rprice54 Basement Media Room Build - Page 2

we used the same baseboards, crown, doors, doorknobs, etc as the rest of the house to make it feel less like a basement and more like the house. One side of the basement is actually at ground level due to the slope of the lot, so we wanted those rooms especially to feel like real rooms.

Okay, not much progress on the media room, but I've finished the first room in the basement. We wanted to turn the one room with windows into a school room. My wife is a teacher by trade, and we're going to keep the kids home for now. I'm posting pics because it feels good to make progress. The trim, paint, floors (Pergo) were done by yours truly. And now I'm going to hire out the rest of the basement, I just don't have the time. I feel like I've spent every spare minute in the basement for the past 4 months. I still have to do the toe molding.

The blue didn't come out well in the pics, the camera picked it's own shade of blue- the real color is more of a slate blue. The white board is a sheet of tile-board trimmed out with casing, makes a great custom grease- board.

We went with Pergo laminate for the floors. We didn't want to fool with solid wood in the basement, and after comparing engineered wood to the laminate, we felt like the laminate looked just as good (if not better) and was much more scratch resistant. Just a little cheaper too. We'll use the same flooring in the kitchenette behind the media room.

Next week, the media room should get trimmed and painted

Okay, trim was done today. I selected a painter today as well, and hopefully we'll have paint up next week. I think I'm going to miss the superbowl, but if I can get the carpet in, we're going to stop for a while, and I will go ahead and set up the system for the olympics while I work on the entertainment center. Cabinets and bathroom stuff will continue in the background.

Here's the Sketchup mockup. I posted some off angle viewing as well to show some of the dimensions. There will be pieces of trim here and there covering joints and seams, not worth the effort of putting into the model.

The first is what it will look like with the screen up. I can't decide if I want to paint the inner area black to better conceal the TV and speaker bar above it (for everyday, simple viewing) or line it with 1/4 plywood to match the wood. I think I'm going with African Mahogany, it's as cheap as maple right now. The AV rack will be installed behind the door all the way to the right. It will be a pocket door and will be open during viewing. The sat box will go in the cubby up top. It runs continuously and will need ventilation. There was no good place for an AV closet.



Next is the screen down. Da-lite has 3d models of their screens. I used the 106 and stretched it out to 110 diagonal, it's not perfect but easier than building my own screen. The casing will be recessed behind a hood with crown. The sides will also be partially concealed by the trim flanking the speakers. I'm hoping this will create a bit of a shadow box around the screen.



Looking up into the hood.


Looking down


Next, I need to make cut lists for the plywood and solid wood so I can minimize waste, and then build up the courage to buy all that wood. This will be the largest woodworking project I've tackled.

Thanks for reading.

I won't bore you with more sketchup model pics, but we're going to add 4" round columns on either side of the screen- that space really needed something. I'm also going to do some panels on top of each cubby on either side to dress it up a bit.

So my painter got the flu last week. He painted the bathroom and the study (which you don't care about) but only got to the ceiling in the media room/kitchenette. The priming is done on the columns.



I did finally start on the entertainment center. The base is 2x4 pressure treated pine. I wrapped it with 30lb felt to keep it from vibrating on the floor (although I had to raise the front about 1/4 to level it off, so I don't know how much is actually on the floor). I filled the base with sand (630 lbs to be exact) to deaden sound and then a layer of 3/4 MDF on top to be sure everything is as dense as possible. It's about 1/8 off the wall behind and 1" from either side wall, so hopefully will provide a good, isolated base. It's also wrapped in clear plastic (can't tell in the pics) to keep the sand from trying to creep out or through the felt.


Hopefully painting will get done this week. Then I can put the laminate down in the kitchen area, carpet, and then set the system back up while I work on the entertainment center.

Anyone still reading?

Paint/Trim/Tile/Flooring all done. Waiting for carpet (hopefully on Monday).

Here's a tapestry my wife found on clearance. It seemed to be more manly than most, and will serve as a great place to put some foam panels behind for sound insulation. It hangs over the landing on the stairs going down to the basement. For all the insulation we put in, a lot of sound comes through the stairwell. We'll probably put a solid door up top too.


