A few days in the past, I posted the ultimate earlier than and after of the music room rework. However similar to the lounge, a easy earlier than and after didn’t appear to do justice to the method that this room has gone by over the past seven-and-a-half years.
The music room didn’t undergo almost as many modifications and stops and begins as the lounge. I by no means actually appeared to get began on the music room, however I positive had a number of altering plans through the years! I did have a few main initiatives that I did after which modified my thoughts about, although.
One explicit mission (the horse partitions) remains to be talked about by readers who, to today, want I hadn’t modified it. However in case you’ve learn my weblog for lengthy, you know the way that goes. Don’t maintain on to something too tightly, as a result of it may all change at a second’s discover till the room is completed. And even then, nothing is admittedly protected. ?
So right here’s the method that the room went by through the years…
August 2013
That is what the room appeared like once we purchased the home. Like a lot of the remainder of the home, it had ivory partitions, inexperienced carpet, and polystyrene tiles on the ceiling. The room additionally had sliding glass doorways that led to the again room (i.e., the sunroom, which now homes our laundry space, and the remainder is used for storage, instruments, paints, and so on.). The door on the wall to the left is the hallway (which was lately accomplished once more, and you may see that right here), and the doorway on the correct results in the kitchen (which has been completed for some time, and you may see that right here).
September 2013
The very first thing I did on this room, similar to the remainder of the home, was to tear up the inexperienced carpet, carpet pad, and tack strips, and refinish the gorgeous oak hardwood flooring that had been hidden beneath and guarded by the carpet for years. The ground was in lovely situation, and this primary time round, I refinished it with Waterlox alone.
September 8, 2014
The room sat just about untouched for a yr as I labored on the kitchen rework. Then I lastly determined that I needed sliding doorways to switch the sliding glass doorways with sliding doorways utilizing two strong wooden doorways that I had faraway from different areas of the home. Whereas I used to be nonetheless deciding on what I needed to do with the doorways, I put in very cheap “barn door” sort {hardware} manufactured from plumbing pipes and casters on the doorways since, on the time, precise barn door {hardware} (the good type) was fairly costly.
September 24, 2014
After contemplating a number of different designs, I lastly selected the ultimate design for the music room sliding doorways. I created the internal panels utilizing 1/4-inch MDF and a jigsaw.
January 2015
I assumed I had a plan for the room — striped partitions with nailhead element. I beloved the general thought (and truly nonetheless do), however there have been a number of issues. First, I used to be nonetheless looking for the correct impartial. I don’t know if this was earlier than the grey craze, or if the grey craze was already in full impact and I used to be nonetheless making an attempt to buck that pattern. However I do know that this brown-tone impartial simply wasn’t working for me. (I’ve since discovered my impartial wall coloration — Benjamin Moore Traditional Grey.)
However the primary downside is that I jumped the gun on any type of adorning as a result of the room nonetheless had the unique drywall, the unique polystyrene tiles, and the unique quarter spherical the place these two issues met. At the moment, I used to be nonetheless hoping to keep away from re-drywalling this room (I couldn’t), and I used to be nonetheless hoping that the ceiling drywall hidden by these polystyrene tiles could be in fine condition (it wasn’t).
January 2015
About midway by the striped wall mission, I lastly realized that it was fairly ridiculous to proceed with hours and hours of labor with out realizing what I used to be coping with past these ceiling tiles. So I ripped them down to search out that they had been hiding a giant space of drywall rot the place there had been a giant leak within the roof.
January 2015
That is after I constructed the horse partitions between the entryway and music room, and that is the second most talked about mission that I ended up undoing later (second solely to the hen and butterfly mural on the entryway wall). Can I let you know a secret? I remorse undoing this mission. I don’t assume I’ve ever regretted scrapping and redoing a mission, aside from this one. I do know I had a cause for tearing these down that, on the time, appeared completely logical and affordable. However these had been fairly. And fairly excellent. And in hindsight, I want I’d have left them alone. Oh effectively. ?
April 27, 2015
My father-in-law got here for a go to, and he helped me take down all the drywall on the ceiling within the music room (and entryway, and front room) and set up new drywall. This could have been accomplished proper from the start, however as I discussed above, I used to be making an attempt to keep away from it. There got here a degree when it couldn’t be prevented any longer, although.
August 2015
Since my piano was in storage three hours away, and I had no thought after I would have the ability to get it, I wanted a piano for my music room. I discovered a wonderful one which was listed totally free, and I solely needed to pay to should moved. After it sat in my music room untouched for a month, I made a decision to refinish it by stripping and marking a part of it and portray different elements of it. It turned out lovely, however it didn’t actually seem to be it match my model. So then I painted all the factor vibrant yellow. It didn’t actually match my model, both, however it was slightly bit nearer. The yellow was too vibrant even for my style, although.
