Starting from scratch.

[raymondanton]

Guys,
I have a 28 x 30 ft space on the third level of my barn. As of this moment it is empty. The ceiling is vaulted (old hay barn)....well that's it.

I would like some feedback on some ideas that I had and also welcome some new ones.
This what I have in mind.
1. Bathroom, stand up urinal (of course also a toilet). This would have the sound of whatever game I have on playing from a ceiling mounted speaker.
2. 2 60 inch lcd tvs mounted about 8ft off the floor on both (front and rear) walls.
3. small bar (5 chairs) with a glass counter top to see through (for whatever I put inside (?)
4. 7 x 15 ft gun room, with renforced door.
5. small closed off (with glass door) cigar room w/lcd.
6. Hanging from the rafters would be all the flags of the countries I've done ops in.
7. Sliding glass doors on the rear wall (below the tv) that would lead out to a small (3rd floor) deck overlooking our 5 acres.
8. Skylights.
9. Numerous neon beer signs from my families store.
10. pool table
11. Ping pong table.

Looking for some help. We are going to start in 2 weeks. As of this time the wall are open to the studs so I can wire anything I want as far as lights, sound, outlets.

I'm also looking for some other sites to check out for "guy" stuff and furniture. I have a few animal skulls that I will be mounting but nothing huge.

Thanks,

Ray

[pre0024]

Sounds like you have a unique space and a good jump on plans...looking forward to your progress and welcome to the forum.

[morningwood]

If you can mount the ping pong table onto the pool table (like a two in one), you can have space freed up for more options. Look forward to see how you progress with this.

[raymondanton]

I appreciate your responses. Let me ask you this, is it worth it to pay someone to "design" the layout, plumbing, electical, bar etc or is it easy enough to just have a contractor come in and work off of the "ideas" I/we have in our heads?

My contractor is a great guy and goes a great job. What have the rest of you done in this situation. I'm not a contractor or have any skill in this area. I can do some basic stuff around the house, but putting up walls, running all electric and sewer lines (connecting to my septic system) is out of my league.

Ray

[morningwood]

If you don't have plans written down your asking for trouble and added expense that might be equal or greater than going on the fly. You want to get the most out of the space, my opinion is to get a layout done. Others will chime in I'm sure.

[Irish]

I appreciate your responses. Let me ask you this, is it worth it to pay someone to "design" the layout, plumbing, electical, bar etc or is it easy enough to just have a contractor come in and work off of the "ideas" I/we have in our heads?

My contractor is a great guy and goes a great job. What have the rest of you done in this situation. I'm not a contractor or have any skill in this area. I can do some basic stuff around the house, but putting up walls, running all electric and sewer lines (connecting to my septic system) is out of my league.

Ray

It depends on the contractor and how picky you are. I've worked with contractors that you can have a 10 minute discussion with them in an unframed room, and they know exactly what you want and can run with it with minimal further instruction. Others, not so much. The flip side to that is how picky you are - if you want the room to be exactly what you're looking for, detail everything out with a sketch or hire someone else to design and lay it out.

I personally am VERY picky, so in the rare case I need a contractor to do something, I get plans or have them give me a rendering of what something is going to look like.

Sounds like you've got some sweet ideas there. Dual 60" tvs, a cigar room and a gun room? I would also recommend a small loft where I can come and crash every weekend. Or perhaps you could just adopt me. LOL.

Good luck with the project!

[raymondanton]

Irish,

The first floor is going to be an in law apt. If you're in the northern part of MA and need a place to crash, no prob. It will only cost you beer and a few good cigars.

Since the last post a few things have changed. I/we have ditched the smoking room and thought a movie room (small) would be nice. This space is going to be a "rec" room so we thought it would be a nice to have a place for the kids to watch a movie in the event that we are doing some early entertaining.

I appreciate the feedback. I understand that having someone do a detailed drawing of the layout is good, it also adds almost $1000.00 to the price.

The contractor we have at the moment is just now finishing up work on the main house. With the exception of the small complaints he and his guys are great at what they do. He can take an idea my wife and I have and transform it into something tangible.

I will do my best to post some photos of the open space with some size references.

Thanks,

Ray

[raymondanton]

One more thing. Does anyone know where I get can some "coins" printed/stamped. This type of coin is just like the ones different units have i.e Coast Guard, MC, Army.....and even the dirty Navy.

Ray

[huge1s]

mounting the televisions 8ft off the floor is going to wreack havoc on everyone's necks if you plan on having couches or anything. Having a tilting mounting bracket will help though.

[Slev]

Raymond, for $65-100 you can go buy a software package where you can lay out anything & everything you want. I used this for my basement mancave project and it is pretty easy to use. Check it out, there are a couple of different packages depending on what you're looking to do.

http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/products/homedesigner/

This will let you layout your entire project, easily adjust walls/doors/windows/etc. and change colors, patterns. You can save different layouts. I can't recommend this enough.

[Aust1227]

http://www.honorcoins.com/militarycoinpricing.html

The above link is a coin manufacturer, prices look reasonable.

The room sounds like a lot of fun. Wire the hell out of it.. It easy now to drop plugs/Surround sound/ data in all the place you THINK you might POSSIBLY ever need it. Not so easy later on.

What are you doing for flooring? Re finishing original wood planks? How about walls, drywall, beadboard, siding? Do you have heat and AC? I am excited to see this project work itself through.

[random]

One thing that occurred to me reading through this thread: it sounds like you may have some significant weight (pool table, reinforced gun safe, 10+ 200+ pound guys, etc.) in this room. I would get some seriously informed opinions on whether the structure of your old hay barn can support this on the third floor, especially if there's an in-law apartment on the first floor...

...Oh wait, never mind.