They're a little dusty, but we painted the stairwell to match the media room, including the trim. I was a little nervous about it, but it was the right call.


Looking through the window in the back wall into the kitchen area. Fridge will go on the right. Cabinets pending.


Finished columns. The sconces are on an IR controlled dimmer.




Back wall, under the window. We'll have counter coming through the window, and a 12" deep bar across the back wall with stools. We brought the laminate out from the kitchen 30" into the room for a "splash zone." kids can eat at the bar, food stays off the carpet... that's the idea anyways.

My wife had some friends over and she took them downstairs. One of them commented that the room didn't look like a "basement" room, and really liked the columns. Made my day...

two ways to do the MDF. One of my contractors talked about just slapping up two layers of MDF for a 1.5" thick column. I didn't want to do that because I knew I would always see the seam, despite any putty or caulk. Plus, by making them 2" they are a little more prominent, especially with the trim.

The edge joints are beveled, I've got a large table saw and have it dialed in within 0.01 degrees, so getting a good tight 45 angle beveled joint was easy. May be harder to do with a portable jobsite deal. I don't know what your setup is.

To attach them to the wall, I used 1" thick pieces of some scrap maple I had lying around- let's call them brackets. any solid wood would work. Fortunately, each column had a stud somewhere behind it, so I cut the maple to 10 1/2" inches long and 3 inches wide (fits inside the back of the column) and attached two pieces per column to the studs, top and bottom. The top piece I actually attached to the top plate of the walls, with 3" wood screws. Then, I set the columns over the brackets, and predrilled and countersunk screws on the sides of the column (the skinny 2" wide part). By having the brackets at the top and bottom, the screws that I used to hang the columns are concealed by the baseboards and crown. I also set the columns off the concrete floor about 1" with some pressure treated scraps- you don't want that MDF absorbing moisture.

I hope that explains the process. I can diagram it out for you if it's not clear.

Spot on with the flooring. We looked at engineered wood and laminate, and the pergo potamic hickory 1)looked the best and had the most depth, even more than some of the real wood, 2) has a distressed look. we really wanted a 'handscraped' look but when you look at big pictures of many laminates it just looks fake, and handscraped engineered wood was a lot more. this has a distressed look and the texture lines up with the grain, which a lot of laminates have a generic texture that may or may not match the grain and 3) is almost identical in color to the floors upstairs, which helps to keep the space consistent with the rest of the house. Several people have mistaken it for real wood. I'm thrilled with how it looks. I swore previously that I'd never get near laminate, but now I'm a believer.

some friends of ours have a simple, shallow bench behind their sofa so the kids can eat without getting food on the furniture. We really like the idea. They built it themselves. Some planks of wood (rustic motif) glued together with some store bought legs, simple apron, and distressed/painted finish. Something easy to do.

We abandoned the idea because the sectional we ended up getting is freaking huge. We found it on clearance, apparently someone ordered it custom and then backed out. It's extra deep and extra long, and basically, when it's up on the wall, it's a full 2 feet further back than some of the smaller sectionals we were looking at. So now, there's no room for the bench/table behind it, along with the counter/barstools at the back. We were willing to give it up because we love the sofa. It's extra length also puts more people in the middle of the room. Most comfortable place to sleep in the house as well. Over Christmas, we did a "test run" of the equip. Myself (all 6'6" and 260 lbs of me) my wife, two of our boys, my mom, my little bro, my other bro and his wife all fit on the sofa with ease, and no one was touching who didn't want to.

originally the plan was to carry the chair rail across the wall, but after talking to some people, including a friend who used to be an architect, we felt like the columns standing alone would be better. I think it was the right call. makes the room a little taller visually.

'forced'- nice columns yourself. have you installed them yet? you should add them to the "show me your columns" thread.

I went with an Elite Cinetension 2 screen. I have mixed feelings about it. The screen I have now is great, it's flat, looks great and works well. I had problems with the first unit, not hanging straight, off by about 1" left to right. They promptly sent a replacement, but the motor had something clanking around in there. The screen itself was straight though.

Instead of shipping out a third screen, I ended up swapping the motors, which I think is way more than any customer should do, but I'm wired that way and it was kind of fun/interesting for me to take it all apart.

