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  • Hi, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle.

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The Work-pad: Hamilton Productions

March 16, 2011

Good friends Scott + Sherri welcomed us when we arrived at Hamilton Productions, located in a loft space in an old shoe factory in the city of Rochester. Scott’s a photographer, and has been in this space for 13+ years. You can tell he has been there that long; it’s organized meticulously, and a truly customized fit for his craft and client’s needs. Sherri’s his girl, a local creative director; pleasant, creative people to spend a casual afternoon with.

Meet Scott Hamilton.

And Laika spends her days too. Not to seem like we only profile work-pads with dog-influence (like Hero Design), it just seems to happen like that:

Laika: Studio dog, friend to all.

Come to find, many of Scott’s resources for professional and personal productivity have been masterfully DIY’ed – from platforms carriage bolted to the exposed beam ceiling, to lighting units and filters (artfully displayed in the middle photo), to black-out curtains.

  • Hamilton Productions: Organization.
  • Hamilton Productions: Organization.
  • Hamilton Productions: Organization.

Just check out the openness of this space. The hardwoods and seriously ginormous windows of this 1,300 sq. ft. studio are probably enough to make you wish you were right here, right now:

Entryway to Hamilton Productions. Open and impressive.

As orderly as could be, the tools of his trade fill floor-to-ceiling shelves, and all of his need-to-have-on-hand tools are filed into an industrial workbench beneath the windows. His toys are glimpses of his childhood and inspiration. Clients like reminiscing when they see them too.

Childhood toys, fuel for conversation, subtle inspiration.

We’re obviously interested in anyone who knows anything about our new toys, but this visit wasn’t about that; several weeks ago we were introduced to (quite possibly) some photos of the most innovative, DIY-ed sink and shower set I’ve ever seen. I had to see it in person. I needed all of you to see it too.

Designed and crafted by Scott and Sherri, let’s look at this sink first.

A DIY'ed sink, made out of a school desk and 8mm camera.

The main platform is a desk – you know, one of those desks that you sat at when you were in elementary school. The surface is raised and locked in place to support the sink bowl. And the water? Oh, sure, no big deal, it just comes straight out of an old 8mm camera. Who thinks of things like this? Scott took the side of the camera off so that we could see the inner workings:

8mm camera, turned water spout. The casing has been opened here so you can see the inner-workings.

Yeah, he did all of that plumbing himself. I’m impressed, but again I was impressed just walking in the door.

But wait, there’s more. Did you notice the brick tile floor in that photo above? Sherri custom cut and laid that herself. She explained that the tile surface was unglazed when they worked on grouting – and to add authenticity, they were generous with the grout to let it graze the surface of the tiles themselves. Most of it was wiped away, but some remains and helps to make the tile feel like it’s been there foreverrrr. I see brick floors by Sherri in my own house someday, I’m that impressed by her abilities.

Next, the shower. Yes, there’s a shower. And aside from the base that Scott outsourced to have built in place, the structure itself was custom-designed and plumbed.

Shower and sink. True DIY living.

Curious about the sides of the shower? It’s constructed of 3’x8′ corrugated, wavy plastic (you know, you can find it at most home improvement shops). He lined the inside with flat, clear plexiglass so water drains right where it’s supposed to. No curtain necessary, it doesn’t splatter outside much at all.

Not only does the water flow from above out of a salvaged Kodak Safelight (ingenious)…

Water flows from an upcycled Kodak Safelight.

…but the temperature of the water is monitored by a darkroom temperature-controlled gauge. I’m told the key read is between 102-112 if you want a comfortable shower after a hard day’s work. How cool is this?!

Who seriously thinks about adding something like this on their shower? Scott. It's ingenious.

He also DIY’ed some custom storage using corrugated roofing material (also straight from the home improvement store) and created a space to store filing cabinets and archives.

Corrugated panels block off filing shelving.

Before we left, we did get a little Photography 101 lesson, starting with the meaning and significance of f-stops. Pete was the model… er… test subject.

Pete, modeling during our f-stop lesson.

I also had the chance to test out a really fancy pants lens on the Rebel. As an amateur shot with a foreign-to-me lens, I’m pretty happy with this shot, even if I’m only focused on his left cheek scruff.

Action shot of Pete while I test out a new lens.

Hope you loved the tour as much as we did. We’re honored to have been able to have seen and photographed this space firsthand!

And can I tell you how intimidated I am doing a photo shoot with a real photographer? Deep breath, OK, done.

If you’re interested in submitting your workpad for a future post, email emily [at] merrypad [dot] com.

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Work-pads

Emily
I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. I've been a freelancer writer for 10+ years and you can find my work on popular home and garden sites, like HGTV.com. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note.

2 Comments


Cait @ Hernando House
March 16, 2011 at 12:46 pm
Reply

I love that sink and shower! I have been trying to decide what kind of outdoor shower to build, and I may have to adapt some of those ideas!



    Emily
    March 16, 2011 at 2:16 pm

    Both the sink and the shower are awfully creative, right? I love the resourcefulness of all of it; so much of it (camera equipment aside) can be found right at the home improvement store.

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  • HI, I’m Emily

    Emily Fazio

    I'm a home improvement enthusiast, living a very merry DIY lifestyle. Follow me on facebook and instagram, or drop me a note if you'd like. I love notes.

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