Behind the music room
It started as a true blank space. A windowless, closet-less room tucked in the back of the upstairs with access to a walk in-attic. By modern building standards, it wouldn’t count as a bedroom. When the builder was finishing up the house in 2016, I like to imagine they had some leftover drywall, so they decided to use it up on this room. It definitely was not a space that was thought through. Beyond the fact that this room had no windows and no closet, this room also had only one outlet and a sad, lonely, boob light on the sloped ceiling.
Note the single outlet on the wall on the left. In this image from the listing, there is no way the computer is plugged in.
When we decided to truly renovate this room, it had already had three identities in our house. First, the guest bedroom. Then, during COVID it had to flex to be my office space as well as the guest bedroom. And when I realized I couldn’t take being stuck in a room with no windows or natural light for hours at a time on Zoom calls, we turned it into a magical space for my daughter and I moved the guest bed/office flex space to her bedroom.
My daughters fairy light palace, complete with a gymnastics setup
But after a year of living in the windowless, closet-less room, my daughter wanted her old room back. We were already renovating several spaces in our house and I couldn’t blame her for wanting a closet or a window, so I agreed to find a new space for my office, and get her back into her old room.
Moving back into the windowless room as my office was not an option, unless we added a window. This posed an interesting question. Could we or should we add a window on the exterior facing back wall of the house? Or, could we cut into the wall by the attic and create an alcove with a closet and access the window in the eaves facing the front of the house? After speaking with an engineer, both options would require structural work and we weren’t quite ready to take on that level of project. We were already managing a renovation at one of our AirBnBs and it wasn’t the right time.
I ultimately decided on another space for my office (more on that later), but now I was left with a new design challenge. The same windowless, closet-less attic room with bad lighting and one outlet only had one functional problem to solve- an extra sleeping space for guests- and the rest was dealer’s choice.
In solving this design challenge, I decided to start with a creative brainstorm instead of starting with the traditional needs evaluation. With only one need, the design would be more constrained by the characteristics of the room than the functions it needed to perform. My first step was to list all the spaces that could benefit or at least wouldn’t be harmed from a room with no natural light. The list was pretty short.
A home gym or yoga space
A bar/speakeasy type space
A library, maybe
A music studio or listening room
We were very quickly able to eliminate the home gym or yoga space from the list. It wouldn’t meet the requirement of flexing as a guest room in the way I would want it to. The library also came off the list though the idea of having a library space in my home was very dreamy. A reading room without any natural light just didn’t fit in my mind. Between a bar/speakeasy and a music room, the music room had much more appeal with the broader family. My husband and my daughter are both musicians, and we had a lot of vinyl, a piano, and countless guitars and amps to contribute to the room’s decor.
Inspo time had arrived. Designer Paint had me hooked with this shade of blackberry paint and this music room from Chris Loves Julia caught my eye for its use of an Eames chair, upright piano and guitars on the wall. From our prior renovation of my husband’s office, I had an orphan Eames chair that needed a home.
While the design was clear in my mind, we still had to navigate only having one outlet in the room and a single, solitary boob light on a sloped ceiling. A visit from electrician made the upgrade relatively simple. They installed outlets on every wall, added four wall sconce junction boxes and installed three canned lights on the ceiling. We capped the light on the sloped ceiling, keeping the junction box available should the room every need to change again.
We were ready to paint. Getting the right shade of purple for the walls was harder than anticipated. Designer Paint colors weren’t available locally. Working with Sherwin Williams, we color tested at least four different paints before landing on our final choice. We opted to paint the baseboard trim, and left the small strip of ceiling white. With the aubergine canvas complete, it was time to move on to decor.
There were several items we already owned that were destined for this space. We had an upright piano, five guitars, three guitar amps, a record player and vinyl, an Eames chair and footstool, and a vintage refrigerator that now functioned as a cabinet. While the room is sizable, it’s shape didn’t lend itself to a regular bed also occupying the space. We opted for a Breda Bed that fit a mattress we already owned. The walnut finish was a perfect complement.
Even with all these great pieces, on hand, we still needed a few more things to make it come together. First, a coffee table. We had about 5 feet of walnut butcher block from our kitchen bar project, so we took a jig saw to task and turned it into a custom fit coffee table.
Custom crafted coffee table with leftover butcher block counter
Next, we needed a rug. I had an 8x10 rug in the attic that I had set aside during a prior room renovation that neutral enough as a base, but I wanted something funkier and more eclectic in this space. A quick trip to Marshall’s had me stocked with three complementary rugs that I layered, giving the room the vibe of a recording studio.
Layering rugs for a recording studio vibe
I also thrifted a few items for this space. I got so, so lucky at the Habitat ReStore. We had stopped in to buy a desk for my daughters new room and the first thing my eye caught was this modern, banana yellow leather chair and a half. Needless to say, I was completely obsessed. I scooped it up right away- at the ReStore, you can’t sleep on a great piece or it will truly be gone.
I also am a huge fan of a local mid-century modern thrift store in Apex, NC called Gremlina Vintage. I had seen her post a beautiful starburst clock months before, and I didn’t act fast enough. It was gone almost as soon as she posted it on Instagram. But she posted another one, possible even more perfect for the space, just a few weeks later.
The last pieces of the puzzle were things like the bar cart and wine fridge, and some poofs for extra seating.
What I love the most about this design is how decadent and useful it manages to be. There is no real need for a music room in our house. But some how, it is needed. It’s a space to retreat to in the house that immediately invites you to sit down, listen to some music, and have a glass of wine. It’s a room for family game night while jamming to Taylor Swift and Jimmy Buffett. It’s a sensory deprivation chamber when a guest stays, with no natural light and sound dampening from the attic insulation. It’s a space for playing loud music, for rehearsing for an audition, for karaoke, for meditation.
The music room
Great design should solve meaningful problems; but sometimes great design helps you solve problems you didn’t know you needed to solve.