Customer service was great, I bought it through projector people who were very helpful in resolving my issues. I would definitely buy through a reputable vendor in case you have problems.

So I worry about their quality control- 2 out of 2 screens had issues, although the motor clank does sound benign, I probably wouldn't have noticed it except the first one didn't do it. If you look at the elite screen thread, many similar stories. But once I got a good unit, I am very pleased. I knew I wanted a tensioned screen, the last thing I want is to plunk down a bunch of cash only to have the thing get wavy in a few years. I was willing to put up with the frustrations because this thing is half the cost of any other tensioned screen. We'll see how it holds up.

It's a must for us, we want this to be a multi-purpose room. Plus, I don't want the kids firing up the PJ every time they want to watch mickey mouse. I tried to make it the best home theater setup I could, and still have a living room by day.

Part of the spousal approval factor was/is in-cabinet speakers and a clean look up front. The in-cabinet Axiom speakers were the icing on the cake, I really wanted full, floorstanding speakers, but was afraid I would "ruin" a nice set of expensive speakers by placing them in an enclosure. These are designed for cabinet use. They sound great as is, I wonder what they will sound like built in...

I haven't setup the sound yet, but the room is so much quieter with the carpet and sofa in there. I hope the heavily insulated walls and ceiling pay off.

... I can't stop spending money...

So we bought a fridge this week. I had started shopping for 'apartment' fridges (33" instead of 36") to fit the little nook we created when we put up the wall dividing the kitchenette area from a mechanical room. We didn't plan it, but turns out we created a perfect place for a fridge- down to the door placement, which effectively creates a 3" deeper wall right where the fridge handle needs room to open. Anyways, saw a fridge on clearance for a good bit less than any local dealers had it, so we jumped on it. We will put some 12" deep cabinets to the left of it, and above it, to give it more of a built in look. We have three rapidly growing boys (and maybe more down the road) so we figured instead of a little dorm fridge we'd go ahead and get a full size one.


Here's a pic of the sectional and carpet. The sofa is 120x120 long. We got two ottomans in the deal as well- another item found on clearance at a significant discount. It's extra deep and extra comfy.


Here's a shot of the adjacent room, we'll probably make this a guest area. The carpet is a frieze (sp?) speckled carpet. It's not berber although the pics make it look like it.


We spent enough money on the shower, I'll show you a pic. Glass enclosure pending


Hopefully this weekend I can get the sound setup again and we're just going to enjoy the space a bit. I'm burned out on construction. Gonna take a break before I build the entertainment center. I'm currently working on the AV rack. Paul Meyer has a nice DIY pull out and rotate gimmick here on the forums, and I like how bhuttman did his rack, so I'm thinking of a hybrid...

A local company here who installs home theaters has a used, middle atlantic pull out and rotate rack. I don't know how many shelves or anything it comes with, they want $250 for it, tempting. I know I can build one for about $100, but how much time would I spend on it?

What do you guys think?

Fun times with online shopping! For all of my recent AV purchases I have been using the ShopSafe feature of my credit card- which is the virtual account number service. Basically, they generate unique numbers for online purchases. I set the amount and expiration, so each 'card' can only be used once. I've been using similar services as long as I've been making online purchases. Well, it finally paid off.

Turns out, two of the cards I used to make purchases at Monoprice were stolen. I made two purchases on the same day, but used two different numbers. I distinctly remember I was in a hurry, forgot something, added it for a second order, and resisted the urge to just type in my regular number. Good thing I didn't. Someone took the first number and tried to go on a shopping spree- but they were all over the limit that I set for the purchase. A week later they tried the other number with the same results.

I've still closed my account (and all the associated hassles) and it's taken quite a bit of detective work on my end to track down the fraudulent cards (amazing how uninterested the bank was- since all the purchases were declined, for small amounts to begin with, they frankly didn't care. In their eyes, the feature worked. Easier for them to just close the account and send me new cards).

Anyways, just a friendly reminder to be careful out there, even at a 'trusted' website. I've bought from monoprice before, and I don't think this is a problem with their entire operation (ie they aren't a scam, they sell good cables for cheap), I'm guessing either an employee or perhaps their website was compromised. They're researching it on their end.

No updates on the build. 24 looks great at 110". Wii too.