Reveal Time! Our DIY Home Office Music Room (from a Playroom)
Finally, a new room reveal! It’s taken me far too long to share our DIY Home Office Music Room. Like many families, we have a hardworking, multitasking main floor – second only to the kitchen this room works the hardest! We use this room to work and to play and it has grown over the last 15 years since we added it. Keep reading for our home office music room ideas…
Before: Our Hardworking Playroom
Sometimes you are thrilled to say goodbye to the before version of a room (like any of our basement makeover projects). But this room’s before version is one I hold dear.
For many years this room served as our children’s playroom. They used it to play with toys (mostly Lego), create arts and crafts and generally make a fun, industrious mess.
But now our kids are in their late teens, and this isn’t how they spend their time anymore.
So, because we always like to share the “before” of our rooms and projects. Here’s a quick tour of the hardworking playroom (that I’m still so sentimental about):
Flanking the doors were the Interactive Lego Display and Craft Storage Cabinets we made for <$30. Notice the adorable DIY Lego Cabinet Knobs?
In front of those is our forever messy and wonderful Lego table that my dad made for the kids. It was pretty genius with deep storage for their massive Lego collection, sliding surfaces to build on and room to pull up chairs to sit and play for hours. We really should have shared how this table was made!
But the time between Lego builds got longer, and their interests changed. This room no longer filled our needs.
Our New Vision: a Home Office Music Room
Our kids still create in this room, but now their interests have changed. They both obsessively enjoy creating and playing digital games and art. And they enjoy music making – our daughter plays the keyboard and our son plays a few guitars (and some funny novelty instruments).
Plus, I needed a space for my office. The pandemic lockdowns (and my sore back) made this painfully clear: I couldn’t keep working on my laptop on the couch.
As I thought about how this room would look it became apparent that it would hold a lot of technology: boxy black computers and monitors, a boxy black keyboard and boxy black amps, etc.
I needed to create a room that would balance all that boxy black stuff. So I decided that a warm, organic design with some vintage elements would be exactly right for us.
Plus, the design needed to look good from our living room and tie into the feel of our whole main floor. So here’s what we did…
Reveal: Our New DIY Home Office Music Room
1. Our New Paint Colour
When people ask me how to choose colours and make a design cohesive I always recommend that they start with a fabric or rug with colours that they love. That’s exactly what I did here.
If you look at this rug online, know that it is much softer coloured in person than in the on-screen previews- it depends on how you lay it with respect to the window light.
(Also – meet Murray! He’s the rescue dog we welcomed to our family last year. Clearly, he’s cute, but also he’s sweet and nuts and we love him so much.)
Choosing Colour with Pine in Mind…
In our Living Room is a big pine armoire that holds our TV and tons of stuff. I’m sentimental about it because, when I was in university, my dad and I designed it and built it from a pile of wood. It’s not going anywhere. (Sorry, it’s not pictured here – I’ll try and grab a shot and update.)
But the challenge of pine is those bossy orange undertones – they can make it tricky to find paint colours to play nicely with. So I decided that this adjoining room would embrace that warm orange tone!
We painted the room Benjamin Moore Potter’s Clay. It’s the perfect organic and warm colour for this north-east facing room.
2. Our (as hidden as possible) DIY Computer Desks
Our kids are future video game designers and they need a dedicated space to create and work. This room needed space for two desktop computer stations. This was a challenge!
How do you add two desktop computer desks (and a third desk for me) without making the place look like a customer service call centre?
How we rose to this challenge was to place the desks on either side of the double pocket doors. That means that they are barely visible from the living room – so the tech-focused, black box visuals are easy to ignore when relaxing or entertaining.
1) Our DIY gaming desks
2) Our DIY art ledges
3) Our DIY computer monitor brackets
Also, you can see our funny little kitty, Beanie. (And our daughter’s computer is missing – she has it with her at college and brings it home when she visits.)
My goal was to design a desk that is visually light, organic and modern. I think we achieved this! And this DIY gaming desk is pretty simple to build and affordable to boot.
(Once we have the tutorial posted we will be sure to add it to our collection of 20+ Unique Home Office Desk Ideas You Can DIY).
3. Guitar Zone
And I think they look beautiful on the wall.
3. My “office”
Admittedly this is the visual weakest link of this room. I picked up this old roll-top desk from FB marketplace and it functions perfectly for me. I can close it and not look at the tech and desk clutter that invariably happens.
This desk functions very well for me. I love being under the natural light from two sides. So no matter what I will keep my work space here.
Plus I’ve figured out how to make an ergonomic setup – to make my posture decent and my body happier. I put my laptop on the top and have the mouse and additional keyboard on the desk. Posture win!
(Though Ed did have to make me a cover for my laptop keyboard – because our cats would walk across it and create complete chaos of whatever I was working on.)
4. Our (Free!) Updated Hutch for So Much Storage
I intentionally found a storage piece with character to offset all the modern tech. The stained glass and curves are perfect!
Also, I measured our printer before my search to ensure it would fit and be hidden. It took patience, but I love what I found.
In the bottom fits the printer, paper, and office supplies – plus our son’s guitar cases.
The top is filled with sheet music and books and stuff.
And the middle holds a few of our son’s novelty instrument collection: bongos and chanter, anyone? (Not shown: 80’s keytar, little accordion, pan flute, harmonium…I’m sure I’ve missed some!)
Our DIY makeover of the hutch made it beautiful – it was damaged and the finish was degraded – plus we made it not smell anymore! It was pretty unpleasant.
I’ll share soon about my Facebook Marketplace tips and how I scored this beautiful antique hutch for free! (And, of course, I’ll link it to our collection of 20+ Beautiful & Inspiring Ideas for Painting an Old Hutch.)
The artwork is another placeholder – I bought this set for the frames (a $20 FB marketplace score). I’ll probably replace it with one from this collection of 10+ Curated Gallery Wall Art Sets (Printable, Easy, Affordable & Gorgeous). Or I have another music-themed idea I’m considering.
5. Very Fun Lighting
I love how organic and fascinating it is. Is it a bit ugly? You bet! And I love that about it.
The light is actually intended to be a dining room chandelier – but we shortened it to live up high near the ceiling.
You can find this light on Wayfair (on deep discount at time of writing!) and also at Home Depot.
And that’s the room! Is it perfect? Nope. Is it finished? Nope. But is it functional and fun? You bet!
So let’s recap the project tutorials I’ve promised coming soon:
- Easy DIY Computer Desk Plans to Build a Modern Wood PC Work or Gaming Station
- Our DIY art ledges
- Our DIY computer monitor brackets
- my Facebook Marketplace shopping tips and how I scored that antique hutch for free! (And how we made it not smell)
- keyboard stand and bench from 2x4s
- DIY music-themed artwork – when I come up with it! 🙂
Which project should we share first?
Robin and Ed are a DIY-loving couple with over 25 years of design and build experience. Also, Robin is a Nutritionist and former Registered Dietitian and Ed is an award-winning Business Educator. We share strategies for living a rich life on a DIY budget: creative money-savvy ideas for a stylish home, healthy meals and family fun. Our work has been published in the pages of Do It Yourself, Farmhouse Style and Better Homes & Gardens magazines.
What a delightful transformation! From a beloved playroom to a versatile home office music room, the journey is both nostalgic and inspiring. The thoughtful integration of technology with warm, organic elements creates a harmonious space for work and play. Looking forward to diving into the DIY tutorials and discovering more about your creative process. Great job!
Thank you so much! 🙂