part manage our own projects – though we also regularly collaborate or help each other out. In addition to dividing our work load, we’ve also developed a good strategy for dividing all those non-billable tasks. For instance, Kyle handles contracts and any IT issues, while I do the bookkeeping, invoicing and website upkeep. Again, these tasks came from a natural extension of what our individual strengths are, so there was never any squabbling over who got to do what. In fact, it’s a similar approach to how we handled the remodel and our work-life balance in general (which we’ll get into more in the next post!). Not only has this strategy worked well for us as husband-and-wife architects, but it’s an added efficiency that allows us more time to focus on our clients.
Our two offices, as of about 15 minutes ago. (I tried to use my camera’s timer to include myself in a shot, but the results were comical.) I think it’s funny how Kyle and I are on two different ends of the spectrum when it comes to office seating, but I really do love that yellow stool! Also, our two extra dining chairs serve as useful “spouse seats”. 🙂
+ Spreading the Word: We’ve spent a good amount of time this past year thinking about and brainstorming ideas for marketing. Right now, about half of our work is in the Seattle area and half in other parts of the U.S., which makes us think differently about how we promote our firm. Referrals and word-of-mouth are still incredibly important resources for getting new work, but we’re also exploring other avenues to get our names out there (such as Houzz and the Seattle chapter of the AIA). But after tracking visitors to our website over the last year, we’ve realized that our biggest marketing tool by far is this blog. (Hi!) We have had the privilege of talking to and working with so many people that came to us through the blog. Oh, and while we’re on the subject – a huge thank you to our clients. Seriously, it is amazing to work with so many smart and thoughtful people on a regular basis.
+ Personal Satisfaction and The Road Ahead: I don’t mean to sound like everything is puppies and bunnies all the time (we definitely have challenging days!), but overall we are making a living doing what we love and it’s hard to top that. So yes, personal satisfaction is high. That said, we’ve also worked really hard to get to this point in our careers. The timing was right, we made the leap and we haven’t looked back since. So what’s ahead for Studio Zerbey? We’re looking forward to expanding our list of projects and seeing some move into construction in the next year. Although we’re in a nice groove of just the two of us working from home – we haven’t ruled out the possibility of hiring employees or getting an office space at some point. Those are two major decisions and ones that we’d give considerable thought to before making any changes. For now, our focus is on the quality of our work.
+ The Takeaway: Prior to forming Studio Zerbey I read dozens of blog posts and articles on the subject, often inspired by what other people were achieving. This post is in part a means to share what we’ve learned in the past year. When starting a new business, it’s easy to just dive in and work, work, work so one of the best pieces of advice we can give is get organized! For us, we have a few essential tools: a shared Google calendar that has everything in it (work and personal), individual time sheets that are then referenced into a master file that tracks project fees and overall billing data and weekly Monday meetings to discuss the week ahead and assign tasks if needed. (This also serves as a good time to check-in on the status of each project.) In other words, the small stuff adds up. Don’t cut corners.
Finally, make time for the things that fuel your work. This is a hard one for architects and can be even more challenging when you’re wearing all the hats of a business owner (and new parent!), but being a creative person means constantly finding inspiration and ideas outside of work. And although we’ve been licensed for nearly five years, you never stop learning either. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking extra courses or reading every design magazine out there, but more about being aware of your surroundings, always asking why and how, and continuing to go down the paths that are the most fulfilling.
checking in
Somehow, we’re always busy. In the past, busy meant working on the house weeknights and weekends – often staying up late to upload photos and share our progress on the blog. Nowadays, even though we’re still working on the house (sloooowly), we’re working on Studio Zerbey more. And that work doesn’t necessarily translate to direct blog posts.
(Oh, you did want to read a summary of interior insulation options for mass masonry wall assemblies?)
Actually, I have several blog post ideas floating around in my head, but they are either time-consuming or not quite ready for showtime. I’ve also been reluctant to write a “we’re still alive!” post, but here it is. We’re still alive! Our one year anniversary of starting Studio Zerbey (formally, as a team) is this month and I’ve been thinking of writing a series of posts that talk about what we’re working on, what it’s like running our own business and how we strive to maintain a healthy work-life balance. We also have some new Studio Zerbey projects in the works that we’ll be sharing in the next few weeks.