September 2015
The partitions within the music room (and the entryway and front room) lastly acquired new drywall. Our home was constructed in the course of the time once they put shiplap (or 1″ x 10″s on this case) beneath the drywall. May you even think about how a lot this is able to value proper now with the present worth of lumber?
November 2015
I do know that I had a very good cause for doing this (in my thoughts on the time), however I made a decision that I wanted to take away the horse partitions and columns, and set up French doorways as sidelights to separate the rooms.
November 2015
By this time, I lastly had imaginative and prescient for how one can end the sliding door wall. But it surely required a lot sturdier sliding door {hardware} than a budget choice I had beforehand used. So I eliminated that {hardware}, and used actual barn door {hardware}. It wasn’t the gorgeous or fancy stuff, as a result of it was going to be hidden anyway. This was actual {hardware} that you simply’d use on an precise door of a barn.
December 2015
In November 2015, I began constructing the bookcases flanking the sliding doorways. This mission took some time, however I had them completed in December. I constructed the bookcases in order that they stood about 4 inches from the wall. That method the doorways may slide into the house between the bookcases and the wall and act as pocket doorways.
December 2015
This mission took me two month, however in December, I lastly completed the planked ceiling within the music room.
January 2016
By the top of January, all the huge building initiatives had been accomplished, and I moved the piano into place. My imaginative and prescient for the room at the moment was beginning to fall into place.
February 2017
After dwelling with the flooring completed with Waterlox for 3.5 years, I made a decision that they had been method too orange for my style. So I sanded and refinished the flooring a second time, this time utilizing Minwax stain and polyurethane. This coloration was far more to my liking.
March 2017
I lastly acquired my piano! It had been in storage a couple of 3.5-hour drive away (7 hour spherical journey), and it had been in storage for years. I had no thought after I’d be getting it (it was really in my sister’s storage), so it was a shock when she referred to as and mentioned they’d be clearing out the storage and will carry it to me.
June 2017
In all of my 20+ years of DIYing, I had by no means tried stenciling a wall till now. And when the partitions on this room had been accomplished, I swore that I’d by no means do it once more. Hanging wallpaper is a lot simpler and quicker!
October 2017
My little spinet piano lastly acquired a a lot wanted makeover. I had promised my mother that I wouldn’t paint it (this was the piano that she discovered to play on when she was a younger lady, and I additionally discovered to play on it after I was little), so I embarked upon the very tedious and time-consuming means of taking every thing aside, stripping each piece, refinishing every thing, and placing all of it again collectively. At one level, I had even eliminated all the keys and had them piled in a field. I didn’t really end the entire mission till January 2018, however I did the majority of it in October 2017.
January 2018
Whereas I appreciated the two-color stencil on the music room partitions, it gave the impression to be missing some oomph. So utilizing a black Sharpie marker, I added some black traces in selective areas to focus on the design. The picture under reveals the “in progress” design change. I used to be shocked at how a lot of a distinction some black traces made.
January 2020
I made a decision that the white bookcases and black doorways within the music room wanted to be the identical darkish teal. I used the identical teal on these that I used on the pantry cupboards — Behr Mythic Forest. It’s been certainly one of my favourite paint colours ever because the rental days. At this level, the room was so near being completed! I simply wanted seating, finish tables, lamps, and some ending touches.
Could 2021
The room is lastly completed, with the addition of a colourful sofa, two finish desk makeovers, two new lamps, a brand new piano bench, a big fairly plant (that I hope I can maintain alive), and a bookcase refresh utilizing white guide covers and many latex and spray paint.
There was positively nothing quick or targeted about this room rework, however as you possibly can see, there weren’t almost as many false begins and modifications of path on this room as there have been in the lounge. The issue with this room was extra that I may at all times discover different initiatives that had been a better precedence, so this room was regularly moved to the again burner. I’d get one mission accomplished, after which step away for a month. Then I’d do one thing else in right here, and step away for a number of months.
In the beginning of 2021, I made a decision it had been drawn out lengthy sufficient, and the room was so near being completed that if I made a concerted effort to place the ultimate touches on the room, I may name it completed. And I’m so glad I did! Strolling by my entrance door and seeing a completed room crammed with coloration places a smile on my face each time. And I’ve to confess, this sofa simply could be my favourite factor in my entire home.
I touched on the highlights on this submit, however I left out an entire lot. You possibly can click on right here to see all the posts about this music room from starting to finish.
