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Design

Not Ugly Sound-Dampening Hacks To Quiet The Noises Coming Into Your Home (YAY For Some Peace And Quiet)

Here’s a fun fact: I haven’t always been a design fiend. When I moved to Los Angeles in 2012, it was for a job in the recording industry. I started my career as a runner (read: dignified gofer) for the famed alternative producer John Feldmann (if the name doesn’t ring a bell, this song might!); at night, I shared a dumpy 2 bedroom crash pad in the valley with 6 (!!!) now-prolific producers, songwriters, and musicians. I was making $500 a month, I was scrappy, and I was surrounded by noise 24/7. At 20, it was a dream. At 32, I look back with bewilderment: who was that?

Because now, the click-clack of my downstairs neighbor’s clogs drives me up the wall. The muffled conversations, the creak of her floorboards, the high-pitched sneezes, or the guttural nighttime coughs – they’re too much. The 20-year-old rat who’d zonk out in a cacophonous frat house after a 16-hour work day has aged into a 32-year-old crone who really values a little peace and quiet, you know?

But this is where I need to say “thank you” to all of those former roommates of mine because they taught me every DIY soundproofing trick in the books. There were the ugly fixes – like egg crates taped to the ceiling or mattresses jerry-rigged to the walls with bungee cords – but there were also some smart, not-hideous sound-dampening techniques. That’s what we’ll be talking about today. Let’s jump right in with a twist on an old favorite…

An Extra Thick Rug Pad

1/2″ Felt Pad | 7/16″ Memory Foam Pad

Your best soundproofing will come from a felt or acoustic foam floor underlayment – so keep that in mind, future renovators! – but a thick rug pad can help dampen sound, too. I prefer felt because its dense fibers are better suited to absorb sounds from speech or music, but this thick memory foam can also help (and it’s a total dream to walk on, BTW).

But wait, there’s more! For bonus sound dampening, cut up an old rug pad and place it underneath your sofa, bed, or any other large furniture piece in your home. It’s an inconspicuous extra layer of protection that can help trap any other rogue sound waves.

And A Sturdy Rug

Vintage Turkish Rug | Custom Moroccan Rug

For the ultimate reduction in sound, opt for the tightest weave you can afford. Keep an eye out for rugs with a higher KPSI, or knots per square inch. A good rug will have at least 100 KPSI, while a great rug will have over 300 knots per square inch.

Etsy and eBay are your friends here – focus your search on vintage handwoven Turkish, Persian, Moroccan, or Tibetan rugs to find sound-dampening floor coverings that won’t break the bank. (Surprisingly, pile height is less of a factor here – a higher pile only accounts for a 2% reduction in sound, on average.)

Thick, Correctly-Mounted Window Treatments

Velvet Drapes | 4.5″ Rod

The advice here isn’t just “get heavy drapes.” Au contraire, mon frere. We’re talking specifics. If you’re really trying to block sound, you need to get prescriptive with fabric weight – you’re looking for a material that’s 12 oz to 18 oz/yd, specifically. This info isn’t always readily provided, but it’s worth asking about – not all velvets were created equally! (Homerilla offers an affordable velvet drape that weighs a bit more than 13.5 oz/yd, FYI.)

Now, let’s talk install: you’re going to want 100% fullness here (e.g. a 50-inch window requires 100 inches of curtains), and, for most effective sound dampening, the rod should extend 3″ to 4″ off the wall. I’d recommend this French-return style rod in particular – it extends 4.5″ off the wall and it was specially designed to eliminate light leak, too. (A real double whammy for anyone trying to get the darkest, quietest room possible!)

Add Bookshelves

Walnut & Mahogany Bookshelf | Pine Bookshelf

The denser, the better! If you can, go for a wood bookshelf. Softer woods (pine, balsa, MDF) are good for absorbing sound, whereas harder woods (oak, birch, walnut) will block sound entirely. If you’re trying to drown out a loud next-door neighbor, try some hardwood shelving on your shared wall! But if you’re looking to drown out more ambient or street noise, a softer wood might be your best bet. (Or, like the Old El Paso commercial says, porque no los dos?)

