Art Studio Renovation in Leduc: Waiting on New Floors
My basement studio before the renovation—full of paintings, supplies, and one very loyal German shepherd.
When we moved into our 1960s home back in March 2020, the world was shutting down and I was pregnant with our second child. One of the first things we did was rip out the old basement carpet. The previous owners had cats, and no matter how hard we tried, the smell just wouldn’t come out.
That same spring, before my son was born, we also brought home a German shepherd—who sheds multiple times a year and has definitely kept our concrete floors well used! For the past five years, we’ve been living with bare basement concrete while we saved up for the renovation.
Despite the unfinished floor, we’ve made good use of the space. My husband hosts his Dungeons & Dragons sessions on one side, while I’ve set up my art studio on the other. When we first toured the house, I was drawn to the built-in cabinets and sink in the basement. I imagined my studio having its own tucked-away space, and that vision helped us choose this home. The other big draw? The large backyard—something newer properties in Leduc often don’t have.
The middle of the basement stripped to concrete—tools, a broom, and a work table mark the in-between stage of renovation.
A wider view of the unfinished basement, showing concrete floors, patched drywall, and the space waiting for fresh new floors.
The old cabinets are still on the wall, but the lower section has been cleared out to prep the space for new basement flooring.
I’ll admit, I’m nervous about how long everything is going to take. There are so many steps: prepping the floor, pouring the self-leveler, laying down Dricore, and then finally installing the finished floor. We’re pretty sure we’ll be going with laminate, but even that decision feels big after so many years of waiting. I’m also still debating whether to reinstall all the cabinets or to replace some with open shelving to store my paintings more easily.
After five years of saving and planning, it finally feels like the start of a whole new chapter in our home. Soon, instead of walking on bare concrete, we’ll have beautiful new basement floors that will make this 400+ square foot space feel completely transformed.
In the meantime, my husband, neighbors, and friends helped me set up a temporary art studio in our living room. I also did a huge declutter and tucked all of my paints neatly into drawers for now. Luckily, many of my paintings are currently on display at the Leduc Library and Leduc Civic Centre, which helped move a big part of my inventory out into the public while the basement is under construction.
My temporary upstairs studio setup while the basement is under renovation—still creating, just in a different corner of the house.
