I am dead set on knocking out a wall and putting a door from my dinette into the back bedroom--that I never use.  I think I would use the room as a music room if it was more accessible.  When I bought the house, I wanted to do it, but everyone talked me out of it.  Now it is three years later, and I still want to do it.  But now, I will have to deal with all the dust it will incur.

I am reminded of the time I tore down a 27 foot wall in a house we lived in when Ken came back from Nam.  I had built the house, drawn the plans for it and decided I didn't like the wall.  So one morning, I got a crowbar and a hammer and started tearing out sheetrock and studs.  Had it done by 4:00 PM and all the studs and sheetrock stacked on the curb next to the street.  When Ken came home, he looked at me, then back at where the wall had been and asked, "Was it load bearing?"  I had no idea.  I'm lucky the entire roof didn't fall in on me.  (Ken never cared what I did to a house.)

I know about studs, sheetrock, electrical lines and unexpected water or gas lines in a wall because that wasn't the only time I've torn one down--or put one up.  But I can't do that anymore.  However, I have a wonderful handyman with two twin 13 year old sons who can do it.   The boys are my I-Phone gurus.  I have them on quick dial.

Question is, am I wrong.  Everyone thinks so but me--and I am starting to lose my confidence.  Maybe I'm nuts?  But as it is now, my marimba is in that room, and I can't get it out without tearing it all apart into separate pieces--which is no easy task.  It won't go through the bedroom door without breaking it down.  And there isn't any other room with a place where I can put it.

I carry my small marimba around in the trunk of my car, so I can play it when someone wants me to--about once a month.  If I had a wider door to the back bedroom, I could roll the big marimba out and take it in one piece through the front door as well, and have someone pick it up in a pickup. Done.

Why not just keep playing on the one in my car trunk?  Because it is two and a half octaves and the big one is four octaves.  The large one I practice on, and when I play the small one, the keys are so narrow that I struggle.  And the big one has a beautiful deep tone.  I think cutting a door is reasonable.  I am not nuts.