Dress Up The Walls

Felt Right Tiles

The walls are your canvas – literally. Hang ALL of your art. Hang a tapestry or a rug. And if that’s not enough, try hanging some aesthetically-appealing acoustic panels (yes, they exist!). I’m partial to the Felt Right tiles in particular because they’re well-made, easy to install, thoughtfully designed, and super multifunctional – install them a mess-free accent wall, add some pins to use a few panels as a cork board, or line the walls of your playroom with life-sized versions of Tic Tac Toe or checkers to keep the rumpus contained.

Fill The Gaps

Custom Draft Stopper | Acoustical Caulk

Bad news for my fellow old home dwellers: the gaps in our doors and windows are doing us dirty. A gap as small as 1% in any type of barrier will leak up to 30% of sound from one side to another; a gap of 5% will leak 90% of sound. Opt for a draft stopper in every door that faces a source of noise, and consider filling any gaps in your windows and doors with a specially-formulated acoustical caulk.

Pop In Some Plants

Woolly Pockets | Preserved Moss

Even better if you opt for pieces with rough bark or thick leaves (like ficuses or rubber trees), which are especially well-suited for absorbing a bit of sound. If you have a really green thumb, consider installing an indoor green wall (I love Woolly Pockets for this purpose – they make a great Christmas gift, too) or try hanging a few preserved moss panels (if your style is a bit more minimal, the latter is a great way to bring some life to your space without eating up any floor space!).

Invest In Permanent Solutions

Indow Inserts | Solid Core Door

If the DIY fixes aren’t really cutting it, you may want to consider investing in a few more permanent upgrades. Indow Inserts are custom-made to your exact window specifications, and they’re engineered to block out sound, heat, drafts, and more. If replacing your windows isn’t in the budget (or if you love your vintage glass windows, like I do!), an insert will make your home more comfortable in a number of ways.

And while you’re at it, consider swapping your doors! Replace a hollow, builder-grade door with a sturdy, solid-core option. I love the quality of Simpson’s doors (both interior and exterior – dreaming of one of their Dutch doors one day!), but you can also find great replacements at your local architectural salvage shop. Every little bit helps!

Turn Up the White (or Brown) Noise

White Noise Machine

Let’s break it down! White noise covers up all audio frequencies equally. If you’re struggling with hearing yourself think over your neighbor’s conversations or over general street noise, a white noise machine will help drown out those sounds entirely.

Brown noise, on the other hand, is best to drown out those low, rumbling, irregular frequencies. I prefer the sound (it’s more like a thunder rumble or a wave crash, to my ear) and I’ve found it to be more effective at masking snoring and idling cars. There are actually a ton of different noise colors, though, and our ears interpret these sounds differently – perhaps pink or green noise is more your speed?

Reevaluate Your Style

I’m sorry, minimalists – maximalists are the sound-dampening champions. I’ve witnessed this firsthand, too! When I moved into my apartment in 2019, I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you that I had downstairs neighbors. They lived in my building for 19 years and their apartment was a home, in every sense of the word – they had stocked bookshelves, tightly-packed furniture with worn traffic patterns in the rugs, and packed China cabinets filled with mementos from their travels. I never heard a peep!

But in 2022, those neighbors bought a home. And my new neighbor – an elusive woman who loved Japandi style and bare floors – became my de-facto new roommate. I heard her cooking. I heard her getting ready in the morning. I heard her talking on the phone. I heard her crying. I heard her working from home. I heard her ALL THE TIME. (I’m only finally able to admit all of this publicly because she moved out last month!)

