Songwriting Studio I Want My Own Room

Ever dreamed of a brand-new room?

Of taking control and designing it yourself?

I Want My Own Room makes your designer dreams come true!

# I want, want my own room

# I want, want my own room

# I want, want my own room

# I want, want my own room. #

Do you find it hard practising your music without being disturbed?

Are your family out of tune with your need for peace and quiet?

Do you find it a right song and dance, finding a space of your own?

# Lah! #

Well, don't despair, because on I Want My Own Room,

we can help you find the space you need.

Meet 10-year-old Dean and his family.

Dean loves music but something is a little off-key!

I can't get a minute's peace in this house!

Dean has to share his space with noisy sister Aysha

and brother Zaid. And his mum and dad aren't much quieter!

TV BLARES, PIANO AND RECORDER PLAY

Dean has his own bedroom which he likes to retreat to

to write his music but there's no peace there.

Mum uses it to store her clothes!

Urgh! I want my own room!

Dean is fed up of having nowhere to practise his piano

and write his music in peace.

We get Mum and Dad to hand over the house keys and give Dean control!

A designer helps make Dean's dreams of having a music room a reality.

I'd like you to help me lay out the items you've told me about.

They get ideas from a design day out.

Wow, it's amazing!

And mum and dad get their hands dirty, helping out.

A bit there!

But with just four days to build and decorate a room,

will it be all Dean hopes for?

Right, it's time I paid Dean a visit to help him find the space he needs.

-Hi, Lisa, come on in.

-Hi, Dean, thank you.

-OK, so here's your bedroom.

-Yep.

-It's a good size.

-Yeah.

You could actually fit your piano in here, couldn't you?

Yeah, but it's awkward to get it up the stairs

and my mum keeps coming in to get her clothes.

LISA GASPS

Your wardrobe in your room is full of your mum's clothes.

-Yeah.

-I've got slight clothes envy but that is a lot of clothes.

-Where are your clothes?

-In my brother's room.

-Shall we have a look at the room the piano's in at the moment?

-Yeah.

-The piano... Ooh, it's seen better days, hasn't it?

-Yeah.

Some of them, yeah, they're torn and these two don't work.

There's nothing going on there, is there?

Why can't you practise your piano and do your music writing in here?

Because Mum's watching the television,

Dad's on the computer, Zaid and Aysha are running in and out.

Is there anywhere else we could put your piano?

There is a garage but it's really cluttered.

-Shall we go and see?

-Yeah.

-Go on then.

LISA GASPS

SCARY HORROR FILM MUSIC

What is all this stuff?

-Junk.

-What's all that stuff down there?

These are every single one of my dad's school books,

his records, DIY, everything.

So basically, it's all Mum and Dad's stuff?

Yeah, but if they cleared it out, it would be amazing for the piano.

-Shall we go and have a word?

-Yep, let's.

So, Mum and Dad, you've got to agree, it's really hard for Dean

to find space in this house to practise his music and write it.

He's got this room!

-That's what this room's for, you've got the piano there...

-Oh, really?

You've got your computer which you always go on.

Mama, you've your TV.

What about your bedroom, Dean?

Well, your clothes are in my bedroom.

You can't concentrate there either. So, Mum and Dad,

I've devised an experiment, just to demonstrate the problems Dean faces.

Here's a little book for both of you to read

so if you'd like to sit down and concentrate on your book, relax.

Band, in you come!

ALL THE INSTRUMENTS PLAY CLASHING TUNES

# Ra-pa-pa-pum, ra-pa-pa-pum

# Rum-pa-pah

# Rum-pa-pa-pa-rum pum... #

Stop! Stop!

And...finish! Was that fun or enjoyable in any way, shape or form?

No, not really.

-You definitely need your own room.

-Yes!

Mum and Dad, do you understand now

why you have to hand over control of your house?

Do you agree to let Dean redesign your house

in any way he chooses to give him more space?

Any way he chooses? Don't know about that, Dean...

