Artist and Professor Kim Krause met with a handful of contracting companies and chose Rock Island for a big project: Converting his art studio in an industrial building into a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom home with custom finishes for him and his wife, with the art studio (with its own kitchen and bathroom) moved to the lower level.

1 Rock Island worked with architect Eric Puryear on the two-floor renovation of an industrial space in Clifton. 2 We took the ground floor and the lower level down to the studs and then put up some new walls. All the mechanicals had to be redone from scratch: electrical, plumbing, heating and cooling. 3 Here’s a corner of the ground floor, which has an open-plan layout. 4 We built a deck and a three-season room, which opens out from the kitchen area. 5 Here’s the gourmet kitchen before roughing in, and after completion. The clerestory windows above allow natural light to flow in to the master suite. 6 Now let’s head downstairs to the art studio! 7 We started with raw concrete. It is now a well-lit haven with a gallery area, plenty of room to paint and store materials, and even a living room area and its own walk-out patio.

Ready for its Close Up

We finished the project in summer of 2020. All photos below by David Steinbrunner.