Just looking for some cheap and cheerfull inspiration!

condra

Hi people.

I'm not a regular here at A+C so dont be too hard on me please

Feel free to skip this (edit- not so) brief introduction:

I'm Dec, from Dublin. I'm constantly playing around with little home projects, be they DIY, crafts, design or whatever. My last project was a home made ant farm, and I would reccommend it to anyone with an interest in nature, or minatures etc

Anyway, I have a few little project ideas and I was hoping some of you here might have some ideas, if even just come creative imaginative suggestions. Everything I do is on the tightest budget possible.

I'm not a cheapskate, just flat out broke!
Apart from that, I love making something from "nothing" or recycling materials which otherwise might be discarded.

I know some of my querys fall in the domain of DIY, but I'm optimistic that you nice folk will have some cool ideas.

***

Firstly, I am not happy with the lighting in my studio and have been looking at some nice modern lighting recently. It got my imagination running wild, and one idea I had was to make some custom lighting by modifying a set of Christmas tree lights.

Another idea was to make a custom shade, either for the ceiling light, or for a lamp, perhaps both.
Presumably more care for safety would have to be taken than with the Christmas tree lights. I was thinking of something which might disperse the light in an interesting way. The possibilities are huge really.

Another project I plan is to soundproof, and acoustically treat my studio room, as cheap as possible. For acoustic treatment, I'll probably make some home made bass traps from bread-board, foam, and linen/cloth. The foam will probably come from a carpet shop.

Would anyone know where I could get a shed load of material (linen/cloth/cotton/denim/felt/etc) for dirt cheap?

The soundproofing is more difficult though. Ideally the walls would simply be made thicker with brick/concrete, but that is out of the question. I wonder how feasable it would be to panel the whole wall (there is one trouble wall) with something like cork or wood.
I could line the walls with rolled up carpet, but I'd rather do something neater. As for the door, that will be a major challenge.

Finally, I have a pair of huge old loudspeakers which are broken. It would be a shame to throw out the nice cabinets so I was thinking of converting them into stools, or maybe into trunks for vinyl records. If I had the cash and was feeling adventurous I'd convert one of them into a synthesizer or guitar amp, but meh, Im broke.

Anyway, if anyone has any cool ideas, which dont cost the earth, for any of the above projects, do please let me know!

Thanks for any ideas and sorry for the long post!

Third Eye

One way to soundproof a room is to use egg cartons (empty!). Recording studios use a cone type structure and the egg carton's structure is a cheap alternative. You could attach to hardboard sheets and cover the walls.

Where you can get an amount of egg cartons is another story. Maybe restaurants throw them out and would be glad to give them...

Hope that helps.

condra

One way to soundproof a room is to use egg cartons (empty!).

No offense but egg cartons don't soundproof a room in any way, whatsoever. It is an urban legend. 90% of frequencys, particularly the lows, will pass right through them.

The egg carton shape is used in studios with foam, as part of acoustic treatment as this shape helps to diffuse certain frequencies and prevent standing waves from reflections.

Acoustic treatment is for making a room sound less "live", and has nothing to do with sound proofing/isolation.

What I need is cheap, dense material that can be easily fixed to the walls from ceiling to floor.

Thanks for your reply anyway.