…and behold, we are still making progress on the bedroom!
We haven’t made a decision on paint color, but I’ve narrowed it down to 50 4 shades of gray. Now I just need to get sample quarts and see how the colors look in the space. (We’re thinking something in the mid-tones.) And a big thank you to all the feedback we received on our last post – we’re leaning towards option 3 but are still undecided on a few elements.
Avery and I took a short trip to the east coast last weekend and when I came back a new headboard was waiting for me! This is a teaser shot, but we’re really happy with how it turned out. Of course, we’ll have to take it back out to paint and such, but we’re enjoying it in the meantime. (I’ll take photos and give a full run-down of how it’s fabricated in a later post.)
Finally, we’ve also been busy with a certain toddler. Avery is walking all over the place and generally very busy doing busy toddler things. She was too young to get into Halloween last year, so this was our first attempt at trick-or-treating. (And because she’s only 15 months old, her candy = our candy! Yesssss!)
We kept it simple and went to our neighborhood’s downtown area, but she was understandably overwhelmed by it all. It wasn’t until we got home and gave her a few bites of candy that she put two and two together. Sugar rush, weeeeeee!
master bedroom redo: making plans
Well, it’s been about 8 months since we first talked about redoing the master bedroom and in that time we’ve been able to accomplish…approximately nothing. (Besides lots of thinking about the bedroom, which I suppose counts for something!)
But we’re not giving up! Our plan is to make all the decisions and buy all the materials up front (what a concept!) and then just knock it out in a weekend (plus or minus a few days). Now that we host client meetings in our house, sleeping on a mattress in our living room might not be the best idea. (Although, I’m sure Avery and Bailey would love it.)
So, in the spirit of moving forward and making progress, I assembled three different “idea boards” for colors/materials/products/etc. Really, I’m just trying to establish a direction that we can get excited about. You’ll notice some elements that are consistent throughout and that’s because we have made decisions on a few things, including:
+ Flooring: in 2008, we refinished the original fir floors but they were really never that nice and have since been trashed (ahem, Bailey) again. So last spring we bought these Flor carpet tiles on sale. (Psst, I just noticed Flor is having a big sale right now!) They look a little darker in the photos but the thing I like is that they have hints of gray, blue and brown so should easily match any direction we go with. To save money, we plan on installing them as a “reverse area rug” of sorts, omitting any tiles that would be completely under the bed.
+ Bedding: the downside to owning a CA king is that it’s hard to find sheets. We have one set of light blue/gray ones that we plan on working with for the time being. We also recently bought a new dark blue/gray duvet cover from IKEA. I haven’t had the best luck with IKEA duvets in the past, but I must say I’m impressed with this one so far (and it was much more affordable than similar versions I’ve seen). Although I don’t own it yet, I’ve also been eyeing these coverlets from West Elm. I admit I’m partial to the yellow but think any color could work.
+ Headboard: the plan is make a built-in headboard from a sheet of maple plywood (which is currently residing in our shop).
+ Lighting: we plan on keeping the Artemide Tolomeo sconces and Modern Fan Co. fan/light combo.
+ Wardrobe: the IKEA PAX wardrobe will be staying but in lieu of adding custom doors (an idea we’d been tossing around) we plan on replacing the existing brown curtains and IKEA tension rod with something new and more functional.
+ Chair: I have a simple IKEA chair (that we bought in the as-is section years ago) that I use as a glorified clothes holder. (Y’know, for the stuff that needs to be hung back up.) It was pretty beat up when we bought it (for $5 I think?) and I don’t necessarily need to replace it, but then I saw this West Elm chair that Dana put in her bedroom and I WANT. Again, maybe it’s ridiculous since I rarely sit in this chair, but I’m thinking we could use it as extra seating when we have big groups over for dinner? (Also, Kyle says I’m good at rationalizing.)
+ Walls: part of the original motivation to redo the bedroom was that we hated our off-the-shelf “white” walls. First we thought we’d repaint to match the rest of the house (BM’s “Super White”) but we love the dark walls of the nursery so much that we’re now thinking more in that direction (though a bit lighter or less saturated perhaps).
Anyway, design options!
