I live in an apartment and my bedroom wall is the common wall with the hallway. There is an elevator on the opposite wall. I can hear the ding the elevator makes. Everyone waiting for the elevator can hear the sound from my bedroom. What can I put on the walls that would be decorative and absorb the sound? Thanks so much.

Greetings to all, I have five 4x4 columns supporting a flat roof on my back patio - please refer to attached picture. I would like to be able to reduce the number of columns if possible. My question is how can you determine the number of columns required to support such a structure. The width of the patio is 25 feet. There are 5 columns spanning this width. The right side of the photo shows the beam is actually set into the house and therefore the first column is located 3 feet from the right with the next 4 columns spaced 5 & 1/2 feet apart. The depth of the patio is 10 feet with the left beam set into the house as well. From the left corner post back to the left side, there are no columns. I was hoping to do this myself.