“Hot Ash” colored carpeting was installed in my closet and office on Monday morning. It is the thickest of the thick, the plushest of the plush. The store was having a deal on a free carpet pad upgrade, which will really be nice at my standing desk and when I stand to do my narration. That means under the plum pudding colored pile is the very best cushioning on offer in the carpeting world today.
So I put it on the wall. And the ceiling. As you do if you are an audiobook producer.
I already had other, smaller, creme brulee colored carpet rectangles to work with. They were sitting by the side of the road with a “free” sign about five years ago. The stacks were brand new from some neighbor or other also treating themselves to the barefoot sensory decadence of wall-to-wall.
I scavenged a dozen or so scraps back then, knowing clean carpet squares are hard to come by. Also believing they would be useful in a myriad of ways as dog, “Get on your spot” spots, and hatchback floor protection.
In order to make my recording (closet) studio, I had to try to figure out how much material I had and how much cutting I would need to do. I taped out the floor, creating a pattern to indicate the sizes of the walls.
Then I laid out bits and pieces to determine easily matching sizes and shapes. (HINT: There were only two pieces in immediately useful sizes. This is the point at which I gave up on full coverage and kicked myself for not ordering a dozen extra square feet). The ceiling layout I was able to conveniently pattern off of the floor.
Finally, after much of the fiddling had been done, my husband helped me find the long staples (Thanks, Sweetie!) and I went to town. The satisfying Ka-CHUNK-a! noise of my Dad’s staple gun started in one corner, and then I worked my way along, smoothing and stapling. First the little triangle bits went onto the ceiling, then the biggest chunks on the main wall, lastly filling in any holes.
I knew I didn’t have enough of any one color or material to do a single wall, or indeed even group things attractively, so I went for as hodge-podge as I could. You can see where I used actual audio foam to finish out smaller gaps. The foam was leftover from creating the other “wall” of the studio: a wooden folding room screen that can be moved out to give more space when I’m recording, or used to visually block off the closet completely when I’m working in the office.
The screen is pretty to look at from the front side and keeps any casual visitors or clients from touching the sensitive recording equipment.
I was worried that I wouldn’t like the hodge podge, but I absolutely love it. There’s just enough sizes and shapes of rectangles and triangles, lights and darks, thicks and thins, to make going into the space exciting and energizing. Exactly what I need when I’m heading inside to record.
It reminds me of the shapes and designs of It’s A Small World at Disneyland, which is fun. Best of all, the dog likes the new carpet.
What do you think?