A 2018 study of 181 metropolitan areas across the United States revealed that Salt Lake City is the best city for creative people to reside in. The city’s affordable cost of living, which the study calculated at six percent below the national average makes it a prime residential area for those with budding artistic talent.
But exploring your creative side calls for a space in which you can store the materials and equipment you need to hone your talent. Even if you have your own house in a nice suburb in Salt Lake, this can be difficult if you share it with your family, who need the space as much as you do. What’s an aspiring artist to do? If you have enough or unused garage space, though, you can transform it into your own music studio or painting room.
Making a Music Studio
If sound is the best medium to express your artistic impulses, converting your garage into a music studio could offer you an area where you don’t have to worry about upsetting the neighbors with your tunes. Your major concerns are soundproofing the area and ventilating it. If you only have an open carport instead of a full garage, there are companies that offer garage door installation in Salt Lake City.
You need to search the entire garage for any opening that can leak sound. Every window and door has to seal shut when closed. You can use sealing strips, which are available in DIY stores, and layers of Sheetblock, a special vinyl that creates a soundproof barrier.
Once all the doors and windows are soundproofed, you need to install a ventilation system if your garage doesn’t have one already. If you have an existing system, you’ll have to affix acoustic boxes over the air vents. These are S-shaped configurations lined with acoustic foam and mesh that absorb the sound waves that will make their way through your vents. Once you’ve crossed off these major concerns from your list, you can proceed with soundproofing the rest of the garage. Remember that egg cartons aren’t a good substitute for acoustic foam and that you should be patient with the conversion.
When you’re finally done with turning your garage into a rehearsal space, you’re free to play your chosen instrument or sing as loud as you need to.
Perfecting a Painting Room
Perhaps you’re more of a visual artist than a musician. Painting is a very calm, quiet activity, which can be rare commodities in a fully-occupied house. Turning your garage into a painting room or art studio will entail finding the perfect lighting and buying the necessary equipment to pursue your visual artistry.
Sunlight is the best method of illuminating colors with a color rendering index (CRI) of 100. Look for light bulbs that have a CRI is as close to that of the sun, which means bulbs with a CRI between 80 and 100. Your lights should also be neither to warm nor to cool, which can make colors seem more reddish or bluish than they really are.
To pursue painting, you’ll need a set of basic art materials with which to practice and perfect your talents. Aside from your chosen type of paint, you should also have an ample selection of paper. Different kinds of paper possess different properties; as such, some types are more suitable for varied drawing and painting styles than others. Having a selection can help you expand your skills.
Whether you prefer doing guitar solos over mastering pointillism, you’ll be grateful to have the space where you can let your talent soar. Having your own artistic area lets you practice while minimizing distractions. So go transform your garage into a playground for your imagination.