Funny enough, the biggest design obstacle I’m having with this space is NIGHTSTANDS. I feel like I have searched and searched (as seen on my Pinterest board for this room) but have yet to find the right thing. The nightstands shown in this first scheme are IKEA, but the actual color is a much brighter yellow and not quite the vibe we’re going with here.
I’m also still hunting for fabric for the wardrobe curtains (I’m thinking fabric will be a better route as standard curtain widths aren’t quite enough). I found this pattern on Tonic Living. In my mind we’ll do something with a small print and some color (but not too much!) so maybe this could work. I think whatever fabric we choose will help determine the wall color – in this scheme I’m thinking a lighter (yet warmer) gray to compliment the darker gray in the fabric. (The pillow is West Elm.)
In this second scheme, I chose a brighter, more playful curtain fabric (also from Tonic Living) with a more blue-gray wall color and these end tables from Target (which I think may be too blue in real life). In general, we like to use color for accessories and other elements that are easily changeable (like curtains and free-standing furniture), but color also tends to become a focal point so making the right decision can be tricky.
The third scheme delves a bit more into neutral territory, but there’s something calming about it. The curtains (we’d had to buy 4 panels) are from Crate&Barrel and the pillow is from West Elm. I found the nightstand on Makers Alley. (Anyone ever purchased something from there? I hadn’t heard of it before.) The concept is similar to our current nightstands (discontinued Offi TV stands that no longer fit with our bigger bed) and I like that, but I’m also thinking it could also be a DIY project. Though with the maple plywood headboard as a backdrop, I think I’d be inclined to make the box part a color. I suppose the good news in all of this is that nightstands are the one thing that could be added later.
So this is where we’re at. Design-minded friends, what do you think? Maybe there are some more options out there that we have overlooked? I would say we could go ahead and get started but I feel like we need to have a fabric or curtain picked out before we commit to a wall color. Oh, and then there are accessories and artwork. One step at a time.
FYI – I’m not being paid by anyone for the content in this post. Just hours and hours of good ol’ fashioned brainstorming and interweb searching.
the new fridge
Back in 2010 when we were remodeling our kitchen, Kyle asked if we should consider getting a bigger refrigerator. At the time, I’m sure I rolled my eyes and told him that our 4 year-old fridge was perfectly fine and super energy-efficient and took up so little space at only 24″ wide.
So that was that.
Fast forward 3 years and we now have a new, “I told you so” refrigerator. Ok, so the old one (a Vestfrost/Summit model that we sold quickly on Craigslist) was still working fine but it was starting to get cramped. Turns out, when you have a kiddo and work from home, you eat at home a lot more. Gone are the days of swinging by a coffee shop on the way to work or grabbing a sandwich at the deli around the corner. In other words, I eventually caved. So we went to our local appliance store (Albert Lee Appliance) to scope out what was available. We were specifically looking for counter-depth options that were 30″ wide and surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot to choose from. But it didn’t matter – in our hearts I think we knew which fridge we coveted more than any other.
Yes, we are architects and yes, we got the Liebherr [insert cliché here]. Or, as I like to say (with dramatic flair), Leeeebeeeerrrr.
But first, let’s back up to early September when our kitchen looked like this. Yeah. (By the way, all of the process photos were taken with my iPhone. Sorry about that.)
Getting the actual fridge and installing it was the least of our problems. First we had to tackle expanding the existing opening by 6″, which meant trimming the base board and metal ledge and detaching the pantry and sliding it down 6″. Naturally, there was an outlet that needed moving too.
…and then there was drywall patching (not pictured) and filling in cork tiles. Oh, and the new fridge has an ice maker(!!) so there was that water line that needed to be installed too.
Yes, the cork has obviously faded (that’s a whole other blog post).
I know Bailey, I know. The only saving grace in this whole ordeal is that back in 2010 Kyle had had the forethought to install the fir plywood panels in a way that would make a future expansion feasible. The panels that run along the top of the cabinets are actually one long panel to the left of the fridge and one short panel over the fridge and pantry. Therefore, only the small panel had to be replaced (the vertical panel remained attached to the side of the pantry). Bonus – we even had an extra sheet of fir plywood in the shop.
After the new piece of plywood was finished and installed (Kyle did a biscuited connection to the existing horizontal panel and then a glued connection where it sits on the vertical panel), it was time for a new piece of edgebanding.
