Endeavor Media Parlor build - Page 2

Garen! Hey, good to hear from ya. I haven't pinned down the dimension of the lip yet. I have 4/4 walnut planks that I think I'm gonna resaw down to 1/2 (since 4/4 is kind of unnecessary) then glue a lip on the edge. I have a 14" bandsaw that will take the 8.5 wide planks, but they are so long I think I'd have a difficult time at it. I need to contact a millwork and see what they'll charge me to do it.

I was thinking about using the pocket holes... I have the Kreg kit... they work great. I don't think I'll try biscuits (although I have a biscuit slot cutter too) since I'd have a hard time clamping a 16'+ total length together... and the pocket hole screws will help pull it together.

Yeah, I finally get to work on my own... just hope it'll be half the theater you and Crabby have.

Yeah, you're probably right... I don't know how well the 1/2" will go together. My 4/4 is actually 1"... I had the planks cut from a large walnut tree trunk, so I specified dimension, not nominal.

I like your idea! Sounds like an easier way to go and I think it'll be a nice detail.

I was thinking about how to reflect more light... another great idea by GT.

Yeah, walnut is my primary wood for furniture building, but thanks for the tip... as a risk management guy, I should be better about wearing my dust mask.

Okay, I have been terribly delinquent on posting. There have been some developments this year and there will be details and photos. To who may still be subcribed, thanks for hanging in there and sorry for the lack of activity. And yes, when is one's HT ever finished. Stay tuned, mass updates will be here by week end.

I'm surprised there are any subscribers left due to my major inactivity, but I know there are a few and for posterity sake, here we go....

First, a few days before Christmas, Santa came early... and he was driving a FedEx truck. Below is one of two boxes containing the A6-6T6 towers from Elemental Designs. I had listened to them at their manufacturing facility open house a while back and thought they were possibly the best value in speakers out there. After listening to various sources on them, I am still of that opinion and would put them up against about anything. (I'll be picking up the surrounds sometime soon.)



Oh yeah, some box organization below. I moved the APC (conditioner and backup) and gigabit router to the closet behind the screen. (I really need the conditioner due to dirty electricity... I lost 2 sub amps prior to getting it.) Getting both of these items out of sight was really the best thing to do.

Now, a lot of work went into the ledge for the knee wall. This was primarily due to the fact that all the walnut was in raw planks off the saw mill... the tree was from my dad's land in southern Iowa. So lots of straightlining, trips through the planer, and a little sanding. This was done for the 3/4" ledge and 3/8" lip that extends down. This lip will hide the rope light, as seen in the earlier illustration.





So, the knee wall planks had to go together along the length of the wall. I chose pocket screw jointery for this. Mainly due to the speed, simplicity, and fact I could take them apart later if I wanted.



Here's a shot of the pieces together in place. I have yet to finish them, so you can see they're not as dark as the panels yet. I also have to add the reflective tape (thanks GarenT for that suggestion).

Now for the latest. I got the green light from the wife for some theater seats for the basement. I decided on the Berkline 12000s for the look and feel, as experienced at guamguam's on the first annual Iowa HT Crawl last year. I was going for a 4-seat curved in black leather. I was pretty excited... so much so I even got as far as a quote/invoice from Roman. In cart-before-horse fashion, I then took the tape measure upstairs to see how the sectional couch (currently in the basement) would fit in the living room. Yep, you guessed it, doesn't fit. I'm not sure if I thought the room was bigger or the couch was smaller, but it just won't work in the space. So, my dreams of HT recliners are dashed for the time being.

So here's where I'm at now. I have to attach the ledge to the knee wall, finish the ledge, install rope light, dimension some more raw walnut, install trim on the panel seams, the baseboard and windows, build Murphy bed, shelving, and figure out something for the HT screen.

Lots to do. Just hope I'm better about getting it done, and posted to the thread.

Yes, I was going to go with a hardware kit from wallbed.com or something. Simple and affordable are both relative terms... commonly used on the forum. There may be some cheaper DIY options, but I'm not sure I want to hassle with that at this point. If anyone has any bright ideas, I'm all ears.

Geez, I'm getting the "old thread warning"... that's pathetic. So, lots of progress has been made. Here's a summary:

The foil tape was installed on the underside of the ledge to reflect more light from the ropelight. The ropelight clips were installed 6 inches on center for a very straight run.



All the horizontal trim pieces that cover the plywood seams and the base triim have been installed. A lot of work to get them from raw walnut planks to finished product. They were finished with a rub-on poly.
Here's what it looks like with the finished pieces in place and the ropelight on. The ropelight is on a Insteon dimmer (like the other lights) so it can be dimmed, and eventually controlled remotely.

Thanks guys. There's definitely some truth to that Mr G... It's so difficult to make timely progress when you're trying to use the room during construction.

It's been worth the wait, even thus far. I'm quite happy with how it is turning out.

Yeah, there are a few updates.

First, about 2 feet of the rope light burnt out after two weeks, so I had to tear it all down, breaking about half the plastic clips in the process. Then installed the replacement, only to have it happen again. Right now I'm without rope light 'till I find a suitable solution.

Second, I had my projector display the "Replace Lamp" message. 2682hrs... yeah, we use it a lot, but 4.47 hours/day... is that possible? Argh. I've been running on Eco mode and it doesn't really look that bad.

So, are you vicariously frustrated now? LOL. I have to fork over some bucks for new windows so I can put the trim up. Maybe I can get working on the Murphy bed and screen in the meantime. I have been replacing the receptacles with black ones and matching cover plates, which looks nice, I'll have some pics later.

Okay, true, true... way too much Battlefield 2. And I see you're getting pretty close to me with 130 hours . It will be much, much worse (in a good way) when GT5 shows up.

I think the rope light is just cheap Made in China stuff. Lowe's Utilitech. I have a single 48 footer and a 6 footer to make up the difference on the 51+ feet around the perimeter. I think part of the issue is that they bundle it tight in the little cylinder package, so when you unwind it, it just begs to have some internal connections fail. But now I'm stuck in the cycle of taking the broken one back in the new package I buy to replace it. I think I'll give it one more shot.

What is EL?

I actually try to avoid games with gratuitous foul language while the munchkin is awake. So, Battlefield takes place on many Friday and Saturday nights from 10p - 3a. That's the best time to team up with Crabby while he's playing in his prime hours.

You can always count on Crabby to show up at some point. He's usually workin' for 'the man', but finds an occasional minute between projects to let us know he's still alive... or play a little Battlefield.

Time to resurrect this neglected thread. This week I will post updates from the last 18 months. :roll eyes:

Okay, I know 22 months since the last update is unacceptable but what can I say, life is busy.

Last year quite a few things happened with the room. First, new Marvin Integrity replacement windows for the entire basement and Comfortex Slumbershade blackout blinds. Very happy with the Integrity windows; most shocked by their acoustical insulation and dramatic reduction of street noise from outside. The Comfortex blinds are truly blackout and were a cinch to install.