Brian in
Geek |
October 12, 2003
Our media room has never worked for us. The layout stinks, the carpet is a bit sucky, and we chose what could be the worst color to paint a room with twelve foot ceilings: slate. A few months ago we finally broke down and hired an interior designer to sort it out. We spend a lot of time up there, so we might as well make it a place we can enjoy.
Well, after tons of planning and what seems like an endless stream of checks to the interior designer, construction has begun! In an effort to save some cizash I did a bunch of the demolition myself. It started out fun, but man, I'm not cut out to work construction. It's way too much work. Every joint in my body aches tonight, and I even got a cramp in my middle finger. I didn't even know you could get a cramp there.
I'm chronicling all the work that's going on with a series of photos. I will be making regular updates to these photos as the work progresses.
Progress Updates
10/24/2004
- The room has been finished and all the goodies are installed.
- All of our furniture has arrived and we've been enjoying the room for a few months.
10/18/2003
- The subfloor has been opened to lay the wiring conduit.
- Existing wiring for the house audio and video has been pulled to the new location.
- Plumbing for the bar and bathroom has been relocated and is nearly finished.
11/5/2003
- Plumbing is done.
- Electrical is done.
- Walls have been closed up and re-textured.
- Painting has begun.
12/3/2003
- Painting is done.
- Flooring is done.
- Lighting cables are done.
- Bathroom fixtures are done.
- Stair railing is installed.
- Trim and molding has begun.
1/6/2004
- Cabinets are in.
- Floors, moldings, etc are done.
- Lighting is done.
- Cables are run for the speakers.
- Awaiting cabinet doors and the completion of the TV stand.
1/11/2004
- Stereo has been installed
- TV screen wall is done
One Little, Two Little, Three Little
Lighting for the room is controlled here. These switches are programmable and can do full scene lighting via remote control.
Lights
The finished lighting. We haven't aimed the pendants yet, but already we're getting a lot more light upstairs than before. You can also see the beginning of the TV stand at the end of the room.
Peek-a-Boo
The floor hatch, where all the cables run. The white cables are for the front speakers, the blue are the video and optical cables. There is also an electrical outlet and ethernet jack in there for the XBox. The hatch closes with a steel and rubber cover to create a very clean look.
The Source of the Madness
The cabinet where the AV system will be. There is actually a large rack system that plugs onto the slide out shelf at the bottom. The rack can be swiveled around so you can work on it, and then you simply push it into the cabinet. The cabinet is mounted with pocket doors as well, so you have easy access. Here you see all the AV cables coming out of the wall. There is also a jumble of wires there for the whole house audio which will I will close up soon with a nice cover and speaker terminals.
Countertop
The almost completed countertop, showing how much additional storage we're getting. The big black thing on the top is the AV rack lying on its side. I removed it to get at the wire tunnels.
First Completed Speaker
The first of several speakers, connected and placed in the room.
Stereo
All the AV components are now in their rack.
Conduits
Here you can see the back of the wall where all the under floor AV cables enter. There are five channels of audio, ethernet, telephone, two satellite lines, S-Video and component video and fiber optics for the XBox. That's one busy conduit.
Wiring Nightmare
The rack pulls out and swivels to access the back. That's a good thing because I don't know how I would ever get all these wires connected otherwise.
Screen Wall
The completed screen wall. The TV sits in front of this.
Back of the Screen Wall
As you come up the stairs you see the back of the screen wall.
Finished Room
A wide shot of the finished media room. We are still working on some art for the right wall.
Left Side
The left side of the room houses all of the electronics and has a large workspace for doing art projects.
Peek a Bar
We also installed a wet bar around the corner.
Sitting Area
Behind the couch we had quite a bit of extra space and made a nice little sitting area. It's a great place to dirink coffee, listen to music and watch the world go by.
Electronics Cabinet
The cabinet with its doors open. The doors slide back into the cabinet for a clean look. Eventually will have a media PC in there that will connect to our home network. For now, we're just using a laptop.
Electronics Cabinet
All of the electronics are nicely hidden behind the cabinet doors.
Media Storage
To the right of the electronics rack we have a few pull-out drawers that hold media.
Water Damage
When we moved in we had a bit of a water leak that took us forever to notice, and then track down. When I pulled up the carpet pad I finally got a glimpse of just how wet things had become. The subfloor is wet about six feet into the main room. Yikes.
Bold Mold
There was a lot of nasty black mold in the house too. Luckily, I don't think this is the kind that makes people sick. After all, if it was, Danna and I would have been sick for about a year.
No TV Tonight
I was certainly tired after the end of my first day as a "demolisher". But, I got a lot done. By the end of the weekend I had done quite a bit:
- I've removed the carpet, carpet pad, tack strips and pad staples.
- I've pulled all the trim off of the baseboards, door frames and stairwell guardwall.
- The blinds, in-wall speakers and doors have been removed.
- The bathroom sink and toilet have been removed and I have reversed the shower door to make room for the new sink position.
Ziploc
We now have a zipper barrier protecting our house from all the mess going on upstairs. Too bad the cats can sneak right under it. They like to roll in sawdust and track it downstairs.
Media Wiring
The sub floor has been cut away now so that the AV rack's wiring conduit can be inserted under the floor. They've already pulled the rest of the house's audio and video wiring through the wallks and bundled it nicely here.
Scaffold
A temporary scaffold has been erected so they can get up to the top of the ceiling. This is where the electrical for the new lighting track will be installed. Also, you can see that the subfloor has been cut all the way over to where the TV will go.
Bar Plumbing
The plumber has come and added drain and water taps for the bar.
Bathroom Plumbing
And, the bathroom drain and water pipes have been re-routed to their new locations.
Wall Cut
A cut made in the wall so electrical wiring can be brought up to the ceiling for a cable light system.
All Sealed Up
The same wall, all closed up and re-textured.
Bathroom Door No More
This is where the bathroom door used to be. Not a trace of it is left.
New Colors
The beginning of our new paint color. Out with blue, in with the yellow. Yellow. It's the New Black.
High Trim
More trim color.
Yellow...Done
The yellow paint is all done: two coats, and no more blue at all!
Flooring
The flooring here is almost done, just a few more boards to go.
Hardwoods: Finished!
The hardwood floors are all done here, and they've begun to put up the molding.
Stair Railing
The stair railing, nicely mounted in its new home. Finally I don't have to worry about walking off the edge of the floor.
Bathroom
The bathroom floor. This one I layed myself, because it was easy and I'm cheap.
New Sink
The new sink. Nice an tiny, just right for a really tiny bathroom. The old mirror doesn't fit, though, so we'll have to get a new one.
Pooper
The pooper's back. Good thing too, that hole in the floor was starting to stink a bit.
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