New Studio Opens on Tuesday

It’s been a long summer. Since June, the studio had three different summer workshops, 10 weeks of summer lessons, and I started a huge renovation project to open our new studio. The grand opening is now only 5 days away, and there’s so much more to do!

When I started, this room hadn’t been used in almost 25 years. That meant cleaning away 25 years of grime, dust, and dirt. (It’s amazing how dirty something can get when it’s not really used…) Vinyl floors were stripped and refinished, shelves were torn apart and repainted, and there were a myriad of other projects involving old base trim, very dirty windows, and lots of walls to wash.

Here’s a little glimpse into the progress I’ve made so far.

This weekend I’ll move the Kimball consort into this room. The Mathushek baby grand will stay in it’s current room, which I plan to renovate into a private office / voice studio. All the piano books will be moved and reorganized, and there are several other decorating projects yet to be finished. I’m also hoping to find a comfy carpet to fit into our “Activity Corner” (last picture featured) and I’ve got another wall vinyl to install.

Speaking of wall vinyls… here’s a little bit of advice:

You Get What You Pay For

I wanted to save some money, so I bought a cool looking wall vinyl for $5 (shipped) from Tmart.com. I had found the same one on Amazon, but thought I was being super smart by finding one that was over $15 cheaper.

Wrong. Oh so wrong.

The cheap version didn’t come with pre-covered transfer tape. Rather than being smart and going to the craft store to buy some, I decided to apply it myself by peeling it off and just sticking it to the wall.

There’s a reason my wall vinyl looks like this:

and not this…

When I removed the vinyl sticker from the backing, it immediately became a tangled mess. I tried not to panic, and attempted to stick it to the wall and carefully unravel all the spirals above and below the treble clef. After cursing my “smartness” for saving money and buying a cheap decal, I took my husband’s advice and just cut away the extraneous spirals.

Moral of the story? Don’t be like me. If you want a really cool looking vinyl wall decal – pay for a good one. You can get the original Amazon one for about $21 (plus free shipping – no Amazon Prime required) by clicking HERE.

Vinyl wall decals debacles aside, I’m really excited to start teaching in this new space. It’s hard to believe that 4 years have passed since I opened my very own studio, let alone the fact that I’ve been teaching for almost a decade now! Here’s to many more years of fun – I’m so happy and blessed to be a private music teacher.

Just a reminder to all my teachers and parents – be sure to read yesterday’s 101 Piano Practice Tips review and enter the eBook giveaway.

Please also check out and SHARE our Keep Calm and Make Music Studio Fundraiser t-shirt and hoodie campaign on Teespring. We only have 11 days to sell 34 more shirts! T-shirts are only $17 and hoodies are $32. All proceeds will help us finish our renovations and expand our music lending library. Just click on the image below to order! (More colors and styles to choose from!)

As always, thanks for reading! Now that renovations are almost done, I’ll have more reviews, free resources, and lots of fun stuff for this fall. Have a beautiful Labor Day Weekend!

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