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I want to begin by apologizing for my lack of production on the blogs recently, but some current life changes (i.e. moving into a new house, a family plagued with upper respiratory infections, and the preparation for a new baby) have forced my hand into worlds of both joy and displeasure. However, on a more fortunate note, the new house came with a gigantic playroom on the 3rd floor (a converted, fully-finished attic) for the kiddos and a nice separate "office".....errrrr, game room for yours truly. So in the midst of all the moving hubbub, I have decided to chronical the progress of my game room from start to finish. The purpose of this blog is to communicate with other gamers about ideas for my room to help me decide what the overall finished product will be. Hopefully, with all of the experience on this site, I will determine what changes might benefit my room and ultimately what things other people have tried that didn't work, which I can avoid. I hope this portion of my blog is a slight bit entertaining and please....please give any feedback you feel is necessary.
To start off, I'm just going to provide pictures of different parts of the room and give you my ideas as to what I think may happen over time. Any suggestions/warnings are greatly appreciated.
entry
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0392.jpg?t=1305777537[/img]
The biggest challenge I may face with having a game room in a finished attic is doorway space. I actually had a sleeper sofa delivered a week ago and the damn thing would not fit through my 26" (yeah it sucks) doorway. On top of that, the staircase has a tight turn, a slanted ceiling, and a tight banister. Unfortunately, most larger storage items will have to be assembled up top.
right wall
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0402.jpg[/img]
I was lucky to find this piece in my garage where the previous homeowners were storing paint cans on it. It's kind of a cool modern piece of shelving and I've moved it upstairs (after totally breaking apart and assembling it with an allen wrench...) to display my consoles. I put a few consoles on it earlier tonight and it looks great.
far wall/window
[img width=700 height=393]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0394.jpg[/img]
A window seat goes across the entire back wall. While kind of cool looking, it is fairly impractical. Any ideas on how to use this space?
left wall/near wall
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0396.jpg[/img]
I see using this left wall as the primary wall for shelving to house all of my games. The near wall where the door opens is limited as far as room, so I thought about doing a floor to ceiling peg board here to store chords, controllers, etc. Has anyone ever used peg board in a display and did it work well/was it practical?
desk, now on lower left wall
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0397.jpg[/img]
Not sure that I am going to keep this desk in the room. The original intent was to have my computer up there as well, but since DirecTV and Time Warner can't share an outlet, the computer is now in my bedroom. The desk is nice to have my Vectrex and small retro TV on, but it's fairly bulky and impractical now.
exiting view of entrance
[img width=576 height=1024]http://i1029.photobucket.com/albums/y359/necrom99/Game%20Room/DSCN0399.jpg[/img]
Ah cheap shelving....Though I've had this shelving and others like it for years, it doesn't really support the weight (actually leans back) for my 400+ NES and Vectrex collection. It's doing the job for now, but if anyone has any good shelving ideas or knows where quality shelves can be picked up for a good buy, please let me know.
I'm also looking for some ideas as to storing/displaying N64, 2600, 5200, GB, GBA, and Genesis loose games. Again, thanks in advance for any and all advice and stay tuned for UnoNanerCade updates.
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I know others on this site recommend building your own shelves for the ultimate in use and strength. I haven't built my own shelves yet, but it definitely seems like a good idea in your case.
About your peg board idea, I've seen people with N64 controller collections mounted on the wall like that, so I can imagine it will work. The only problem I can see would be too much stress on the wires if you hang them like that. Maybe build/buy mini shelves or something similar to hold them onto the wall?
Now that you mention it, window seats do seem like a bit of a waste of space. Maybe you could put up displays or something? Maybe posters because nothing will be covering the wall?
I also have a very small doorway and staircase and tried to bring up a recliner a few months back. After struggling to drag the thing upstairs, the top came off and I thought I broke it. Turns out most furniture now splits into two pieces so that it can move easier.
Also, is it possible to take down the banister, move all your bulky stuff upstairs, then put the banister back up? I know my parents took their banister down when they had to bring up mattresses to the second floor. The problem was that they said it was a major pain to put back up.
But it looks like you have a ton of potential for this room. Keep us updated on it!
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I love unique rooms like this. Cant wait to see how it evolves.
My thoughts for the window shelving would be:
a) display bulky items on it (system boxes, arcade sticks, etc.)
b) decorate it and display items to fit the theme (Mega Man collection, Metal Gear Solid Collection, whatever your favorite series is)
c) It could be your Vectrex center. Find a way to have all your Vectrex stuff hooked up and displayed there. It looks tall enough to play it while sitting on the floor or in a bean bag chair. Definitely a great item to showcase and it seems like a good spot to do it.
