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I'm maybe two weeks away from having a music corner with real walls after a decade of waiting. Walls/ceiling in the main living room are up, I just have a few more pieces of of trim left to do and to finish building the chandelier and hanging it up. Until about two weeks ago I hadn't had interior walls in a decade unless you count the the disgusting single wide that I cut up and threw in the trash can. Yeah, I actually threw it away two residential garbage cans at a time LOL.
This place is gonna feel roomier than a palace when I get the scaffold taken down. It's been in my living room for a year though it was a blessing as a hand hold when I threw my back out last may. I'll finally have a corner where we can have amps set up, guitars and horns in cases, music stands, and stools that I don't need to constantly shuffle around. Best of all, lighting I can actually see good in for the first time since 2016. Then I'll just have figure out where to put my son's ten foot long 48 channel console while I finish out his room lol but at least I won't need scaffolding to reach the ceiling. His room is crammed with instruments and gear. I told him no more...
This is my first winter where I didn't have to wear long underwear indoors during cold spells. I'm fully insulated. Warm enough in here to practice guitar when it's below 45 degrees out. My eastern side of the roof wasn't fully insulated last year and we had a rare cold wind straight out of the east, that was like three days of torture. No more drafts!!! Forgive the long post but this is a big deal to me right now so thanks for letting me share it.
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02-10-2026 05:33 PM
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Warm and cozy is always good - but especially when you're trying to play a guitar.
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No doubt! The hot water heater was the biggest game changer. I was doing dishes on the ground outside near a spigot on days it got to 50 degrees. I upgraded my arrangement to doing dishes on top of a stack of pallets but I hit paydirt when I could just fill up a five gallon bucket of nice steaming hot water. That and a toilet I didn't have to hand flush were the biggest game changers but yeah, the insulation is pure first world luxury!!!
Originally Posted by Mick-7
Warm and cozy is always good - but especially when you're trying to play a guitar.
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Welcome to civilization, DB, we missed you.
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WTF kind of privileged life did I not even realize I was living?
Glad things are getting better for you DB. That sounds miserable.
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If there’s no pictures then it hasn’t happened.
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Super happy for you DB! Every single time we come in to our home from the cold or heat we genuinely feel grateful for it and often tend to say it aloud as a natural response.
Wishing you the best here -
And I have 'quite a lot' of music room 'things' and whatnot if y'all need anything, please PM me.
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In November 2012, the Monday after Thanksgiving, our (only) bathroom remodel started. To the studs, the floor joists, also including taking down the kitchen ceiling to sister in new joists due to damage done by previous plumbers and remodelers. Now, I should note that we live in Minnesota. The project took until after Valentine's Day when all was said and done, although we had insulation by sometime in January. We had a working toilet every evening except the few days when the concrete subfloor was being poured by the tile guy. Taking a trip into the bathroom at 2:30 AM when it's -10F outside and it'd just siding and sheathing between you and the great outdoors is... interesting. Well, there was an alternative- there was a port-o-john out on the deck.
Dawg, happy for you that the corner has been turned and warmth is in the house!
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Rejoycing with you, bro!
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Thanks Allan. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Texas winters are generally pretty mild....generally. It's 73 degrees today. They actually weren't that big of a deal since I have a woodstove I could huddle around, warm clothes, and even a nice wool blanket. But that east wind last year was probably the worst few days in ten years. It really tested me. 10 degrees and calm is much more manageable than 35 degrees with a ripping wind out of the east when your eaves are essentially wide open to the weather. Just a little drafty haha.
It was ten years of sacrifice and sweat equity and I'm finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I managed to get this far in between a couple part time jobs, close to a thousand gigs, and putting out a record last year. I still have a lot to do and there is always managing the woods, removing deadfalls and underbrush to reduce forest fire risks. It went from basically a trashed party property to a nice place with a long view to the horizon encapsulating both city and country views that I cut myself but pictures never do the view justice. I had a lot of people try and buy the place off me when I first arrived cause aside from the trash n beer cans that needed cleaned up it's a nice spot.
I'll throw a couple photos up this evening. I split wood this morning and need to hang a few trim pieces to fill out the day first.
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Hopefully they post in the upright position. No music corner pics until its all set up though!
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My favorite part is still the porch though. I cut n peeled the logs from the property. Had to stop working on the house to build it cause i needed an exterior place i could work on stuff without being on the ground.
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Nice place!
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I appreciate the offer but my wife has enough wall hangings and decor to fill a five bedroom home. I made her "keep the best and get rid of the rest" to keep the clutter down. I hate clutter and disorganization but had to learn to live with it for ten years so as I finish things there will be lots of shelves and storage since this is only one bedroom plus a loft. I have about 700 sq ft on the ground level. Originally Posted by Rodney Gene
After years of doing dishes in less than ideal position I made my kitchen sink tall man height so I don't have to stoop down anymore. The sink has the best view in the house save for the porch!
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That knotty pine really pulls the room together!
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Thanks! What's even better is it's cedar. I figured after all the work I might as well finish it out nice rather than just doing drywall, which then would make a big mess with the sanding. Texas has many bugs, lots of moths and other annoying insects, and the cedar helps keep them away. Originally Posted by Cunamara
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I live in a cedar house, imported from Canada. It seems to attract creatures. Originally Posted by DawgBone
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This is something I can only dream of. I stand with my legs at 4 and 8 o'clock to wash dishes. Originally Posted by DawgBone
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Well done man! Looks excellent, love the Cedar. And the one wall looks like a church!
What part of Texas? I have property in Austin and Dripping Springs past 22 years. Both back up to greenbelts. We love it, but weather can get intense.