-Come on, Mum and Dad, you know it makes sense.

-Go on, Dean.

CHEERING

Hurray!

So Dean is now officially in charge of designing his own room.

He'll get to tell Mum and Dad what to do

and it all needs to be finished in just four days.

To help Dean achieve this, meet Ben Huckerby.

Ben runs his own interior design company. He'll need all his skills

to transform the family's cluttered garage into Dean's dream music room.

Dean, this is what you know as the garage

-but this is going to be your new space.

-Yes.

Tell me what you want to achieve in here.

I want to use it as a music room for my piano, to practise

and maybe some software keyboard, hooked up to a computer

or something like that.

A place where I can play my piano in front of everybody.

-Maybe have my certificates hung up on the walls.

-OK, brilliant.

Now I've got that information, I'd like you to help me lay out

the items you've told me about. We'll struggle in this space here

-so we need to go into the house, plan out the space. Are you ready?

-Yes.

Let's go.

What I've done here is created a piece of cardboard

which is, in theory, like the room we'll create.

And I'm going to... This is going to signify the doorway going in.

This is going to be the window we'll create at the other end.

I'd like you to place the shapes in the areas you see them in your room.

So this is probably going to be the piano.

-I'm going to put that there.

-OK.

I'll put the desk next to the piano.

And the seats here so people can see me.

I think the plan's amazing, it's going to work brilliantly.

It's going to be so cool.

With Dean's design plan in place,

Ben takes him to the Royal Northern College Of Music

to get ideas for how the space could work and look.

It's really important that I design you a space

that you feel comfortable working within and practising your music.

I want you to take pictures of things that will help me design

-some things for you, within your space. Are we ready?

-Yes.

-Let's go.

What do you think of the colours and the brightness and the signage?

I like the silver on the sign but not the mustard-colour orange.

-What do you think to that?

-This one's really...

I've only got four certificates so I can put them all in one.

What do you think to this?

-Wow, it's amazing!

-You're impressed, aren't you?

-Yes!

The college's concert hall can hold an audience of 466 people

and Dean and Ben give the seats a good test run.

-What do you think to these seats?

-They're really good.

-What do you think to this little detail?

-Yeah, that's good.

Could fold you up in there, look! Jump off, stand up

-and let's see it fold away. So you think that's going to be good?

-Yes.

Ben has arranged a special surprise for Dean -

the chance to play the concert hall's grand piano.

'It felt amazing cos I'm in the spotlight'

and I can imagine everybody watching me.

Everything we've seen today is on a massive scale.

We've got to be careful when we plan the space

to make sure we get everything in for him and don't disappoint him.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

While Ben works on the design,

back at the house, the mammoth task of clearing out the garage

has to be tackled.

Right, Mum and Dad, I've seen some mess and clutter in my time,

but THAT takes the biscuit!

The quicker we get this tidied up, the quicker I get my room.

Here are your clothes to put on and you have to tidy the garage!

There's quite a lot of heavy-duty stuff. What are we going to do?

But I knew this would happen so I called in some helpers!

Come on, guys!

-Daddy, take all that stuff over there.

-All this stuff over here?

It feels good to tell them what to do for once.

They don't have to boss me around.

Dean, he's OK as a boss. A bit mean but to be honest,

it's better than working for his mum!

Am I allowed to hit anyone with this?

I'm chucking none of it, all this is being kept.

-Your dad seems to be keeping everything!

-Everything...

What's this? Do you need this?

-Yes, everyone needs one of these.

-Everybody needs one of those.

-There's no way they can keep all this stuff, is there?

-No.

I'm going to get Dad to sort it all out.

Mum and Dad have put hardly anything in the skip.

That's a lot of stuff they'll need to sort through later!

Back in the garage, Dean talks through his design ideas.

We went to a college of music where we took some photos.

The first one was a silver sign, I liked the silver sign.

That was cool. This one was to hang the certificates up, four in one.