To that end: if you’re in an older building, or in a place that’s poorly insulated, or if you’re the dreaded top-floor roommate, you may want to consider turning up the maximalism a bit. Take a page out of Mallory’s book – her restrained color palette makes this studio apartment feel calm, while her thoughtfully-placed furniture and decor will deaden noise from her neighbors.

Sodd a few thick blankets to your sofa! Hang a gallery wall! Or, if nothing else, throw down a rug (with a pad!) in your frequently-used spaces. Together, we can all make quieter, more sound-dampened homes! (To be fair, there are still more technical solutions out there – you could DIY acoustic panels with fiberglass; you could install a suspended floor and fill the void with rockwool; you could cut holes in the walls and squirt in some spray foam insulation – but for the most part, you should be able to make a substantial difference without breaking out the power tools.)

Please let me know if you’ve discovered any sound-dampening solutions of your own – I would love to hear about them! (And in case you’re wondering – three of those old roommates of mine were nominated for Grammys before their 30th birthdays. All of that DIY soundproofing in our dumpy 2 bedroom apartment really paid off, huh?!)

Opening Image Credits: Photo by David Tsay | From: Rustic Modern House Tour

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Janean
1 month ago

Never crossed my mind! Thank you — this really expands my thinking around interior design. Form follows function!

Robin in NoCo
1 month ago

This is such a great, useful post! As I’m 9 months into a remodel that started with a deep energy retrofit and conversion from gas hydronic heat to adding ductwork and a ground source heat pump for heat, cooling, and domestic hot water (yes, most of the significant budget was spent behind the walls and 300 feet below gr

Robin in NoCo
1 month ago

This is such a great, useful post! As I’m 9 months into a remodel that started with a deep energy retrofit and conversion from gas hydronic heat to adding ductwork and a ground source heat pump for heat, cooling, and domestic hot water (yes, most of the significant budget was spent behind the walls and 300 feet below ground) and now trying to pull together our indoor finishes on a modest to miniature remaining budget, I love a good tips and tricks post. Those velvet drapes will be greening my front window zoom, and my rug pads will be thick felt (under my high kpi rugs!

caroline
1 month ago

VERY informative piece, Caitlin. I’ve learned a lot (acoustical caulk, brown noise -who knew?.) Thank you! Successful design needs to take all of our senses into account.
Looking forward to the comments on this important, but underdiscussed, topic.

Brianna
1 month ago

I live on a really busy road and loved this post. Thank you! And I just tried wearing my first pair of clogs and was shocked at how loud they are. My friend told me you just have to own your “inner pony” when you wear them (click clack).

Paula
1 month ago
Reply to  Brianna

Ha! I spent my teens and twenties in wooden clogs, and they are certainly noisy! One RN my sister used to work with always wore clogs, and she said it was like belling the cat. You always knew where he was.

Sally
1 month ago

I could really have used this article when I was younger myself and living in rentals with paper thin walls and doors. I resorted to a frustrated banging on the floor when things got too bad.
Massively impressed by the talent of your former roommates.

Reanna
1 month ago

Acoustic caulk?! Window inserts?! I feel my life getting quieter already. Thank you!

Cris S.
1 month ago

Great thoughts Caitlin! Further question – I was just in a coworkers office and was shocked by how much of our department head’s conversation she could hear on one side and our immediate boss’ conversation she could hear on the other. While some of the above ideas might be helpful, the main culprit (other than no effort at volume control by either of the people she’s wedged between) seems to be the air vent running atop all of their offices, which opens into each of them with a very perforated and very large flat metal ceiling tile. Anyone have any ideas on how to mitigate that?

Dawn
1 month ago

Amazing post! Although it doesn’t apply to my current state of life, it was still the most interesting and informative thing in my blog feed this morning!

Katherine
1 month ago

This is such a useful post I didn’t know I needed. Thank you Caitlin! You are a woman of many talents. Who knew you had such deep knowledge of acoustics.

