Ack's Media/Basement Build - Page 4

Chad, the first kid was the hardest. By the third one, parenting is cake .

Yeah the drywall guy keeps giving me excuses, but at least he is calling. Gonna checkout your thread tonight. I am on hold for working in the basement until the drywall guy is done, but there are a million leaves in my yard so I have a date with a rake..

I actually found the cabinets at Ikea. They are dark, and modern with clean lines which is the look we wanted.

Time certainly flies...

Drywall is done and is ready for priming and painting. It has actually been ready for about two weeks:



My wife and I were long overdue for a vacation, and we went to Ireland for about a week and a half (kids stayed home with grandma and grandpa). What an amazing trip and well worth the delay on the basement, and it definitely took a hit on the savings

Couple of teaser pics:

This is one of the castles we stayed at:


Cliffs of Moher:

Got about 70% of the basement primed today. I had Sherwin Williams tint the primer for the wall colors..

Rolling, rolling, rolling......

Well, right now it is just a primed wall. Once I finish painting, I will install the speakers and take a pic for you. I have Deftech UIW II speakers for my mains. For a screen I am leaning towards the SeymourAV Centerstage XD material.

Thanks Chad it really was an amazing trip and I highly recommend it if you can ever get over that way. The most impressive thing of all was the people. They were probably the nicest people I have ever met.

We hope to get back someday, but lots of other things to see on my bucketlist

Hope all is well with you.

Has it been a week already??? Where does the time go???

The kids must have had 4 Halloween/Fall Festival (I hate how PC the schools are now) parties this week on top of swim class, dance, and I cannot get caught up at work to save my life and no matter how many hours I put in..

I did manage to spend a good part of the day priming the rest of the walls and the ceiling (amid driving to Sherwin Williams once, and Menards twice.

I have to say.. I thought insulating the ceiling was bad, but priming a knockdown/textured ceiling sucks.. I am not sure how much primer I swallowed today and I am pretty sure my back is going to hurt for a few days, but the ceiling is about 75% done and I hope to finish this week so I can start with the actual painting. I can already tell that priming the walls with a dark tinted primer is really going to help with the painting. Should go smooth (I hope).

And, say hello to my little friend!!



The newly released Epson 3010 1080p 3D projector. I just could not bear to mount my old Mitsubishi HC4900 to the ceiling with such a large screen. I played around with the Epson tonight projecting on my livingroom wall and the thing is a light cannon with a very sharp picture. Could not test 3D yet because my PS3 died and my other Blu-Ray players are 2D only, so I ordered the Panasonic 210 tonight. Very excited as I already have 5 3D movies on Blu-Ray and DirecTV has several 3D channels.

My wife made the comment that the projector will motivate me to get the basement done and I will do everything in my power not to hang that puppy from the ceiling

Update. I have been priming, and priming, and painting, and painting... This is the most I have ever painted, and I did not realize priming and painting the ceiling would be so much work. That said, everything was primed with a good thick cost, including the ceiling. The ceiling has been painted. About 80% of the basement has the first coat of paint and my plan it to get the other 20% painted tomorrow night, then get the second coat on Wednesday. I will cut in the rest Thursday and hope to start some tilling in the bathroom this weekend....

Pics coming soon...

Man I am tired of painting!

Oh yeah, and I am glad I went with tinted primer for the walls. It is looking good.

Thanks! I normally like painting, but I really dislike priming and painting such a large ceiling.

Picked up the tile for the bathroom tonight (cannot recommend Ceramic Tile Works in Maple Grove enough).

Starting some tiling tomorrow. Hope to pickup the cabinets for the bar area this weekend as well. Then I can tile the bar, and start on all the stone veneer for the bar and fireplace.

Then it is on to trim and doors...

I was lucky to hear the Deftech's in person and really liked them. I will warn you, don't lever listen to Triad speakers unless you plan on buying them. My favorite in wall speakers that I have ever heard. But not cheap.

Chad, good to hear from you. Take a look at the Epson. I got mine for just a shade under $1500, and that includes two pairs of 3D glasses. I had a paint sprayer but broke it (don't know my own strength sometimes) about 20 mins into the basement job. Too be honest, the roller, to me, looks better.

Pics are coming. Got less than half the shower tiled and will take some pics tomorrow after I finish it. Picked up cabinets tonight too.. Gonna be a busy Thanksgiving.

Finished tiling the bathroom today. I still need to grout it and put in a backsplash once the vanity is installed.

Some pics:









We got our inspiration from a modern hotel we stayed at while we were in Ireland. The shower had large tiles, with accent tiles right down the middle. Ceramic Tileworks in Maple Grove has great selection of tile and we really like the final product (the pictures do not do it justice).

At any rate, I am tired of cutting large tiles on a small $90 wet saw

But I am not done. We are using tile on the bar top, and the bar floor. The floor is a special order and should be ready to pickup in about a week or so.

