“This is what I do,” mike_gordon deadpans. “I travel around the country and sit in things.” The remark reflects the sense of humor that pervades the musician’s decades-long career and his home. Mike is best known as the bassist for phish, the iconic jam band that’s ruled festival grounds since the 1990s with shows that incorporate in-jokes and elaborate gags for their devoted fans. Considering his packed schedule of touring and recording, it’s hard to believe that he has much time to sit. But Mike is indeed a big sitter, as demonstrated in the first photo with his daughter, Tessa. During the design process for this 3,175-square-foot recording studio and living space, Mike was far from the aloof celeb directing a team from a distance. He estimates that he sat on a thousand sofas over two years when looking for one for his studio, spending a few hours a day testing them out between workouts and sound checks—and then there were the bathtubs. “He sat in so many tubs,” brookemichelsendesign...