The purple seats were amazing because they'll save up space

cos I can just fold it up.

You were sure of what you wanted, weren't you?

Let's see how Ben has turned your ideas into the actual design.

-We did some space planning earlier on, we did it flat, didn't we?

-Yes.

Now we've turned that into a picture. As you come through the door here,

-we've got Dean's piano...

-So is that going to be there?

-Yes.

That's going to be over here. And then this is your desk

-which is going to be here. And this area here is very special.

-Seating.

I don't want to tell you too much about it yet cos that's a wow factor!

-Do you think we should get going?

-Yes.

'With Dean giving Ben's plan the thumbs-up, it's time to start work.'

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Dean!

Let the work begin!

With Dean happy all is going to plan, the family head off

as they're staying somewhere else while the work is carried out.

Ready to go to sleep for a long, hard day at work ahead!

I hope it's going to be a big surprise! Yep!

OK, better get some sleep now.

Whilst Dean prepares for bed, the I Want My Own Room building team

work through the night, bricking up the old window,

putting a new wall and window in at the front...

..adding a floor, walls, and ceiling.

Phew! That's a lot of work for one night!

OWL HOOTS

So Dean has nowhere to play his piano in peace

but we've seen the potential in the garage

and have convinced Mum and Dad to hand over the house keys.

The trip to the music college hit a high note with Dean.

The garage has been cleared and the building work started

but there's still a long way to go

before Dean's dream of a music studio becomes a reality.

It's the morning of day two and the I Want My Own Room building team

have been working through the night.

Dean is back to see how they're getting on.

Woah!

That's amazing!

-Oh-h-h!

-It's so different.

Now that part of the house is my house.

All right, I'm going to give you another job.

You have to help the builders for the day.

Are you sure you're doing this right?

I know exactly what I'm doing. Look at these.

-Builder's boots, them.

-Who have you borrowed them off then?

Anyone wearing boots like that knows how to build!

Anyone can do your job, this is the skilful job right here.

That's why I'm doing this, you see.

In a more peaceful part of the garden,

Dean and Ben have a go at something a little more creative.

All great musicians and musical producers get awarded

gold and platinum discs.

We're going to make your own personalised one.

-Would you like to choose gold or silver?

-Gold, please.

OK, let's use the gold.

-And then here's your disc.

-Yep.

-I'd like you to put that onto the paper.

And then here, I've got a photograph of...

-Me!

-Playing the piano at the music college.

-Yeah!

I want to put that onto there as well.

It's going all right, it's more hands-on than I thought it would be

but we're happy to help out.

It's just like baking really!

-No, no, no, no, no!

-Plaster fight! Are you ready?

-Cake fight!

-Ah!

-Oh, a bit there!

-A bit there!

I've got this special plaque I've had printed

but if you make these in the future, you could write on the plaque.

I'd like you to read that out.

"This disc is awarded to Dean

"to mark the beginning of his new musical adventures."

I'd like you to stick it onto the picture.

-We're going to stick it down and put it into the frame.

-OK.

-Are you ready to have a go?

-Yes.

-Brilliant.

-There.

-Yep, that's perfect.

'Why don't you have a go at creating one of these at home?

'They're really easy to make!'

Right, I've done my bit now. Sofa and TV for me.

Nothing new then. Some things don't change!

HE SNORES LOUDLY

-We're going to turn the whole thing over and put it into the frame.

-OK.

-I then, Dean, present to you, your first gold award!

-Wow!

-It looks great, doesn't it?

-Yes.

-Brilliant.

It's the end of day two, and the I Want My Own Room team knuckle down

for a second evening of hard work.

Wow! The team are really hitting a design high note

with those ingenious stilts.

It's the morning of day three

and although the building work is nearly finished,

Ben can't start on the decorating

until the plaster is dry.

That could take some time.

So Ben is putting some old tea bags to use, staining music sheets

to give an aged look. He has a plan to use them in the room later.

Nice gloves, Ben!

