How to DIY a Home Studio

[dmatthews]

Awesome job Doug!

 

[Glide-bpm]

Sweet, bro!!! Still waiting on my track for guitar hanging about 12 or more to come in....

 

[DougUSMC]

Thanks everyone!

Today's work was more unsexy prep work, but it went well and we're ready to move on.

Step one, measure out the areas that need tile, and cut out underlayment for them:

Step two: mix up a bunch of thin set, apply, scrape with 1/4 x 1/4 notched trowel, and stick down underlayment:

Step three: not shown - tons of wiping and cleanup to make sure there isn't anything left over

Step four: repeat step two, and this time put down tile! To be continued (hopefully) tomorrow...

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Wow...Looks awesome, Doug!!! Nice work!!!
Definitely labor of love!!

 

[Egads]

That looks great.

I like the yellow floor accents. They really bring out your eyes!

 

[DougUSMC]

That looks great.

I like the yellow floor accents. They really bring out your eyes!

Ha!! They're actually BRIGHT Home Depot orange!

I picked up the tile this morning, and a rental tile saw. 2.5 hours later I learned two things:
1) The dude at the tile store was right, when he said "You'll never get an exact match on 15 y/o tile, this is pretty close, but it's not exact." That was in response to my saying "This one is awesome, it's a PERFECT match". It does look good, but it's OBVIOUSLY a different color.
2) I don't care, I'm putting down a rug anyway. Plus, anyone that comments on the non-matching tile will be summarily booted from the room.
3) I'm never tiling for a living

Current status: All of the tiles have been cut and laid out, time to mix up more thinset and get is set in place.

Time to go mix up some more thinset...

 

[Alnus Rubra]

I think they’re called accent tiles!

 

[DougUSMC]

Bad news: I got about 2/3 of the tiles down, then ran out of thin set.

I'll have to pick some more up tomorrow, when I return the saw.

 

[DougUSMC]

All of the tiles are officially down and drying, hopefully the grout goes down tomorrow, then by Thursday I officially have a floor again!

A couple had to be trimmed a bit after final placement (original layout was eyeballing it, final was w/the 1/4 spacers), but it came out well.

I *do* wish they matched a bit better though...

 

[Tucson Thump]

Lol, the Squire is my daughter's, and the Frankenstrat is my Brother-in-Laws. We each keep a guitar at the others' place, so we can play around when visiting.

Nice. You are lucky to have family close enough to do that.

 

[Tucson Thump]

All of the tiles are officially down and drying, hopefully the grout goes down tomorrow, then by Thursday I officially have a floor again!

A couple had to be trimmed a bit after final placement (original layout was eyeballing it, final was w/the 1/4 spacers), but it came out well.

I *do* wish they matched a bit better though...

Tough if not impossible to match over that long of a time. Once you are making music it won't bother you as much

 

[Tucson Thump]

Ha!! They're actually BRIGHT Home Depot orange!

I picked up the tile this morning, and a rental tile saw. 2.5 hours later I learned two things:
1) The dude at the tile store was right, when he said "You'll never get an exact match on 15 y/o tile, this is pretty close, but it's not exact." That was in response to my saying "This one is awesome, it's a PERFECT match". It does look good, but it's OBVIOUSLY a different color.
2) I don't care, I'm putting down a rug anyway. Plus, anyone that comments on the non-matching tile will be summarily booted from the room.
3) I'm never tiling for a living

Current status: All of the tiles have been cut and laid out, time to mix up more thinset and get is set in place.

Time to go mix up some more thinset...

This is going to be so nice. You ought to bid off naming rights like they do for stadiums.

 

[DougUSMC]

Nice. You are lucky to have family close enough to do that.

I am, and I'm not. He's the only other Lefty I've ever know that I could borrow guitars from. Unfortunately, he's always played righty!! TBH, I wish I'd played righty from day one, like I do with so many other things. Our youngest is looking like he's going to be a lefty, but if I have my way he'll play right handed guitars.

Tough if not impossible to match over that long of a time. Once you are making music it won't bother you as much

Agreed, 100%. The tiles I put down were actually 13" x 13", where the originals were 12" x 12". I cut a box of them, then brought them in to see how they looked, and it was then that I noticed how far off they were. It took all of about 5 seconds to come to the decision to keep them, for exactly that reason.

This is going to be so nice. You ought to bid off naming rights like they do for stadiums.

Ha, no doubt!!! I'll be honest tho: There won't be a bidding war - if PRS decides they want to send a sign my way it's all theirs!

 

[bodia]

Looking good, Doug. A little mood lighting, and you'll never notice!

 

[DougUSMC]

Ok, the first order for the main artwork / acoustic treatments went in. Again, these will be wrapped around frames that have acoustic insulation imbedded within them. That way they serve dual purpose as art and treatments.

I ran different images through the magnification process, played with them a bit, and ordered some fabrics yesterday. A few of the below were ordered, most were not. I just wanted to share the current ideas I'm having, to see if anyone has any strong thoughts or ideas on which look best.

Each of these is 3' tall and ~ 2' wide, making the whole thing slightly larger than 6':

This is approx 3' tall and 6' wide:

These are a bit shorter, coming in around 2' tall and 6' wide:

Each of these pics shows the guitar actual scale, so the frame would be approx 18" x 45", with the double neck being a few inches wider than the other 2:

What are everyone's thoughts? Which is your favorite?

 

[Nurk2]

I *do* wish they matched a bit better though...

I've heard that there are many uses for bleach. Some of which, no one had considered until very recently....

 

[Nurk2]

Ok, the first order for the main artwork / acoustic treatments went in. Again, these will be wrapped around frames that have acoustic insulation imbedded within them. That way they serve dual purpose as art and treatments.

I ran different images through the magnification process, played with them a bit, and ordered some fabrics yesterday. A few of the below were ordered, most were not. I just wanted to share the current ideas I'm having, to see if anyone has any strong thoughts or ideas on which look best.

What are everyone's thoughts? Which is your favorite?

Doug - Allow me to use my extensive design experience (ahem...cough cough) to throw things in a slightly different direction.

The thing about your space...there are amplifiers, guitars, DAWs, other misc gear, etc. There's literally an entire wall with guitars hanging on it.

Given all this, consider the idea that pictures of more guitars might be a little redundant. What if you had something on the wall that was music-related, but not so guitar specific?

IDEAS:
- Something that accents a passion for music.
- Something abstract that compliments/accents in the room.
- Something that represents a favorite travel destination, book, family, etc...
- Something that incorporates one of your other hobbies.

For your consideration:

https://www.art.com/gallery/id--b193503/musical-performance-posters.htm?SSK=Musical Performance&WT.oss=Musical Performance&SSK_ssg=Musical Performance

Just a thought....

 

[Nurk2]

For example (and I understand that 1950's, jazz-inspired abstract art is not everyone's cup of tea), this is in the hallway outside our studio:

Another thing to keep in mind, we rotate our art, meaning, just because you hung something on the wall doesn't mean you have to live with it forever. Put it up, See how you like living with it day-to-day. Change it out.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Image one

 

[Glide-bpm]

Bottom one