Edgebanding is basically a thin veneer of wood with an adhesive on the backside that is applied using the heat of an iron.
It’s purpose? To cover things like this:
The banding went on easily, thank goodness.
After it had set, Kyle used a chisel to trim the excess off the top.
A little sanding, a coat of finish (yet to happen) and we’ll be done.
I didn’t have the patience to wait for the coat of finish (this project has stretched out long enough as it is!), so here you go. Looks like it was always there, right?
The handles, the handles!
Kyle used his metal cutting chop saw to trim the ledge. Six inches of fridge for six inches of art seemed like a good trade.
The inside is smartly designed too. I love that we can put gallon size containers in the door. (Also, don’t judge us on all of the beverages – we had friends over for fish tacos last weekend.) 🙂
Oh, hello big beautiful produce drawer.
The freezer is pretty straight-forward. There isn’t a ton of room, but we have a chest freezer in our basement for surplus or big items. Also, ice maker! This is the first time we’ve had one since we moved to Seattle! Will this inspire a renewed love for cocktails? Only time will tell.
The integral hinges have a soft-close (and self-closing) feature which is oh so gratifying.
It was a splurge, but we’re in love. Refrigerator love. (Kyle says “love” is a strong word to use when speaking about a refrigerator but I’m keeping it in.)
diy baby gate
When Avery started crawling, we bought a baby gate for the top of the basement stairs. At the time, I was looking for the least ugly option that would fit the opening. We realized later that not only are compression gates not the best option for top of stairs, but our stair width (36″) was at the upper limit of the gate’s adjustability. This meant there was a large amount of exposed all-thread, enough to make us nervous.
So, when I was at a friend’s house a few months ago I noticed they had a nice plywood custom gate. Fortunately for us, they also had an extra one. Perfect, I thought, we can get a custom gate without spending a crazy amount of time making one!
Of course, nothing is ever that easy.
First of all, the gate we came home with was really just a piece of routered plywood. It was also a smidge too wide for our opening, so Kyle had to trim it down (which also meant re-rounding the corners). Then, Kyle installed 2×2 trim on both ends (screwed into the wall framing and painted white) to mount the hinges and latch to.
The plywood had some blemishes and imperfections so we decided to paint it. Originally I voted for white and Kyle the dark gray of our interior steel, but ultimately we landed somewhere in between. (We were concerned that the white would show too much dirt and handprints but that the dark gray would become too much of a focal point.) The color is “Del Ray Gray” (Benjamin Moore). I like it enough. It looked slightly lavender at first but I think we’ve gotten used to it (or over it? Kyle says he’s still not a fan). At any rate, we’re not repainting now.
The hinges are stainless steel and self-closing, so we don’t have to worry about manually closing it each time.
On the latch side, we used a simple stainless steel gate latch. (We realize there may come a point when she can unlatch it herself and we’ll modify if needed.) The only downside to this latch was that with the self-closing hinges it was pretty noisy as the gate swung back into place. So, latch hack! Kyle had the clever idea to install heat-shrink rubber tubing (commonly used for electrical work) to dampen the noise.
The vertical trim on the latch side also provides enough of an offset for the gate swing to clear the handrail.
During the initial installation, we debated adding another latch on the opposite wall in the event that we wanted to keep the gate open. We didn’t love the idea of our pristine white stair wall having a latch wart on it (or the possibility that someone might accidentally leave it open) so we decided to wait.
But, after a summer of having someone sleeping in the guest room almost every weekend, we realized it was nice to have the option of leaving it open (and since it only happened while Avery was asleep, it wasn’t a safety concern). So we added the other latch.
Yeah, it’s kinda dumb looking, but we’re over it. The important thing is that we now have a nice-looking and safe gate that only took way too many hours to fabricate and install.
We still don’t have a great solution for baby-proofing the loft ladder. We currently don’t have any issues with Avery trying to climb it (she just likes to throw her toys down to the basement), but we know it’s something we’ll have to deal with at some point. If Kyle didn’t go up and down the ladder multiple times a day it would probably be less of a design challenge, but as it stands we need something that restricts her use but not ours. So, we’ll keep brainstorming.
Bonus! Can you spot the two photos with a cone-of-shame photobomb?
