Way back in my first year at uni, I had a plan to build some truss across my room in halls. This would let me fly speakers, monitors and lights to end up with the best room in halls. However, the first opportunity I had to convict the truss wasn't until the summer, so it first got erected in my second year house.
Then came third year, where I rented a pretty small room off a mate - I just about fitted enough of the truss into my room to hang my bass and a couple of PAR16s from. Then came final year, and the near-luxury residences of the Isambard complex. I could finally rig my truss between the wardrobe and bookcase, as planned since the inception of the project.
Like many creative types, I need a lot of desk space. Two monitors is pretty much a necessity these days, as is a decent keyboard. On the less-than-generous desks in Isambard this left no space for a printing press, mixing desk, space for soldering or junk (which I accumulate quite quickly). So the desk got moved to the middle of the room, and I built an extension along the wall.
Then my bass needed to hang from somewhere, so I bolted some truss to the new desk to put my bass hanger on.
A trip to IKEA saw some parts for the "Hanging garden of Tobylon" purchased, which were fitted to some "nice bits of oak" to avoid screwing into the window frame. The pole wasn't quite the right length for the window, so I made a new one with similar fixings and the old one ended up in my bass amp as feet.
My coffee machine went in its traditional position on my bedside table - it's hard to get up these days without caffeine flowing through my veins.
The area between the door and desk became a storage area for all the tools and PA equipment I own, as well as my printer, sitting atop a historical piece of video equipment.
To finish the room off I liberally sprinkled Transformers, toy cars and Lego over all the free surfaces, and flew Thunderbird 2 from the truss.
I don't think anyone's entered the room without some kind of comment, usually asking the lines of "best room in halls". I'm a firm believer in making a room my own, and once again I think I've delivered.