Mum and Dad still have all the clutter from the garage to sort out.

With no space at the family home,

Dean has sent them off to the local community centre.

The plan is they'll sort everything into what they want to keep,

give to charity, or recycle.

Back at the house, Ben has found some items he wants to re-use

in Dean's new room.

So, guys, I found two frames inside whilst looking in the house.

I've also found some of Dean's dad's old records which are quite novel.

I want you to make some artwork using these.

I want you to take the record, place it into the frame.

We'll use this gold card behind the back of it

and I want you to customise the middle bit of the record.

-We can do that.

-Yes.

-I've got loads to do so I'm going to crack on.

Good luck, see you in a bit!

How do you think your new room will help

with your music playing, practising and writing?

It will give me some peace so I can practise.

A lot of stuff came out of that garage, didn't it?

How do you think Mum and Dad will be doing, sorting that stuff out?

-I think it might be a bit hard for them.

-Really?

Is your dad quite bad for hoarding stuff?

My dad's good at hoarding stuff! He doesn't want to throw anything away.

Random stuff... Look at this whole file of nothingness...

Look at this, look at this!

-What's that?

-This is the uniform from my first job!

How old is it?

Don't you remember? This is where we met! I was 16.

This looks like what was once a stick of rock.

I suppose I'd better chuck that one!

-Your dad has got an awful lot of stuff, hasn't he?

-Yes!

-Your mum is a clean, tidy, organised person.

-Yes.

-Will she try to persuade your dad to have a clear-out?

-Yes, she will.

-I believe that to be yours?

-What is it?

Er, not quite sure, to be honest.

Laptop.

I don't think they had laptops in the 1980s!

This can go in a new pile, in the middle, of things not yet complete.

He seems to have sorted himself into a new pile

of "keep", "keep" and "not sure".

I don't know quite what's going on.

Shall we finish these off

-and then go and see how your mum and dad are getting on?

-Yeah,

'This is really simple to do at home.

'Just remember to check with Mum and Dad before you use their records!'

-Hello, Mum and Dad!

-Oh, hello!

-Hello.

-Hello.

-There's a lot of stuff.

-A lot.

-Oh, what's that?

-What?

-This is a new pile,

a new section...for things that are not yet complete.

-Look at this old dinosaur!

-Dinosaur?

This is a state-of-the-art laptop!

-It's the dirty diplodocus of the laptop world!

-It's tiny!

Dinosaur World! Do you think we'll find the laptop in here? Let's see.

You know what? I think we're taking too long.

Us three, let's have a break and leave you to it!

Dean, how do you think your mum and dad were at doing the sorting out?

-Rubbish.

-They were dreadful!

They were rubbish throwing out the rubbish.

Keep...

Keep, keep, keep, keep...

Is there anything you could get in your room that will make you think,

"Oh, Ben's got that wrong"?

Pink or black or brown. Any really bad colour scheme.

This time tomorrow, you'll be walking into your new room.

-How do you feel about that?

-I'll close my eyes and when I get in,

open my eyes and then, I don't know. Scream?

Dean won't be back to the house now until the room is finished.

As Mum and Dad leave to store the boxes at a relative's house,

Ben and the team are finally able to get into the old garage

to start on the decorating,

including sticking the stained music sheets to the wall.

Ben has also arranged for an artist to paint a special mural for Dean.

Looks like it's going to be another long night!

I don't think I can sleep, I'm just going to stay up all night!

Ah, it's amazing! The feeling... I can't wait!

The big reveal is today.

They've actually done it in four days.

That was so quick.

Oh, my... I'd better get ready!

In a few hours, Dean and his family will be back to see the room.

Admittedly, it is a room and not a garage any more

but there is still loads of work to do

before it's a beautiful music room for Dean.

# When he sees it, what will he think?

# Will he love it because it's not pi-i-ink? #

With most of the past few days being taken up with the building work,

Ben and the I Want My Own Room design team

are having to work extra fast to get the room done in time.

