Every once in a great while, I find myself obsessing over some "thing" I think I have to have for my photography.

A few years ago, it was a lens. All I could think about was this particular lens. How great it would be. What I could do with it. But then, there was this other thing about it I couldn't stand - the price tag. No matter how great it was, I just could stand the thought parting with the money it would take to obtain that lens. 

It took me two years of talking about the lens to decide that I couldn't live without it. Well, actually, it took two years for my husband to say "please, buy the lens, I'm sick hearing about it." 

So lately, I've had my eye on portable flooring for the studio. I have to admit I prefer the outdoors over studio setups but I like both. Indoors, you get to be a little more creative. I get on the internet and begin pricing roll-up neoprene flooring. If you've never seen it, it looks like real wood but it's basically just artwork printed or painted on canvas and glued on a piece of neoprene, rolled up and then shipped to your door. Immediately, the floor envy begins. It's not that they're outrageously expensive but they aren't the real wood and, of course, I don't want to spend money if I can find something better for less.

Someone directs me to a tutorial for building "real" wood studio flooring and, bonus, you can build two moveable platforms for the cost of one roll-up floor. I'm now making arrangements to meet my husband at the lumber yard after work. I think he realizes, he'll be building these and I'll be, well, in the room.

Sunday rolls around and I make a request to work on the "floor." Within a couple hours of him doing hard labor and me wiping dirt off the boards, it's assembled and I'm asking for No. 2 to be built. I probably should have waited until he had stopped sweating and had a cold drink in his hand. Lesson learned. 

I'm ready to whitewash my brand new studio platform and I mention I want to move it.

"Uh, you can't lift this," my husband tells me.

This statement isn't ACTUALLY true. I can lift it but it takes about 20 minutes with breaks for me to carry this monstrosity from one end of the basement studio to the other. It is HEAVY!

Between my husband, myself and our two 7-year-olds, platform No. 1 gets the paint treatment and is exactly what I want (excluding its hefty weight, which I'll take over a heavy price tag for now).

Monday morning, I found myself still pumped from the conclusion of Phase 1 of studio projects, which included making the pictured banner, getting the pink backdrop shipped, hunting down a textured backdrop, a few new props and of course, the new platform. There's just something about seeing a project or two...or three to their conclusion. Satisfaction:)