Photo Essay: A Day in the Life at Walnut Studiolo

Come behind the digital curtain with us and enjoy this photo essay. We snapped pictures of ourselves at intervals during a typical day working and living from home as a small family business, on the eve of our 10th year in business.

6:52 am

Coffee first. Our method: French press with medium-roast beans. Breakfast was a fried egg, a slice of toast, and half a nectarine.

8:35 am

Giving a quick tour of the workshop and an informational interview with the team at Blendily, a fellow small business owner from Portland.

8:52 am

Hand-dyeing straps with honey color, which will later be cut and assembled into Lovejoy drawer pulls.

11:33 am

Finishing up the morning’s shipping (17 packages today). Geoff is hammering so Val is wearing auditory protection.

12:13 pm

Huckin’ plastic. Taking in a couple holes of disc golf between the house and the workshop before lunch.

12:40 pm

Lunch is our big meal of the day. We cook together and then sit down and play a game. Today: cribbage and taco pizza.

1:37 pm

Burnishing the leather of the barrel bag in the workshop (melting wax on the edges).

2:02 pm

Val spends the afternoon on the computer in the house, checking email, updating the website, bookkeeping.

2:05 pm

“Weeding is a lifestyle,” our farmer says. Taking a few moments to weed the laurel hedge before we cover it up.

4:25 pm

Punching holes in barrel bags to prep for stitching tonight (still in my yard work clothes).

4:34 pm

Winterizing the laurel hedge in front of the Walnut road sign with deer netting.

5:36 pm

Running the CNC router to cut perfect circles out of vertical grain Western Red Cedar for barrel bags and whiskey cases.

6:44 pm

Vegetarian dinner in front of the TV: cacio e pepe, green salad, red wine.

8:09 pm

Stitching up barrel bags while watching TV. Tonight we’re watching the architecture show Grand Designs on Netflix.

9:45 pm

Off to bed, thinking about the rain predicted for tomorrow morning.

Walnut Studiolo crafts original modern designs by hand in our Oregon workshop using only natural materials. We are a family-run company located on the North Oregon Coast. Learn more about us on our website.

8 thoughts on “Photo Essay: A Day in the Life at Walnut Studiolo”

  2. Hey guys.

    Just wanted to say almost every day, my wife and I play on the beautiful driftwood cribbage board I gave her for Christmas a few years ago. And my kids love when I pull out my little dice keychain and we play Yahtzee to pass the time in restaurants.

    Your company has really added to our quality of life. I just wanted to say thanks for your great work, congrats on ten years and here’s to as many more as makes you all happy.

    Bill Harper

  3. Well, just seeing those gorgeous leather drawer pulls in the first frame in “A Day In the Life” caused me to immediately email Val to get the ball rolling toward having those in our kitchen in Blaine! I think they’re the perfect touch for the newly re-painted kitchen in our 110 year old house with lovely fir floors milled right off our mountain. Wow! So beautiful seeing YOUR new kitchen — in action! Love the materials you’ve chosen.

    Congratulations on 10 YEARS — of marriage AND business, not always the easiest combo to manage but it seems to work extremely well for you two. Keep showing us how!

  5. Hey Valerie, You found a real nice patch of paradise to call your own, very lovely. -Best Regards, Bruce Miller

  6. Love the Photo Essay: A Day in the Life at Walnut Studiolo. It is so engaging to see how handmade products are crafted AND how life is lived. Thanks for sharing a sliver of what life and craft looks like at walnut studiolo. I wanna huck a round of disc and share a cup of mud (coffee) with y’all.

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