Dree
1 month ago

We used to have an upstairs neighbor we called “Clippy Cloppy”. Never found out if it was a man in dress shoes or a woman in clogs, but it was a great motivator to save enough money to buy a house. So, thanks “Clippy Cloppy”!

Krista M
1 month ago

This is SO helpful! Nothing like this on the internet.

Susan
1 month ago

WOW, thanks for such an informative post! I really appreciate all these ideas. Great job!

E E Deere
1 month ago

A briliant post and great resources. Thank you!

SARAH
1 month ago

Much of this will dampen the noise you make but it’s not going to keep noise out. I guess the caulking and curtains for exterior noise work but for sound transmission, sound waves will find their way through the one opening so dampening just one area won’t make a difference. Like even an outlet allows sound transfer.

SARAH
1 month ago

My comment sounds annoying but this is really where asking an expert would be a good. Even taking acoustics in college and working with acousticians, I feel like I don’t know enough to really comment on this. Some of this is sort of misleading 🤔

JeffreyC
1 month ago
Reply to  SARAH

Given that many if not most people are unlikely to ever hire an acoustic expert as part of a home remodel, this post offers a good overview of common options worth considering. As with any post’s ideas or suggestions, anyone should do more research to determine what will likely deliver the desired results for their specific situation.

Pamela T
1 month ago

So much rich information with practical applications. I am also thinking about household members who are sound sensitive for all manner of reasons and need less stimulation in general, be it for getting adequate sleep, working, studying and all facets of living. Thanks for putting it all together, Caitlyn!

Deb
1 month ago
Reply to  Pamela T

That’s my husband! He’s installed little felt pads on allll our doors so when the boys slam them, the sound is much quieter.

We also have a LOT of rugs with thick pads.

Pamela T
1 month ago
Reply to  Pamela T

Oooh, so sorry for misspelling your name… apologies ten thousand fold🥺.

Kimberly
1 month ago

This is one of the most helpful posts in a long time; thank you so much.

Paula
1 month ago

Also? Don’t take out all your interior walls and turn your place into an echo-y barn. Open Concept is noisier than otherwise.

Ellen M
1 month ago

Caitlin, I love this As a maximalist who craves “hush” and a person who is of notorious in her family for being sensitive to sound, these recs are awesome!
Can you pretty please, do one for restaurants now?
I just attended a fancy, big group dinner, 19 people at one HUGE table in a high ceiling-ed room banquet(?) room with three glass walls – Oooof – cacophony! I was thrilled when one of our friends insisted that the drapes (waterfront view be damned) be closed. He even went so far as to ask that, and help pull off, table cloths being draped over the large screen tv in the space in an attempt to dampen the din. It also was super validating that my husband witnessed that it’s not me just being being driven a bit mad by LOUD restaurants. I really worry about long term hearing loss for the staffers who regularly have to spend hours at a time being blasted. It’s brutal.

Lia
1 month ago
Reply to  Ellen M

You are not alone, Ellen. And yes, staffers are at risk: https://www.vox.com/2018/4/18/17168504/restaurants-noise-levels-loud-decibels

Lynn W
1 month ago

We just used soundproofing panels for our son’s old room that we have made into a downstairs guest room. On the other side of one wall are 2 AC units.
They make more noise than we would like and so we choose some gorgeous wood slat panels that are felt backed by Hausvita. They come in lots of wood colors and are very attractive on the wall!
Best of all, they worked in quieting the room for guests!!
Great post 😊

Deborah
1 month ago

This is a fantastic post Caitlin. I hadn’t thought about thicker rug pads even though it feels like an obvious choice! I think you had mentioned before you have ADHD which can have a large affect on noise sensitivity, (speaking from personal experience) so I love all of these suggestions!

Jen C
1 month ago

Very informative and helpful post. The felt acoustic panels sound like a solution for our guest bedroom that is near our noisy creaky stairs. We plan on having the stairs fixed but until then the panels sound (ha) like they will be the answer. Thank you!