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Liro's Happy (Part 1 of 3) (Pics added 8/21)
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Author:  Rocklar [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Liro's Happy (Part 1 of 3) (Pics added 8/21)
I believe this will end up being a multi-stage process though it was not originally intended to be so - having said that, here's the first part:

We have four bedrooms in our house - the master bedroom, my daughter Grace's room, a guest room and since we moved in, I've used the fourth bedroom as my office. It is adjacent to our bonus room which is the source of a lot of noise and interruption of work...and gaming. After reminding my wife we would no longer have a guest room when our second baby arrives (the baby gets the guest room as her bedroom) it was fairly easy to convince her I needed to remodel a part of our third garage stall into an office for me. Daddy gets a cave. :)

So, I set forth on a quest of my own making. Many times I visited the sages Home Depot and Lowes and eventually framed a wall in our third garage stall, insulated it, blew insulation into the existing walls, added two outlets (yes, I even had a permit :P), sheetrocked it and painted it a dark green. At 11:45 last night I moved the last of my stuff to my new office, complete with air conditioner, small fridge, a bunch of cabinet and shelf space and a whoooole lot of peace and quiet in which to work and game. I've left one wall essentially bare in anticipation of painting an 8' x 4'6" rectangle for use with a projector. :D It was a massive project to tackle alone but as I'm sitting here now...I'm very glad I jumped in. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go stock my fridge.

PS: I'll add some pics in the next couple days or so once I get all the stuff put away.

PPS: It's a ways from being all done but at least all the junk has been squirreled away.

As you enter the office:
Image

Turning towards your left:
Image

And turning again to the left, facing the door:
Image

The huge open space above my monitors (best seen in the first picture) is going to have a screen either painted on or attached to the wall which will be the viewing surface for a DLP projector to be placed on top of the silver wire shelving seen in the last shot. 8) I have a bunch of ideas I'd like to do to dress it up a bit but I didn't want to spend a pile of cash on this project - at least not all at once.
Author:  X2-PB [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
YAY!!! Sounds cool!
Author:  GodOfGophers [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 3:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
Woot! DIY!
Author:  Aranarth [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:19 pm ]
Post subject: 
You lucky dog, my wife would NEVER let me do that.
Author:  Angelus [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 4:26 pm ]
Post subject: 
Nice buddy. Love the home improvement projects.

I too am about to undertake "negotiations" with the fiance on how to design the layout of our undeveloped basement. I am planning a bar down there but am not sure if I could get away with another gaming/home theatre area since we have a bonus room for that already.

Can't wait to see your pics.
Author:  Talon1977 [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 5:11 pm ]
Post subject: 
VERY cool indeed! Good for you Rocky!
Author:  moonraker66 [ Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
Very nice. Sounds awesome.
Author:  Famke [ Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:37 am ]
Post subject: 
Gratz again Liro! As I mentioned in /gchat... my Dad was surrounded by 3 girls, 4 including my mom. I think he would have gone mad without his "man room". Be sure to fill it with lots of your favorite things. My Dad has the most odd collection of crap in his room... office/pc desk, antique fly fishing poles, Beatles memorabilia, fancy model cars.. the radomness goes on and on. lol My Mom isn't even allowed to dust in there! :D

But really, it's great to have a haven full of the stuff you love and away from the noise of "real life"! I hope you really enjoy it! Can't wait to see some pics!
Author:  Rocklar [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 3:31 pm ]
Post subject: 
Pics added in initial post.
Author:  Dragon Fire [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
thats a lot of laptops lol
Author:  Obo [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 4:44 pm ]
Post subject: 
Obvious sign of a gold farmer.
Author:  Rocklar [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 5:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
Obo wrote:
Obvious sign of a gold farmer.


Hehe, not quite, but I like the way you think. Actually, they're laptops for work. I have a total of 22 IBM T41 laptops we use in the customer classes I teach. Unfortunately, their graphics cards aren't beefy enough to run games. :(
Author:  Tetran [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:46 pm ]
Post subject: 
Oh I hate you now. I've got half of my basement still unfinished. You're going to make me have to take my laundry off the bowflex and move it.
Author:  Ravage [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:34 pm ]
Post subject: 
we have them T41s here where i work as well... they make me cry at how little power they really do have. T60s on the other hand... starting to get a little juice there... still nowhere near the quality of anything i'd buy, but not bad for a work laptop.

looks like you made yourself a nice little home there.
Author:  Acritus [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:41 pm ]
Post subject: 
very nice! make sure you put up pics of the projector setup once its ready to go.
Author:  Cordalis [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 8:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
holy crap, totally jealous...with the overhead it's gonna be sick in there.

oh, and yeah...what's with the laptops? you work at home don't you...ok, jealous still...