Our yard regularly has - Snakes, Lizards (massive and many) Squirrels, Possums, Raccoons, Porcupines, Armadillos (Damn grub eaters), Owls, Foxes, Doves, Cardinals, Grackles, Rabbits, Rats, Hawks, Vultures and coyotes. I have gotten good at humane cage traps! Critters are tough out here...
Bugs? ... and then more bugs. Good lord.
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Thanks. Didn't really intend on the church vibe but I was covering gaps where the boards met at the studs and the dark brown cedar scraps matched some of the work I did on the ceiling. At $14 per 8 foot board I didn't wanna waste, lol. When you freehand a house sometimes it kind of decides it's own design if that makes sense so some things I've just rolled with. The only regret was letting my wife talk me into a 12/12 pitch roof. Never again. Originally Posted by Rodney Gene
Well done man! Looks excellent, love the Cedar. And the one wall looks like a church!
What part of Texas? I have property in Austin and Dripping Springs past 22 years. Both back up to greenbelts. We love it, but weather can get intense.
Our yard regularly has - Snakes, Lizards (massive and many) Squirrels, Possums, Raccoons, Porcupines, Armadillos (Damn grub eaters), Owls, Foxes, Doves, Cardinals, Grackles, Rabbits, Rats, Hawks, Vultures and coyotes. I have gotten good at humane cage traps! Critters are tough out here...
Bugs? ... and then more bugs. Good lord.
I'm technically in San Marcos, physically closer to Wimberley, but a large ranch owns the land the road sits on so I gotta take the long way around on old/new RR12. To make things more of a headache my kid had to attend Kyle schools because I'm on the side of the road that puts me in Kyle school districts, but that's over and done with now.
I have most of those critters you've mentioned here but not too many big lizards and I've never seen a poisonous snake on my property, just a couple dead coral snakes crushed on the road. The kissing bugs bother me the most since they can carry chagas disease, no bueno.
There has been a family of wrens that has nested here since I framed my place. I don't have the heart to toss their nest even though they make a mess as they return to the same nesting grounds generationally. I love the painted buntings. Got multiple fox dens, watched a family of armadillos grow up from my loft windows, and have seen newborn fawns taking their first steps, and even two bucks in a duel one morning. It's def a deer haven out here, I have many skulls to prove it, lol. For a while I had four or five road runners nesting here then people started letting their cats run loose and all of them either got eaten or left. That bothers me. I wish I had been able to raise my kids out here when they were younger. Some beautiful sunrises can be viewed from here.
After I finish up the house I'm planning on building a nice campsite in the back. I have a few cleared areas to choose from but I think I got it narrowed down.
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Well done brother, looks like a genuine lifestyle rebuild. Inspiring.
Yep...alot of deer here. They have slept at my back fence for years. My dogs are cool with them and they are a bit too socialized I think.
Beautiful area there. I have played Mercer several times and was out to Rupert Neve in Wimberley a bit ago to pick up a piece of gear.
Texas Hill country at it's finest. Bought my Tundra from SM Toyota, love it out there.
Cheers and heres to a great music year for you DB.
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Originally Posted by Rodney Gene
Nice! I like the Austin nightlife but at the end of the day I want starry skies and country nights and being <40 minutes away has been great. I def am always drawn to the hills. Anytime I get into the flats north of downtown Austin or east of here I don't feel at home. My back field is way too rocky to mow so the grass is tall and thick. It's crushed down all the time from all the deer sleeping back there. I need to motivate myself to stay up late and try and bag a wild boar one of these nights. We've got some good sized ones running around back here. I've yet to dress one so it'd be a fun project and fill the freezer too.
I haven't been able to get into Mercer but I play down in Gruene at least once a month so that's kinda been my home for the past 7 or 8 years musically. They let me do what I want down there, which is great, to be able to focus more on artistry and less on business. Pays well enough for me to be able to run a five piece band, which has been a dream of mine for a long time.
My son works assembling control panels for various industrial uses. He's kind of an electronics/computer/audio whiz, which is weird because I'm an analog caveman. He brought home an old digidesign control surface and completely refurbished the thing the other night. He's got too much talent (musically too) to stay at his same job forever and Neve would be a great move up for him so I told him applying was mandatory if he wanted to continue living here rent free, lol.
And cheers and hopefully a great year of life and music for yourself also. Lord bless!!!
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The woodwork is fantastic. The kind of work you can't buy these days, contractors just want to toss up drywall and move to the next gig. Can't say I blame them, everyone needs to put food on the table.
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Drywall was originally developed as a patch for lathe and plaster homes. It's cheap, effective, fast, and if done right looks really nice. My last house was 1940's and lathe and plaster inside. You ain't punching a hole through it. If you look at homes from the 1910's and 1920's, many of them are all wooden plank interiors, even the exterior sheathing will be planks because plywood wasn't used until later. That would be huge money in today's market. This is why a lot of them are still in good shape, provided the foundation hasn't shifted and the roof was kept maintained. Originally Posted by AllanAllen
Now most houses are exterior sheathed in oriented strand board, which is garbage IMO. Exposed to weather for any length of time it completely loses it's structural integrity since it is basically wood chips glued together. As a result it ignites twice as fast as plywood.
The more you get into building the more you see how cut corner the US housing developers, and materials suppliers have become, kinda like everything else. 100% profit as the main motive means oversized homes built using trash materials and trash labor which is why looking down the wall of a DR Horton or Lennar home under construction is like looking at waves in an ocean. Many of those homes won't outlast the 30 year mortgage without major maintenance. Sorry for the lecture but knowledge is power and I thought I'd share.
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