As the project is finally starting to look like something I thought I would post some pictures. I needed some more space for my home office, so I decided to "raise the roof" on the garage and build a new space. I over-engineered the floor trusses in anticipation of a pool table. I decided to go with a loose "irish pub" theme, we'll see how it turns out. Some pictures of the build.


Going up...
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/frontwall.jpg


Access is via a ramp.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/ramp.jpg


Little house, big garage. :)
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1554s.jpg

another view.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1555s.jpg

lots of blocking for the weak 1/4" plywood ceiling. $10 per 4x8 sheet but lots of sweat. 9 speakers, 14 can lights, three ceiling fans, and the big (heavy) gold crown pool table light.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1531s.jpg


The rear surround speakers are in the ceiling, the rest of the HT speakers will be in-walls. There are seven other in-ceiling speakers that can broadcast "the game" or background music. The 100" screen will come down between two cabinets and be in front of the window on the rear wall. It is an elite cinetension2.

The new office is behind the half wall to the left, the bar to the right beside the pool table. A "gym" area is behind the "water closet" on the right.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1549s2.jpg

I like the way the "cheap" wood ceiling turned out.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1552s.jpg

Looks great Ted. I really like the way the ceiling turned out. Are you going to keep the dark stained wood theme on the walls as well?

Looks awesome. I really like the wood on the house and garage. Also like the AT sticker on the car :)

thanks. I am planning to use corrugated metal roof material for wainscoting, there is a pool hall around here that has it and it looks pretty cool. The ceiling is dark wood, the floors are dark wood, I thought that dark wainscoting would be too much. The metal is actually quite light in color. For the half walls above the wainscoting I will use sheetrock painted a medium-to-dark color (haven't decided yet).

Here is a drawing of the layout. It is pretty "busy" but I think it will work. The seating for the theater is on the close side, roughly 1.45 the screen width. A friend has this same relationship and it works with our projectors. When you get to about 1.4x then you start to see image pixels. Of course it will be fine when watching the game from the pool/bar area - and maybe even from the deck :)

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/layout.jpg

Relative to the above drawing I moved the pool table out more toward the center and the spectator bench will be on the left wall (as seen in the picture below). The woodstove will either go where the spectator bench was drawn, or just to your right as you walk in.

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1550s.jpg

The AT runs within a mile of my place, and I used to be on it several days a week before I started this project!

I like the cedar as well, but wonder if I shouldn't have done hardy shingles or something. Oh well.

Great job so far Ted and looks like it's going to be a fun project.

Are you a "real" pool player? I only know one or two - many play at it and like the idea of a pool table but don't seriously play the game. Only game maybe more difficult to play well is golf.

I ask cause we had a really nice 4X8 oak table - not regulation which is 4.5X9 and we didn't have the space for a regulation sized pool table.

Anywho, we kept our table for years and the kids liked it and I collected a bunch of nice sticks (carefully shopping at pawn shows - all name brand) but we learned that pool intimidates a LOT of people and the space for the table and comfortable play make a pool table a HUGE space hog PLUS only four people at most can play at one time.

We sold the pool table but kept the pinball games and added a couple and learned that with four or five really NICE pin games plus a commercial quality foosball table and a coin-op dart machine you can have about 30 people all playing at the same time with plenty of room for more people and also a nice big bar with nice big bar chairs and no one is intimidated by pinball!

Just wanted to share our home game room experience - your setup looks great.

I guess you could say I'm a pool junkie, I play 15+ hours a week. I'd do more if it weren't for my poker habit.

The space is really designed as my personal office, rather than for entertaining. That isn't to say it won't host a few parties, it certainly will.

However I am much more effective at my work if I can jam for a few hours and then blow off steam for a half hour. The gym, pool table, and theater should provide all the distractions I require.

The space can always be changed if I change interests, but I love pool.

The first thing i thought was that you need an elevator from the ground floor house to the top floor of the garage right between the buildings. :)

The commute isn't too bad, even in inclimate weather. These anti-skid plates work well. They are a neat design, and "self sharpening" but don't hurt bare feet.

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1556s.jpg
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1557s.jpg
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1558s.jpg

One day I will probably build a mini-deck off the upstairs room of the house which connects to the main deck by way of a breezeway. It looks like it would be seven steps, which could be executed before the end of the house- so the breezeway would be full (main deck) height. I think I would cover it somehow. Sunbrella awning?

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/breezeway.jpg

a few pics...

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1649s.jpg

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1660s.jpg

The paint is actually a green color, although it looks a little blue in some pictures. I am doing trim work now, and starting to build the pool table. Getting the floor in was a major milestone, much cleaner. It is also very easy to keep warm, I have a in-wall forced fan heater in the "office cubicle" as backup when the woodstove isn't in use. It rarely comes on, even in cold weather. It has been in the teens many nights since we started getting weather in December, I have snow on the ground since that time.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1680s.jpg

the floor is 5" wide oak, the bevelled edges give it a rustic feel. Got a great deal on this stuff from Lowes, about $1.50 per square foot. First time with the wide boards, if it gets slightly out of whack when laying it you might as well start pulling it up and redo it. With smaller (normal width) wood flooring you can "correct" a lot of problems by putting a slight bend in it... but the thick stuff doesn't like to bend.
http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/treehouse/IMG_1681z.jpg

Hey Tedzap.

I see you are also on AZBilliards. Welcome to AVS!

Yea, AZB is another great forum...

personally if i was going to a garage conversion like this, I'd be increasing the home floor space 1st, closing the gap between the home and garage so it flows as 1 building, also i'd be looking at an internal walkway between both buildings, as walking outside through winter would be the pits if you wanted to use it throughout the winter month's