I need a new line of work.
Author:  iJasonT [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 10:22 pm ]
Post subject: 
that looks awesome. Very nice craftsmanship.

As a video guy, if I may offer a bit of advice. If you paint a 'screen' on your wall you will lose a ton of clarity and brightness from your DLP. what makes screens work so well is that they are made from reflective materials.

My suggestion. Buy a swatch of screen material direct from the distributor the size of your desired area. Then mount it on your wall and frame it using some of that molding you have around the windows creating a shadowbox type look. Paint the molding neutral gray or even black. This will give you a 'movie screen' look for under $100 and a massive increase in quality as well as clarity. You could even buy an used 'high school' style projection screen and cut it down to size. Just my 2cents.
Author:  Rocklar [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:15 pm ]
Post subject: 
Thanks for all the feedback, guys and Moge - that's an awesome suggestion! And it sounds like it shouldn't cost an arm and a leg. Always handy to have a good A/V geek around... ;)

Tetran, your comment made me laugh since I sold my weight bench and the 300 lbs of free weights to help finance this little project. I'd been using the gym more than anything so it was no great loss - besides, I didn't like my office reeking like a lathered-up horse. :P

Rav, T60...mmm..tasty...we're supposed to be getting them for our personal use machines but I suspect it'll be a while before my boss springs to replace our training fleet of 22 T41s.

Acritus, I have plans for two more similar-theme posts over the next couple months and pictures will be included in both. :)

Cord, yeah, that's my office/game room/dog house/hidey hole/tree fort all rolled up into one. The girls (and in a few weeks there'll be three of 'em in the house) have taken over the entire rest of this little chunk of the world for which I share ownership with the bank. :shock: But this little part? I like to think of my office as the part that's completely paid for and owned by ME! :twisted:
Author:  Daishus [ Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:49 pm ]
Post subject: 
The T60s are pretty decent machines, we started getting them in where I work. I hope to be getting a T60 or better this following year if things go well.
Author:  GodOfGophers [ Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:00 am ]
Post subject: 
Wow! That looks really awesome and I'm awfully jealous. Congrats on all the hard work. I'm sure it was worth it.

Now, barricade yourself in!!
Author:  Arindel [ Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:21 am ]
Post subject: 
GodOfGophers wrote:
Now, barricade yourself in!!

First you should ask what he has stocked in the fridge :).

But, chances are you're right :D
Author:  Dragon Fire [ Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:24 am ]
Post subject: 
Arindel wrote:
GodOfGophers wrote:
Now, barricade yourself in!!

First you should ask what he has stocked in the fridge :).

But, chances are you're right :D


you can live off of booze and pop indefinitely...weren't you ever young!!!

I love it IJT...now if you want to come over and help redesign my dorm room i'd appreciate that :)
Author:  slugeater [ Wed Aug 22, 2007 10:56 am ]
Post subject: 
Nice. :) too bad it's kind of impossible to get this kind of space in paris for reasonable amounts of money.
Author:  Cordalis [ Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:28 pm ]
Post subject: 
slugeater wrote:
Nice. :) too bad it's kind of impossible to get this kind of space in paris for reasonable amounts of money.

gah, sorry slug, so true...my brother lives in Zurich and he fought hard to get even a little flat to himself. Real Estate sucks in Europe.
Author:  Azzameen85 [ Thu Aug 23, 2007 6:08 am ]
Post subject: 
Cordalis wrote:
slugeater wrote:
Nice. :) too bad it's kind of impossible to get this kind of space in paris for reasonable amounts of money.

gah, sorry slug, so true...my brother lives in Zurich and he fought hard to get even a little flat to himself. Real Estate sucks in Europe.


Try Greenland... I'm pratically homeless... Almost like the old Sovjet up here...
Author:  Cetera [ Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:28 pm ]
Post subject: 
That is very nice, sir! I'll have to try to recruit you someday when I manage to buy a house. You've done a fantastic job.
Author:  Cyrus Rex [ Wed Aug 29, 2007 5:48 pm ]
Post subject: 
Nice job! you are giving me ideas for my man cave!
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