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A fun project that I worked on earlier this year was a makeover for the Music Therapy Center of California. My friend Angela has been a music therapist for two decades and done some amazing and admirable work teaching children with special needs and forming bands with kids and teens with autism and Down Syndrome. Check out her non-profit website here https://bandingtogethersd.org This is a mission close to my heart and so of course I accepted the opportunity to give their bland office space an upgrade and a little style so that it functions better as a creative space.
I decided to approach this as I would a home, giving the waiting room a living room vibe, thinking of the conference room like a dining room, and then the other rooms each with their own feel - a recording studio-style room pictured above with sound-proofing for band practice, a cozy bohemian style music room that looks like it belongs in the corner of a living room, and a sensory room (sort of like a playroom).
I love this table and chairs that they went with from Wayfair. It is a great space for the therapists to have meetings, or get work done. They added outlets below for charging phones and laptops etc. These chairs come in all different colors, and they got a different color chair for each room to add a unifying element. They also did a lot of organizing and put their office supplies, music, and teaching supplies in labeled white containers.
For one of their teaching rooms, we decided to go with a cozy living room vibe with a rug and rattan lantern. We also did these locker style covered storage in each room. They needed storage they could lock up if necessary with zip ties and they got these in different colors in two of the rooms.
The keyboard shelf we found on etsy but it was so expensive that they paid someone to make one for them. I think it looks a lot better and warmer than the regular standard keyboard stand. Sometimes a keyboard is more functional than a piano because you can plug in headphones and control the volume.
They are also working on a sensory room, and finishing up their waiting room.
Here are some of the "before" pics - it was just sort of a generic office space and now it has lots of storage, organization, and character while being a great space for creativity and music -making!
The conference room before
How the band room and music room looked before