Studio Design: Started
My friend, Cullen Purser, is an artist. One of his many art skills (as they say) is woodworking. He helped me build my old studio, and when we moved to Nashville, there was no one else I wanted to create my new creative space. Thankfully he had some availability to come out to get things started.
Meet Cullen:
Cullen Purser holding his older Sony point-and-shoot camera (which makes anyone over 30 years old at the time of this writing explode with nostalgia).
Our primary goal was to create a desk. I took a run to Mimm’s Lumber and bought the wood we thought we’d need for the project. There wasn’t a specific intent of confirming the increase of lumber prices, but lumber-specific price inflation was absolutely confirmed.
When Cullen arrived, we made sure to take the time to feel what the space needed. We knew the goals but not the path. We made coffee, played a little music, discussed design, and got started with a loose layout. After deliberating some not-as-good design ideas (on my part), we leaned on acoustic science to find the right placement of the desk.
The space we were building out was in our new home. It had a living room (soon to be a music writing space) and dining room that connect to the entryway. The dining room is much smaller and has a window and doorway to consider. We did some research and found the speakers should be 38% of the room depth from the back wall, and the tweeters should be 67.5” from each other. After placing the placeholders within these confines, we created the equilateral triangle for the sitting position. I looked out the window and found a perfect view of our driveway and a perfectly-centered tree. Things felt right.
We started talking about function.
The desk in Colorado had a sliding top that was designed to reveal the keyboard without changing my listening position (in an EXTREMELY small room). We were determined to keep the same functionality in this desk.
My old desk was littered with accessories; I had two eGPUS, speakers coming out of the desk corners, cables, card readers, color control panels, etc. It was as good as we could get it, but I wanted less of a mess.
With more space, we saw the opportunity to keep the necessary mess while hiding it behind the desk. When you walk up to the desk, you see a clean top with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and possibly a panel or two. All of the computer and its accessories will be easily accessible and hidden on the backend of the desk.
Building the right furniture is a big piece of making things right for me. The next step is creating the ambiance through lighting. I haven’t gotten there, but I’ll be doing that as we start the next phase.
After creating the studio desk, it became apparent that the top rolled back, but it wasn’t “a joy to use.” It was loud (which triggered my sound sensitivity), and it was a little clunky. Cullen suggested bearings, so I grabbed my old skateboard. We were able to put to use some wheels and bearings that have been with me for many stories and moments in life. Every time I use the top, I’ll get to appreciate the progress life’s given to me.
For those of you wondering, I’ll absolutely be buying new wheels and bearings. :)
For now, we have an awesome desk that begs to be used. The next steps are adding lighting and sound treatment. After that, we’ll be focused on interior design.
More to come in a few weeks!