Branded Design Photography Studio

426 Main Street Clio, Iowa

In July of 2020 my Husband and I started renovations of a 140 year old brick building in Clio, which would become the new home of Branded Design Photography!

I had driven by this historic site for years, always drawn to it’s architecture and thought it would be such a beautiful building to restore.

Photography plays such a large part in the preservation of history, I knew this was the perfect pairing for me and my photography business.

Blood, Sweat, and Tears….

We started working on the bones of the building first by repointing the front bricks, cleaning and reusing only the original bricks throughout. We removed and replaced rotten floor joists as well as ceiling beams that were water damaged, and built a new basement wall and access door to ensure it was structurally sound. We removed, redesigned and rebuilt the entire storefront including new doors and windows to allow tons of natural light in. We sketched out my vision for the interior and started framing in the bathroom, closet and bedroom. We removed the plaster from the bedroom walls exposing the original brick and re-pointed them. I designed my 4 tier, 14 foot tall closet to house my massive newborn wrap and layer collection as well as my client apparel. In the main room, we worked tirelessly to restore the original hardwood floors, leaving the authentic character marks throughout. We were also able to save the majority of the original tin ceiling by hand cleaning each tile and hand painting them.

There are many more details that went into the restoration of this historic building, along with countless hours, late nights and weekends of work by not only my husband and I but our family and friends too! In just under one year, the new studio was open and in use! I’m proud to offer BDP Clients this exclusive location to capture their own family history!