I have some more painting to do (second coat and some cut-in) so I might tackle that next, or build cabinets next, or I might start on the stone for the bar/fireplace.. Or maybe a bit of everything

Here are some pics of the wall color in the main part of the basement:





And here is a pic of our cabinet color with some small pieces of the stone we are using in the bar/fireplace area next to it:



Bedtime!!!

I have no idea what is going on with my camera. Those pics look horrible.

According to The Green Glue company, you can buy it local in Plymouth at Drywall Supply:
http://www.greengluecompany.com/distributors.php

There are lots of threads here at AVS on building acoustic panels wrapped in fabric. You could use Owings Corning 703 rigid fiberglass and wrap it in fabric.

Another option? Something like this:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1316623

For speaker grill material, you can find it locally at Joann's fabric and craft store.

Hope this helps!

Got some work done this weekend. I got the fireplace stone and bar stone all set! I really liked how it turned out and the stone (purchased on Costco on a clearance sale) turned out really nice (at least I think so). The pictures don't show it as well, but the stone really goes well with our wall color. I cut all the end pieces at 45 degree angles so they join into the corner walls seamlessly. It was a lot of work, and last night ended up being about a 13 hour marathon. Smartest thing I did was rent a heavy duty tile saw (none of this small 7' wet saw that I have been using). If I would have used my saw, I would still be cutting....

Here are some pics.

The fireplace:


Another view:


The bar:


Another shot of the side of the bar:


Oh, and I set all the tile flooring in the bar area too:


Close up of the tile we picked (really like it, it is 12x24 and has a cool design that pictures don't do justice to):

I was able to score the rest of the doors on a sweet sale at Menards this weekend. Prefinished/prehung doors (6 panel primed white) for $29.99 each after rebate.

Next step is to start assembling the cabinets for the wet bar, and the vanity for the bathroom. Wife and I looked at carpet today at Lowes, and I am going to start getting some quotes. I think we are about a month away if I keep busting my tail. After the cabinets, I need to paint all the doors and trim, hang all the doors, and then do the trim work. I also have lots of touch-up painting to do..

Man I will be glad when this thing is done so we can enjoy the room!

I also took the Epson 3010 projector back. I liked it, but I am considering several new DLP models (the Acer H9500BD and the upcoming BenQ W7000). Definitely getting 3D, but want something that has solid 2D...

Your welcome Chad. I would definitely ask around the audio forum or even give Klipsch a call regarding putting your speakers in the wall. Some tower speakers are meant to be out in the open and pulled away from the wall by several inches. But you could be fine as well.

Yeah, I completely hear you on the Zombie thing. I try to pace myself, but it can be tough with a demanding wife and a young family. My wife has been awesome and wants to help assemble the cabinets and do some painting.

Thanks for the encouragement!

A few updates. Got all the cabinets assembled, and have been cutting in paint in the ceiling and touching up the walls. Will start grouting the tile floor in the bar and grouting the bathroom this weekend. Then I will install the cabinets and start on the countertops.

I took the Epson 3010 back to Best Buy and have my eye on several other projectors but am waiting on the upcoming BenQ W7000 to get released, so I can check out reviews. Definitely looking for 3D for family movie nights.

Ordered the screen today. I was originally going to purchase SeymourAV Centerstage XD acoustically transparent material and build the frame myself but noticed this week that Jamestown screen company partnered with SeymourAV and I can get a preassemebled aluminum frame for just slightly more than what I was going to spend to go DIY. They are back ordered but expect to start shipping it around Christmas. I ordered a 120" but may bump it up to 130". My concern is 3D and having enough lumens for a 130" screen. Jamestown was awesome to work with and very friendly. Very excited for the screen.

I am really hoping to have this thing done around New Years.

Should have some pics to post after this weekend...

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement guys!

Here is the latest update. Bar area:

Grouted the bar floor. Have the base cabinets installed. Have the 3/4" plywood down for the countertops and am ready for hardy board and tile. Some pics:





Here is the tile we are putting down for the countertop, along with the accent tiles:



Backsplash for the sink area is the same as the accent pieces:



This is what we will be using for the front trim for the bar area (vs tile):



Wife found a great deal on the bar accent tile/backsplash. Was $100 a sheet, and she found it on clearance (they had 10 sheets left exactly) for $10 a sheet

Here is a shot of the grouted bar floor:

Other updates. Here is a shot of the grouted shower:





I was also able to hand 3 of the 6 doors:



These things came in handy! Highly recommend them if you are hanging prefinished doors:



You can find them at Menards and Home Depot.

Also, I returned the Epson 3010 projector... Decided to go with a DLP (Acer H9500BD) for the sharper picture, and this model has much more contrast. Really puts out a nice picture and does 1080p 3D and is great for sports.




Up next.. We are working with our carpet guy and have three more samples coming Monday.

Over the next 10 days, I hope to keep painting some areas, get the cement board down for the tile countertops, tile the countertops and backsplash, grout the bathroom floor and countertops, and hang a few more doors...

Then on to trim work..

Shooting for 2nd week of January to get this completed, but we will see with the holidays..