Room Echos?

[guestmama9912]

I recently moved my office & bookcases out of mine & DD's shared bedroom/playroom and now it Echos badly. It's a large room - maybe 15 x 30 or so with cathedral ceilings.


Is there an easy way to fix this? Do I need to put more stuff back in the room? I was really trying to declutter & make space in there so it would look cleaner & bigger.

[anywaybecause]

If you don't already have these in the room, an area rug and fabric window treatments will help.

[guestmama9912]

Originally Posted by anywaybecause

If you don't already have these in the room, an area rug and fabric window treatments will help.

It's got wall to wall carpet in it. The one window that is reachable has a curtain & blinds, the others are up above room level with the cathedral ceiling so no way to really put treatments up there.

[rhiandmoi]

Yeah, you need stuff on the walls to reduce the echo. Maybe a nice big section of cork squares?

[anywaybecause]

What furniture is in the room? Is it all mostly wood, or is there a couch or some easy chairs?

[nd_deadhead]

When we replaced our wall-to-wall carpet with hardwood, the echo was astonishing - and annoying. But we quickly got used to it, and it hasn't bothered us since.

I would give it a week or so before making any dramatic changes.

[sunnysandiegan]

Your bookcases probably provided acoustic insulation in the past. Do you have anything on the walls? Pictures, paintings, anything will help absorb the sounds.

[guestmama9912]

Originally Posted by anywaybecause

What furniture is in the room? Is it all mostly wood, or is there a couch or some easy chairs?

Right now there is:

2 metal twin beds
Table with TV on it
Little Tykes Playhouse {in playroom side}
Toys
Mini fridge on a bedside table

And a bunch of totes that will be out of there soon, so I expect it will only get worse once those are taken out.

Originally Posted by sunnysandiegan

Your bookcases probably provided acoustic insulation in the past. Do you have anything on the walls? Pictures, paintings, anything will help absorb the sounds.

Nothing on the walls really - I've got a almost 3 year old monkey so anything even remotely breakable is out on walls.

[cristeen]

You will get used to it pretty quickly, as a pp mentioned - but if it is an issue because it's the kids room then you need something on the walls. Whether that's a wall hanging, a quilt, a blanket, a rug, etc. Bookcases work really well as acoustic dampeners, which is probably why you never noticed it before.

I know when we started rearranging things and pulling bookcases out of every room, we were astounded at how much the whole house echoed.

[anywaybecause]

It doesn't seem like there's a lot of upholstered furniture in there -- do you have an easy chair or something similar that can be relocated from another room? I also like the idea of hanging a quilt on the wall . . . pretty *and* echo-dampening.