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Richard's Cave

25K views 58 replies 23 participants last post by  daughterofgirl 
#1 · (Edited)
Back in November I got a contract accepted on a new place. It was a short sale so lots of waiting involved. On Friday we got final approval from banks and the investor/insurance folks so we are moving into the normal closing part of the sale. Right now it looks like probably will be doing the inspection on Wednesday.

I've hesitated to post this up until now because I wasn't sure if we'd get the place. Now, unless inspection goes like shit, I'm pretty sure we'll be moving in soon.

I'll post some pics of the future cave below. Ideas appreciated from you guys.

Budget is not going to be very high unfortunately. So while I'd love to throw in a projector and 100 bajillion inch screen, it's probably out of the picture.

What I would like is create a "game room" which will have my prior projects I've posted on the forum, and then slowly add some more stuff to it and maybe redo the bar. I'd also like to redo the floor with something nicer than the worn out zero cushion carpet that's in there now. The current stuff looks like the cheapest office carpet you could buy. For current game room stuff I've got my round table, which I'd like to build a topper for, the arcade cabinet, jukebox, and I'm starting work on a driving rig which will be made out of PVC with a real car seat. See this for an example of what I mean. I've got the computer already, steering wheel, pedals, and shifter. I've got a foosball table too, which never, and I mean never gets used. Biggest waste of space. I'd also like to add a dart board if possible somewhere, not sure if there's a place for it.

I will most likely be buying a new TV for the family room, and moving my old 40" samsung downstairs to the cave. The current 32" LCD I have in my basement now I might re-use somewhere in basement on wall for a poker clock / second tv for watching sports during poker games. What I'd LOVE is to go buy 3x 32" TVs since they're so cheap now, and wire it up so I had them on the walls around the room for poker clock / watching sports. It would be great to have multiple tv's available for tournaments. I'd like to be able to also bring in an oval table with folding legs on occasion for two table tourneys. That might not be in the immediate budget but it's on my mind so I'd like to factor that into the plans.

MSpaint style floorplan


The hallway where the bathroom is continues into the storage/utilities area.

Some pics from my second walk through of the place:







Utility area - these double doors are right next to the stairs. I think the foosball table will go in front of these doors next to the stairs.



Looking back towards the utility closet area from where the wood stove is


No frills Bar - I'd like to eventually remove this. Not sure to replace or what.



Anyone have any idea what the hell this is? Looks like some kind of audio patch panel or something? You can also see this in pic 1 for an idea of where it is in the room.


Is this a doorbell speaker?


Thoughts and ideas appreciated guys.
 
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#5 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

Near the ceiling looks like an old doorbell ringer
Not sure on the multi-plug box, almost looks like something for a band
40" TV may be small for down there depending upon distance to the TV
We had a 42" TV as out main TV & finally upgraded to a 55"
Depends upon how much time you will spend down there watching TV
 
#7 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas



T
 
#8 · (Edited)
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

Maybe Trann can come in here and offer something serious.

I wish I had brought a tape measure when I took these pictures to get actual dimensions of the space. I'll try to get them on Wednesday when I am there for the inspection.

I wonder if the round table I have is going to take up too much space. The pole in the middle of the room is unfortunate. I wish it wasn't there.
 
#11 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

if you're going to get a new tv, why not get projector. you can use the paint on "screen" and it looks sharp. with your wood working skills, you can frame the screen and make it look clean. projectors aren't that much higher than lcd/plasmas.
 
#13 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

I moved in a few weeks ago.

Here's a bit better floorplan than the MSpaint I did up top.


Here's what I'm thinking:


Biggest thing is to rip out the storage closet walls, which actually has a high window in it too, and in its place put cabinets and a counter for a "bar" area, with a fridge in the corner. extend that flooring all the way to where the brick is for the wood stove.

I'm going to rip the ceiling down and redo all the pot lights too. There's a bunch and they don't quite make sense for the room the way I want to do it. I'd hope to put some lighting for where I want the poker table too.

No idea where to put my jukebox. I also want to build a driving cabinet, which maybe I'd get rid of the foosball table and put it there. The foosball table never gets used. My 5 year old did run into it this morning though playing with his brother.

Possibly replace my round with an oval, and bring the round out on occasion if game is big enough. Or use the round, and bring oval out with some folding legs on occasion.
 
#20 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

I like how you're planning to setup the room, good multi-functional space. Walk-up bar FTW, good space saver.

I'll also x2 what IFIS said, basements are perfect for projectors. You don't have to go top of the line to get a great setup either, I picked up a $500 Viewsonic projector last year - throw in the screen, monoprice speakers/cables, a receiver and the whole thing ran $800 IIRC.
 
#21 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

I know what you guys are saying, I get it on the size difference, but I'm just not feeling a projector here. There's a big air duct right in the way where the projector would go, and the ceiling isn't very high so I'm not sure the screen size would be that fantastic. But I will think about it.

Hate to say it but besides me watching sports 90% of the tv use will probably be my kids playing mine craft on the xbox.

I need to figure how out much it will cost to rip out the closet walls, pull the ceiling down and redo all the lights, run wiring for speakers and some other stuff, and put a new ceiling in its place.
 
#22 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

OK I broke down and got an Epson 8350 and a 106" screen, used. Someone I know listed one for a crazy good deal so I went ahead and did it. I'm not sure it will really work with the dimensions of the room but I'll give it a shot and do the best I can with it. I don't have speakers or a AV receiver to push to the projector so I'm going to have to work on that.

I'm going to want something I can multiple zones for output, so I can have different stuff on the TV I'm going to hang above the poker table, like a different game or a poker clock. I don't know anything about that kind of AV stuff so I need to do some research.

Here's my current thinking of floorplan. Need to put my jukebox somewhere too.

 
#23 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

Interested to hear your reasons for going with a projector (other than the great deal), and what you think of it... I'm having the same debate in my head at the moment... I REALLY like the sharpness/clarity an LED TV offers, so am considering a 70/80" monster... Can only go to about the same size 100-106" on a projector screen, so am I getting THAT much more, when you consider the bulb costs, etc. down the line? In Canada good projectors don't seem to come on the cheap, so both are an investment. Let me know your thoughts... :)
 
#24 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

Well I had picked out a 60" LED tv and was ready to pull trigger on it but I saw the listing for the projector, ceiling mount, and screen for far less than the tv was going to cost. So I went with it. I'm still not sure it was the right decision especially since my kids are down on that basement playing minecraft on the tv constantly. So the bulb life worries me. But maybe I set up the xbox to the 32" tv instead of the projector to save on the bulb life.

So yeah, pretty much the deal alone swayed me.

After speaker install and AV reciever, it's going to be a wash.
 
#25 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

Just bought the monoprice 5.1 speakers, the ones that were basically a rip off of the Klipsch / Energy set. Monoprice is running a free shipping deal right now, which knocked $40 off the transaction.

I need to find an AV receiver now that will do multiple zones for output.

And all the cabling... that's going to suck.
 
#26 ·
Re: Richard's Cave - Need some ideas

Just picked this 39" Vizio tv up on Woot to put on wall next to poker table.
VIZIO 39 or 48” 1080p FullArray LED TV

Not bad for only $245, shipped.

Found out last night while at the Cub Scout Pack Committee mtg that one of the fellow dads is an electrician, so he's going to help me get the outlet installed for the projector in the ceiling.

I hope to get the speaker cords and HDMI run through the walls soon. I'm going to place an order at monoprice for the cables today.
 
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