Making Sweet Music Part 1

Yes, we have actually pretty much 'done' all of the upstairs of our cozy little raised ranch (minus the filling of the nail holes in ALL the trim--which is my shameful secret) but since we are completely basement-centric these days, I thought sharing the progress thus far on that floor of house would be best.

First up, is the eventual music room. I know, how lavish to have a 'music room', we must be concert pianists or avid celloists---my use of the word cellosist should tip you off that we are neither and far from it, however we are armchair music lovers/snobs and my husband has quite the collection of pretentious vinyl records so I think that qualifies us to have a music room. Well, that and the fact that the room can actually function as the 4th bedroom that most resale raised ranches have in the basement and since we don't have the need or bed for a 4th bedroom we decided to use it to house my husband's (large) drum kit, various guitars, wii Rockband paraphernalia and impressive Pearl Jam poster collection--see, turns out we DO need that music room afterall. Skeptics.

This is what the space looked like before we got started:

You can see that even back then it was used to make sweet, sweet music with the drums set up in the corner there. It was also used to paint wood for various projects, store various crap and...lift weights? What is that workout bench doing there and who has touched it since? Sadly, if you think this looks messy, you should see it now (don't worry, tune in tomorrow and you will see the cluttered monstrosity that it has become...along with some pretty stuff if that doesn't hook you for tomorrow's post!)

Anyhoo, we cleared it all out and decided on a plan thanks to the gloriousness of pinterest. Since it will eventually be marketed as a bedroom, it needed a closet but we didn't want to lose any of the light from those wonderful full sized western facing windows so we decided on a large, yet narrow closet flanked by open shelving to store records and other knickknacks that have been begging to be on display. Check the inspiration pic:

Image: http://pinterest.com/pin/124341639681461539/

But picture a closet in the middle instead of a window and slatted record storage like this:

Image: http://pinterest.com/pin/124341639681446050/

 Maybe you can fill in the blanks from our snazzy frame job:

Then we framed in the rest of the space (which turns out to be quite easy and kinda fun!):

And then built the door opening for the double french doors that will let that aforementioned wonderful full sized western facing window light into the rest of the basement while still securing the whole '4th bedroom' identity since those tiny french windows (is that what they are called?) can be frosted in the future for privacy:

Okay, so you got me, this pic was taken at night and therefore is seriously lacking in wonderful full sized western facing window light but you get the idea...right? As of right now, we have painted, painted and are probably going to repaint as well as added some wide plank laminate flooring. But that is a post for another day (pssst: it's tomorrow's post...).