Finally a Creative Space: My Music Room

The reason I bought this house to begin with was two-fold. I fell in love with the woodwork and leaded glass windows, but the house also has a 700 square foot, boarded up storefront that I eventually want to restore and divide it into two spaces - a first floor bathroom and laundry, and a large music room and performance space. I won't be working on the storefront for a while, so I turned the third bedroom on the second floor of the house into an office/music room so that I have a place to be creative.

Originally this bedroom was painted a peachy color that I liked because of the way the color changed with the light, so I painted the room a similar color - Benjamin Moore's Ansonia Peach.

Since I write songs and record demos of them, I needed a layout that would put the recording gear I use at my fingertips whether I'm playing guitar, playing and singing, or just standing at the mic doing vocals. I have to be able to see recording levels, the settings on my drum machine, lyric sheets, my pedalboard, and I need to be able to reach for a pen or pencil, picks, capos, etc. This was actually easier to accomplish than it sounds.

I had some laminate stack shelving I had used in the kitchen of my last apartment to store pantry items, so I reconfigured these and added a top made out of more white laminate and trimmed with some leftover oak shoemold. I reconfigured some more laminate components to make a slant board for my 8-track recorder, and a cubby for my reverb unit and mixer. Then I made a pedestal for the drum machine that will slide under the workspace shelf when I'm not using it.

The laminate workspace contains lots of shelf space below for writing notebooks, reference books, and smaller gear, cables, etc. I also hung a couple shelves on the walls above the workspace to prop up lyric sheets when I'm recording, and to hold picks, capos, etc. so they don't roll off the counter onto the floor.

One of my favorite things in this room is the lyric I painted on the walls as inspiration. Since I was 17 I have been a Springsteen fan, and the lyric I painted on the wall is one of the most beautiful, and most inspiring, I could think of ("Jungleland", from Born to Run).

We put one low shelf in the closet - at about 36" off the floor. Underneath the shelf, I store my PA and a few other things, while the shelf holds my guitars in their cases, so they are protected, out of the way, but close at hand when I want to use one. Perfect!

I put my desk on one wall so that I have my computer in this same room - this way I can look things up as I'm writing a song if I need to, or I can look up lyrics or chords to a song I may want to learn.

When we were installing the new electrical service and panel in, long before I really thought about the details of this particular room, I asked the electrician to install a surge protector that would protect the entire house. With all the electronics we use now, it makes sense to have protection right at the panel. I also use Fuhrman power strips for my gear because they are sturdy and reliable.

A cabinet for more storage, a radiator cover and small file cabinet finish out the furniture in the room. I found the loop-pile rug at Home Decorator's, and yes, the Frisch's Big Boy figure is the genuine article, if you must know!

I haven't had the time or the proper space to be musically creative in many years, so I am very much looking forward to using this room. It will be nice to be able to set up whatever I need, work for a while, and be able to shut the door, leave it all set up, and come back any time to continue working.