Your paint can shelves look great for console display. Like blcklblskt said, custom shelves rock. They can be a lot of work, but if you've got the expertise or a friend willing to help out they are a fun project and fuction very well.
Its about time I get something else done in my gameroom. It has sat untouched for much to long. Thanks for the inspiration!!
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looking good, bud. The shelving I have now is the classic Billy shelf from Ikea... unfortunately it also leans backwards (and drives my wife nuts incidentally). I've heard you can bolt the back of the shelf to the wall using an L bracket of some sort, though I haven't investigated this yet.
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Looks like you have a good space to start with, though that 26" doorway is going to be a huge hindrance to moving furniture in there. The door in my room is 30" and getting furniture through that was tough enough. As much as I dislike the cheap furniture from Ikea that you have to put together, that's probably going to be your best bet since it will be the easiest to get into the room. Unless you can have stuff custom built and build it small enough to fit, or made to be put together once inside the room.
One thing you must do with this room is cover that angled part of the ceiling with posters. It looks like its just the right size and not good for much else anyway.
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@blcklblskt: Yeah the banister presents a huge problem, since it is not removable. All done with finishing nails and I don't want to stress my wife out that much for a game room (ha ha). I've come to the realization that I'll never be able to have an arcade cabinet up there, but luckily I have a nice garage with a separate room for a few of those if needed. I may try a few peg boards in the room, one for controllers and another closer to the TV for hookups. I didn't think about weight issues, so that will now be a consideration.
@Crabmaster2000: The paint can shelves are working nicely and I'm going to put up a picture of that soon, once I get everything on there and organized. I am thinking more and more about custom shelves, since I have a majority of the tools. Overall, it could be cheaper and more sturdy over time for sure. The window seat is really wasted space, since they didn't even bother making a hinge lid and using it for storage. Really, besides animals, who really sits on those things? The Vectrex may work okay there, but its short cord and small screen kind of prevents sitting on the ground and playing. I might elevate it with a corner shelf so that I can play from a normal chair.
@noiseredux: Yeah, I have the L brackets to secure it, but there is a light switch behind that case that I have to access. Sigh, it may just have to lean until I can build something more permanent.
@NES_Rules: Good call on the posters. They'll look pretty cool on the slanted ceilings. I was thinking about doing a classic cabinet marquee collection anyway.
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You can either remove the window seat or make it a chest.
Donkey Kong Jenga is AWESOME!
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@Izret101: Yeah, wife got that for me at Christmas. Barnes & Noble is still selling them I think.
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If that window seat is hollow, it probably wouldn't be too hard to make the top into a hinging lid. But, I'm going to guess that there is something inside of it that it's hiding. That's usually why people build those if they're not using it for storage.
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@NES_Rules: Yeah, that's my fear as well, especially since it was an attic. Though there could be a map to One-Eye Willie's treasure in there....
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A buddy of mine who had the same situation for his game room, before he moved, used his window seat as the tv stand. It is no where near the ideal situation, but if you are stuck with it it might be worth a consideration.
I always told him to mount a mirror above the tv to bounce the natural light into the room, but he never did it - he was content with his attic cave.
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@fastbilly1: The only problem with the window seat is that it is too narrow to put my TV on top of without the risk of it falling. I could put a flat screen up there later, but I'm not a big fan of how some of the newer TV make my retro games look.
I've made a ton of progress on the room. Added some big book shelves, displayed my systems on the shelving I found in my garage, and have organized most of my games. I have kept the desk in the room for now, but as my collection grows, I may have to get rid of it to make more space. I'm using it to display/play my Vectrex and am setting up a 2600 on a small, space saver TV that I have. Plus, I'm going to use it as a work area to clean new games. Expect some updated pics soon.
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When I saw the top part of the first photo I asked myself, why does he have a non-video Jenga game displayed with his collection?
Then, a few pics down, I saw that it was a Donkey Kong-themed Jenga game.
Time for me to jerk my knees back to their original positions...
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@Zagnorch: I'll go ahead and warn you that you may see a few non-video game items at the top of a few shelves. Since the wife was kind enough to let me have this room, I thought it might be good to keep the rest of my "toys" in there as well. Once I find a nice corner shelving unit, I'm planning on moving my 1982-87 G.I. Joe collection in there as well for display. I've made some really good progress on organizing the room and I should have some more pics up later this evening.
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