If you haven’t seen or heard in the local news lately, we’ve been keeping a little secret, and it’s finally finished and officially out of the bag. We’ve been hard at work renovating a Port Huron photography studio space inside the Port Huron historic building, Ladies of the Maccabees. If you were able to swing by our previous studio space in downtown, you will know that while it worked perfectly for what we did, we were really wanting to find a perfect space that had tons of character, and could be utilized as an office and artwork gallery space for Mulberry & Sage, as well as a studio space for our own photography businesses. When we toured the space inside the Maccabees building, we couldn’t help but get excited, and we knew it was perfect for us. It is a large room, with massive 16′ tall ceilings and all the original charm of the time-frame of when the building was built (1904.)  It has the original crown molding (coincidentally painted a sage color and white) and we love all the large, ornate doors and fixtures.

Don’t begin thinking though that it was all rainbows and unicorns. Luckily, Megan has an eye for DIY and a super-handy husband that happens to also love any excuse to bust out some power tools and yell “IT’S DEMO DAY!” like Chip Gaines. The space had very beat-up carpeting that was literally glued to the floor (we’re guessing around the 1970’s?) and some wall paper and wood paneling that was far too mid-century modern for our rustic taste. We’ll let the photos below do the talking, so you can see what we were working with before. The potential was so, so good.

The first thing that had to happen was ripping out the carpeting. When we were touring the space with the realtor (Chris Smith from DeLacy. He’s awesome.) we were able to peel back a corner of the carpeting and see that the flooring underneath was the original hardwood flooring. We pulled back a section by the original radiator, so we couldn’t really tell what condition it was in until it was completely gone, but we prepared for the worst case scenario and were pleasantly surprised with a beautiful solid birch floor in really great condition. The only caviat was that since the carpeting was glued on to the wood, we had to literally get on our hands and knees and use toxic chemicals and a razor blade and hand scrape every.single.plank. And by “we”, I mean our husbands. (We owe them huge!) Once that was done, Megan’s husband got to work with the sander we rented and sanded down the flooring, and then sealed it with a clear coat of poly. Once again, leaving the integrity and character of the space is important to us.

Another fun little tidbit, we wanted to paint over the wallpaper and give the trim and shelving a fresh coat of white paint. Megan started painting by herself, to quickly realize again that she still loathes painting. So she called in a professional painter, who just so happens to be an old friend of Megan’s from high school. She got married back in 2016 and booked Courtney to photograph her wedding, and Courtney hired the “new girl in town” Megan to be her 2nd photographer for the day. So technically, Kimber was the very first Mulberry & Sage bride. Kimber did a beautiful job painting, and it really made the rooms pop.

Megan got the bright idea to cover up the dated wood paneling with some rustic looking wooden planks that install on the wall and look like shiplap. (If you step into our space, you’ll quickly notice that we’re pretty big Magnolia fan-girls.) Both of us and the husbands spent a day installing the paneling, and it looks seriously amazing, and so unique.

And while Megan may have the eye for what “could be” in a space, Courtney happens to be the best decorator around. The final step was bringing in all the finishing pieces that really tie the rooms together. Both of us love antique shopping, so you’ll notice that modern furniture pieces are mixed in with those we salvaged from flea markets. That’s what makes a space unique, and since we’re in a historical building, it makes sense. Courtney did an amazing job putting it all together and decorating the space, and we’re so excited to begin meeting potential couples in this beautiful space, that was literally built with our own sweat (especially our husbands’) and love.

We hope you enjoy this Port Huron Photography Studio Renovation & Reveal. If you’re looking for a hometown photographer near you for wedding photography, we hope you’ll take a moment and browse our galleries and shoot us over an email. We can’t wait to show off our space and get to know you!

PS: If you’re sitting there wondering what happened to Kathryn, our third person in the trio of awesomeness, she’s been a bit busy lately and just gave birth to her 4th child, a beautiful girl named Olive. Courtney got to go to the hospital and take her newborn photos- check those out here! Congratulations to their sweet family of 6!