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Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Music Room Anyone?

Now that the wedding craziness is over, I thought I would share with you some of the house projects I have worked on in between wedding stuff.  In the two years I have been retired, I have managed to do a few projects, but not nearly close to the number I have sitting in my head! (I can hear Bob cringing as I write that line). One of my favorite projects just kind of came to me out of the blue... transforming my living room.

The above shows the finished product,(sorry, no before photo to share).


My home is a 1973 colonial.  When you walk in the front door, to the left of the foyer and stairs is a combined living room/dining room space.  I think it is a pretty advanced open-concept design for 1973, and one would think I would know exactly what to do with it being that everyone wants open concept design today.  Uh, welllll....I didn't.  The dining area was easy to design:  table, chairs, china cabinet...DONE!  But, what to do with the living room area.  The problem was we really spent so little time in that room, all of our together time was spent in the family room where the TV and computer are located.  I had filled the living room with haphazard pieces just to take up space.  There was no design plan...sigh.  Then inspiration hit!  The one piece in the room that dominated the space was the piano; it had to stay.  So, I thought, why not make it the purpose of the room...a music room.  LOVE IT!!! Once I had decided on a purpose for the room, the design all fell into place.  First I transformed some of the pieces I already had to fit the theme.


On the large outside wall, I created a music- themed photo wall.  I started by framing some music sheets from my daughters' band days.  I also was lucky enough to find sheet music that was stamped with black block prints of birds done by a local artist who also is part owner of a favorite antique shop on Main Street downtown Flemington. I thought it would create a nice mix of art and music.  Since the walls are a Wedgewood blue, I decided to keep all the frames light.





The center picture needed to be larger, so I scoured the music in the piano bench and found Phantom of the Opera...our very favorite Broadway play.  It brings back such happy memories.  My oldest daughter's marching band won first place with this music ( in fact it is her saxophone sheet music from high school that I framed.)



You can also see that I stylized the top of the secretary (an heirloom from Bob's mom).  I tried to keep things simple: a few books, silver pieces and alabaster statue.  I kept the music theme going by rolling up some sheet music and filling the large silver urn (actually an ice bucket we received as 25th anniversary gift).

On the drop down top I placed my oldest daughter's flute (sadly she no longer plays it) along with a vintage ink bottle and a few pages of random music. Next to the secretary you can see my youngest daughter's saxophone (again relegated to the past).
As I scoured garage sales last fall for items to furnish my youngest's new home, I scored this pair of wall sconces... music harps!  Perfect fit to round out the music wall collage.
 Next, I turned to the sofa area that I use as a divider between the living room and dining room areas.  I covered the sofa ( a 1980"s pink floral number...YIKES!!!) with a neutral pewter- colored slip cover.  I added some vintage doilies as arm covers and tossed on some neutral -colored pillows to freshen the look and blend in with the color scheme of the wall collage. I brought in a vintage pie crust table I had used in the family room and topped it with a converted oil lamp that I had purchased years ago and had been using elsewhere in the house.  I like it here in this room better; it adds to the old world charm that a "music room" connotes, don't you think?


 Behind the pie crust table I placed a hinged pair of glass doors that I had purchased a while back on an antiquing outing with Bob.  I just loved them and at the time didn't know where I would put them, but I knew they would look nice somewhere.  I was so right.  They make the perfect room divider here. Plus, I continued the music theme by decorating a few of the window panes with sheet music.  Also on the pie crust table you can see the crystal vase holds a collection of drum sticks that I scored for $1 a piece at the same shop I got the bird block prints.


In front of the sofa is a diminutive vintage glass-topped table.  I brought it into the design by simply slipping a few sheets of music under the glass top and simplifying the vignette with a footed silver bowl, mercury glass candle and Waterford crystal bowl.


To the right of piano is a vintage music cabinet I had found over ten years ago.  I used it to store all of the piano music my girls and I had accumulated over the years.  Plus, who could resist such a lovely lady...do you see the mirror peaking out on top and the lovely turned legs?  So, as I was transforming the room, I wanted to highlight the piece even more.  Two years ago, my daughter had given me a replica phonograph.  I decided it absolutely needed to be in my music room, so I placed it here on top of the music cabinet.  I opened the doors so you could see the lovely shelving, used some of the shelves for album storage (I won't tell you I have an original Abby Road album and the original Tapestry album...can we hear a you're that old!!!!), and threw a couple of vintage linens on the door.  Just love the monogram even though it's not my letters.



So, that's how my music room came to be.  I apologize for the photo.  There is so much light streaming through the windows and (sigh) I am still using my cell phone for photo taking.  But, I think you see the gist of the themes in the room.  Blue, creme, gray, neutral colors are so soothing. And of course...music, music, music.  I now love the room and you can find me at quiet times, reading on the sofa or tinkering away at the piano.  I have even been known to put on an old album and sip away on a glass of wine.

Do you have any rooms that never seemed to get use?  Can you think of ways to transform them into useful spots again?  I'd love to hear your ideas.

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