Ben has got a surprise for Dean - a reconditioned piano.

But getting it into the room is no easy task.

DRAMATIC SCARY MUSIC

'Ooh, watch those kitchen worktops!'

'Is it going to fit?'

'Phew! With the piano safely in the room,

'I think it's only right I give the ivories a little tickle.'

SHE PLAYS BADLY

Ooh, Lisa!

Why are we getting him a new piano?

Dean's piano, the keys have seen better days.

I'd have liked to get him a grand piano that he plays, he loved it

at the music college. But if he'd have had that,

he wouldn't have been able to open the door!

The look of it fits well with the theatre seats.

-It's almost like some old music hall.

-It is like a music hall!

# Roll out the barrel! #

It feels as if Ben and the I Want My Own Room design team

have had hardly any time in Dean's new room.

They need to get their skates on as the family are on their way home!

I feel really excited about seeing the room.

I can't wait to see what Ben's done.

It's all hands on deck

as Ben and the team rush to get the room finished.

Perhaps I shouldn't have worn my evening dress

onto a decorating site!

Dean, Mum, Dad, it's nearly time for the exciting part

where you get to see the room!

You've had control for four days but the rules are you have to

hand control, and the keys, back to Mum and Dad.

-Are you looking forward to that?

-Very much so.

-It's been difficult

working for Dean for the past four days, so back to normality!

It's time, Dean, you've got to hand them back!

Yes! We've got the house back!

Four days ago, Dean had to practise his piano in a room he had to share

with the rest of his noisy family.

But he really wanted a place where he could play and write his music

in peace. We saw potential in the neglected garage

and with a bit of imagination and a lot of hard graft,

we transformed the grim grotto into a music studio fit for any pianist.

Dean's old piano had seen better days

so Ben replaced it with a reconditioned one.

Dean wanted to be able to perform for his family and friends,

and Ben found these old space-saving theatre seats

that fold out of a mural painted with portraits of Dean's family.

Dean also asked for a place to write and compose music

and Ben has created a desk that houses all the equipment

he'll need to become a budding Beethoven.

Ben has taken Dean's dream and made it a reality

but what will Dean make of his new studio?

Three...

two...

one...

-There's your new room!

-Oh, my word!

That looks...amazing!

Oh...my...word!

-That's not my piano!

-It's not your piano.

-We got you...

-A new piano.

-A reconditioned piano, yes!

Your family are in the audience, watching your piano recital.

Wow!

-And these actually came out of a proper theatre.

-This is amazing!

-They can sit and listen to you play.

-It's more than I expected.

-Do you like the "Dean's Studio"?

-Yes, yes, yes!

Remember, you looked at the silver lettering on your trip

so that's why Ben's put that there.

Wow!

So, you've got your desk, with music sheets on top.

Do you want to lift it up?

What have we got in here?

Oh, my word!

-It's the composing software.

-Wow!

Tell me what you think about your room, Dean.

It's...

..just...

I'm speechless!

-Shall we get your mum and dad, see what they think?

-Definitely!

Come on in!

THEY GASP

Come on in, come on in! Squeeze in and shut the door.

It's amazing!

-Shall we let Zaid and Aysha in?

-Come on, come on, guys!

-In you come!

-Come on, Aysha, come on, Zaid!

Look, there's you! And there's you.

THEY ALL LAUGH

Thank you so much for all this, it's more than I expected!

We can't thank the team and Ben enough for what you've created here.

Honestly, it's an amazing space, amazing space, yeah.

Mum, you're making me well up as well!

You know, it was always going to be a tall order,

turning a garage into a room.

And it wasn't without its dramas.

But with a lot of hard work, the I Want My Own Room team did it.

What was a dusty, cramped old garage

is now a perfect room for a budding musician.

Seeing Dean's reaction was overwhelming.

I felt quite tearful, to be honest!

Oh, my word!

'I think this room can be the best room'

I've ever had or anybody could ever have!

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