One of the main takeaways from the exercise, which should have been obvious really, was that I needed professional help. People have been telling me that for years in many contexts but on this occasion I did exactly that and thus this morning I was gratified to hear Max roll up in his chariot bearing solutions and knowledge.
I had been told (not only by forumites but by Max himself) to prepare for pain, truth and tears. I had mentally prepared myself and I am happy to say tears were not involved. Truth and pain however ...
In all seriousness, after a day of equal mixtures of socialising and hardcore information transfer I am beyond impressed with the result of today's activities.
A plan has been formulated, expectations as to the things that can be achieved have been set (and they exceeeded my previous expectations by some margin), understanding has been imparted, tea (so, so much tea!) has been consumed and budgets have been established.
Turns out my little black hole of doom doesn't have to be a) so black, and b) so doomful.
I am now equipped with diagrams, a parts list and most importantly a plan. Well, he hasn't sent the parts list yet but it's known at a high level on my part and pending
There comes a point in any musician's life when if they want to 'level up' they stop thinking about gear and start thinking about environment. After a day in the University of Gnome, I now appreciate more than ever how good an idea it was to do exactly that.
Thank you Max and I am very excited about what's going to be happening in the short-medium term future with regards to my space

I will be following up with progress reports in due course, but whereas there are things I'm doing to prepare beforehand, there will be a little delay in anything pictorial of note as in the meantime I am having the entire house rewired, which means that the studio part of things will commence nearer the end of the year but come it will.
It's going to be looking ... different. More purple, anyway.