With everything painted, the finishes begin! I had always wanted to try my hand at making a wood wall, so try I did! Since I used steel studs for the wall construction, I furred out the wall with 1x2s so that I could nail the planks to the wall easier. I used thin tongue and groove cedar planks and stained them 4 different colors (lightest to darkest - honey walnut, cherry, early american, and kona). I started at the top to ensure a clean visible line, and then worked my way down the wall in a somewhat random pattern.

I really loved the way that this wall came out. The colors it brings back into the room is excellent. I also installed some new cage pendant lights in front of the wall so that I had some different lighting options. It really came out just the way I had wanted. You can also see my brand new desk that I built, and the fabric ceiling/massive acoustic cloud as well. 

For the desk I modified some plans I found online to make for a deeper work surface. My previous desk was a multi level desk, but this works so much better for me, and if far more comfortable to use with my control surface and iMac all being on the same level. Used my keg jig for the pocket holes to assemble the table top, which turned out great.

And those recessed lights? they are all tied to a Leviton dimmer switch on the wall that, through the Wink app, I can control from my phone. #awesome.

And now, onto insulation and drywall. I could really envision the room once the framing went up, but once the insulation went in, I really started to see what the space was going to feel like. I installed Roxul Safe and Sound in all the walls and cavities, including some double layers in between the floor joists above. Plus, Rockwool is flame retardant, moisture repellant, and fantastic at absorption. 

Since the ceiling was low to begin with (7' to the bottom of the joists), I opted to turn the ceiling into a giant acoustic cloud of sorts. I knew sheet rocking the ceiling would make it feel too low, and didn't want to hang acoustic clouds even lower than the ceiling already is. The solution? Stuff the ceiling with Roxul SnS, and then stretch Guilford of Maine fabric across that bad boy! (More on that later...)

Once the insulation was in, there was already a several db drop in noise within the room, and noise from the AC unit next to it was cut dramatically.

And now for drywall! I went with 5/8" mold-resistant drywall (can you tell I absolutely did not want any moisture issues down here?) 

When it came to taping and mudding this guy up, I had the assistance of my lovely wife Kat who was a total champ.

No, I didn't use two layers of drywall, and no I didn't use green glue, etc. etc. but there is good reason for that. I never intended for this studio to be completely isolated. Did I want some decent db reduction? Absolutely. Did I have the money to blow on extreme isolation measures? Absolutely not. To do that, I would have had to have a separate AC/heat feed, or build bulky air dampeners, lower the ceiling even more than it is, as well as several other things that would have cost prohibitive. I wanted to it to be reasonably quiet, where sound in and out would be minimized as much as possible. So far, it has been fantastic.

This now puts us at the end of July. I had lots of traveling to do for recording gigs in the spring so that put a damper in my construction workflow, but I really got back at it when summer started. Because there is no better way to spend a summer than covered in drywall dust in your basement.

Number 2 was the winner (and always was in my mind). I love the way that it shows off some really different shades in different light. Its a really warm blue that turned out perfectly. After painting the walls, I vacuumed every single inch of that floor, and laid down one more coat of paint of the floor to cover all the drywall scuffs and dust that embedded itself into the paint. 

Also, notice the support pole the the two pictures above? That used to look like this. We painted on two coats of a hammered metal finish from Minwax, and it looked instantly amazing. What had previously been a rusted, nasty metal pole, was turned into....a much nicer looking pole. Poles aren't too exciting, but if they were, this would take the cake. 


Next time on This Old Basement, we get to start putting some finishing touches on! Also, doors. Woo!