New Home Tour: Jason’s Studio

03/28/2013

Welcome to Jason’s office, music room and home studio.

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Disclaimer: I try to avoid touching anything in this room so this is completely AS-IS not staged while Jason was out on the tour.

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We both love this picture of Alianna on her adoption day.

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The portrait above is Jason’s great-grandfather Carl. We just called him “Grandpa Carl” for short. We love this photo of him. You can read more about him here.

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This closet is actually a recording booth with an angled wall. It has it’s own air intake, fan, light and solid door. The ceiling in this room is also sloped/vaulted like most of the other rooms in our house. All of those angles have something to do with listening to and/or recording music. Jason’s considering putting a cushion above the recording booth and making a little loft hangout.

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FYI, our architect is Ryan Thewes.

Related Posts:

New Home Tour: Kitchen

New Home Tour: Living Room

New Home Tour: Dining Room

New Home Tour: Den/Playroom

New Home Tour: Nursery (Alianna’s Room)

Room to Grow: Making a Bedroom for Foster Kids

New Home Tour: Master Bathroom

New Home Tour: Hall Bathroom

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Studio Murphy Workbench: In Progress

08/24/2011

Jason and I came up with an idea for a murphy bed style work table in his music studio utility room. We didn’t want something that would eat up precious floor space but he needed a work surface besides his desk or the floor for changing guitar strings, repairing effect pedals and soldering. It’s a fairly simple concept but I think Jason did a great job implementing it. It’s not a finished project yet, as you can see. He still needs to add drywall, mud it, prime it and paint it; and finish out the workbench with banding and add built-in hidden shelving and a power outlet.

The legs fold out on hinges like a drop leaf table. The table top is unlatched so it can fold down and rest on the legs.

It’s standing height or stool height. I have a specific kind of stool in mind… one of these retro chairs that doubles as a step stool. I saw one at a vintage store once but one of these replicas look like a decent option.

My old acoustic guitar is serving as a test dummy. We plan to add some felt or a rubbery soft surface to the table top that can be removed when he’s soldering.

I’ll be back to share the finished project whenever it’s done.


House Tour: Studio

07/12/2011

Studio

Jason’s music studio is located just beyond the living room and dining room. It was once a den with wood paneled walls but was listed as a bedroom when we bought our house. It’s gone through a lot of changes since then. The floors have been carpeting, painted (unsalvageable) wood floors, black VCT tiles, and most recently bamboo flooring. Last year we removed 1 of 2 closets and added a wall to create 2 different rooms. (You can read about it and see before pictures here.) There is now a main studio control room and a second utility room (sometimes called the mudroom, storage room, “loud room,” or auxiliary room.)

The studio doesn’t get blog mention very often because Jason protects his instruments and equipment like they’re his own children.

The poster on the wall is Jason’s great-grandfather Carl.

We got this vinyl (naugahyde) sofa at an estate sale. It’s a miracle Jason and I didn’t get hernias moving it. It weights a ton. Or close to it. The footstool is from craigslist.

Jason spotted this elegant wood lamp as we were driving past our favorite thrift store. We later rescue the shade off a hideous lamp at an estate sale.

Utility Room

The purpose of the second smaller room was originally for recording purposes but has also become a useful storage space for tools, paint, unused equipment and empty cases. And other random stuff. Yes, this room is certainly not done (nor is the doorway leading to it from the main studio room). But, here you go.

That door that leads to the back deck is wonderful! Perfect for moving gear in and out. No scuffed walls in the living room or hallway like our last house. It’s also very convenient for studio guests coming and going. And now that we’re keeping tools in there, it’s handy for outside projects.


Jason’s Studio Before

10/14/2010

I shared some pictures on Monday of the not-quite-finished main part of Jason’s studio remodel. I was able to find a few before pictures but the rest must be on a different hard drive. When we moved in the room was carpeted. (I can’t find any of those pictures.) Then our cat peed on the carpet various times in various places and we ripped it out and threw it away. (I hate cats. And carpet. Sorry to anyone that I just offended.) Under the carpeting we found that the original flooring had been painted some some kind of white something. It was dirty so we painted it with Kilz. Then we painted it chocolate brown thinking maybe it would match the rest of the house. It didn’t look good. (Again, can’t find any pictures …) Then, we decided to do the whole room in black VCT tiles. Cheap, durable, dark … good for a room that people are dragging amps and guitars and drums in and out of. As this room has evolved into less of a practice room and more of a full-blown home studio a real remodel was desperately needed. Here are some pictures from the previous state:

We love this gigantic, unbelievably-heavy gold vinyl mid-century sofa bed. Besides weighing as much as a car, it’s really long and in the original floor plan of the room there was only 1 option of where it could fit. Right smack in the middle of the room facing the door to the living & dining room.

Jason’s brother’s drums lived in the corner of this room for about 3 years.

Jason’s desk was fitted into the space between these 2 closets covering an impractically high window seat. Not conducive to proper studio monitor acoustics.

This is without a doubt Lucy’s favorite room in the house. She always keeps her toys in here. When Jason is working at home she’ll curl up on the couch or under his feet. Sidenote to a sidenote: I HATE this leather shag rug. I thought it was a bad idea from the beginning. I remember when Jason picked it out at the store and I was distracted on the phone with my sister and couldn’t say “What are you thinking? How are we going to clean that thing?!”

Lucy also loves to look out the backdoor. It’s a window just her height. I always imagine she’s waiting for him to get home from a tour. (Actually, here she seems to be staring at that guitar, doesn’t she?)

The original floor plan was this:

The new floor plan is this:

It’s amazing how much bigger this space feels now that it’s cut in half. Even the main space feels bigger than the old space. Jason took out of the closets which allowed us to fit that giant couch perfectly into that nook. The space behind it is half the impractically high window seat and half a ledge that will eventually be shelves on top. The smaller room, “the loud room”, will be used for storage and tracking. It’s still needing insulation, sound absorption and drywall; shelves; lighting; rug; etc.

I’ll have some finished after pictures whenever the room is fully finished. Don’t hold your breath – it might be a few months. Check out Monday’s post if you didn’t see the pictures of the mostly-finished main space.