Finished Basement Games/Movie Room (link to gallery)

[mike boss]

Finishing a basement is a project right ?

http://imgur.com/a/i4WD2

Here is my finished gamesroom/movie room.
Took about 4 months start to finish and was complete with little help from myself.
My fahter and mother in law did this for my wife and I.

Great room, we love it. Gets lots of use and its lots of fun.

Some of the cool features of the room include :

- Custom Jumpman sign (to be painted)

- In wall speakers in game area, set up as "ZONE B" (can be used alone or with rest of system)

- Rocketish Powerline in media center for improved steaming.
(not really a reno, but a nice lil add on to help make the room more enjoyable)

- NintendoROW - 4 Nintendo cabinets for classic and current arcade fun

Feedback and thoughts welcome.

Thanks for looking

[Jumpman64]

Looks great!  Not the Jumpman I was expecting, haha    

[Louis Tully]

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[mike boss]

Thanks guys.
I'm loving the room.
Still have some finishing touches to do, but outside of perhaps moving some trinkets around the pics give a good idea how the basement will remain.

NintendoROW is near done, I still need to add the side art to Mario (which I have). And when all is said and done Mario will also feature a pair of GunCon1's with Aim Traks inside.

To give you guys a little idea of what the cabinets are :

Mario MAME w/ console emulation and Super Street Fighter IV Arcade, and custom MaLa layout
(Nintendo, SNES, N64, Sega, Turbo GRAFX)

Popeye with a 2 player VS style layout and WWF Wrestlefest inside

Donkey Kong w/ 60 in 1 Jamma board, 19" LCD + scanline generator

Donkey Kong Jr vert MAME cabinet w/ 19" LCD + scanline generator & custom MaLa layout

[FritzsCorner]

Really nice!  I looked through all the pics and didn't see the Live Nudes that the Bingo slot machine was advertising.

All jokes aside this looks really slick.  While I don't have the awesome built-ins like you have here, I did something similar with my entertainment center and classic consoles all on display, but after seeing your basement I am starting to think I need to revisit my own setup.  I am in the process of restoring my first cab and building a bartop that I will need to find a home for.  I might have to "borrow" some of your ideas in the near future. 

[javeryh]

Awesome man (and way ahead of

).

What are the overall dimensions of the room?  I'm just curious because I'm trying to figure out what I can fit...

[mike boss]

The built in's !
I always knew what I wanted in the basement.
I knew I liked the built in look (custom look).  And in reality it was cheaper than one may think. If anything slightly more than what I would have spent @ say the likes of Ikea for look that matched. Most units we found were bigger or smaller, not really meant to AV equipment.
So we went to Home Depot priced trim, laminate, and whatever the thin white stuff is called that is used on the back. It's the same as any cheap furniture you buy.

To give a lil back story (sorry to bore people) the downstairs media section of the room is almost the same as my upstairs TV area. Sectional seating, fireplace, and TV. Except, upstairs they are on opposite walls. But over and above that the same elements exist.

When we were doing the basement the wife didn't quite see my vision. I knew as opposed to a floor type TV stand (that tends to not hide mess) I would use floor space. I decided the space is the space, meaning, if the unit came out 24" inches I lose the 24" inches. So why not build the wall out ? Behind the media wall is actually the cinderblock wall that is where my garage is.

So anyway, we framed out the wall, I think it's like 24" from the concrete. Framed in the fireplace and had Home Depot cut the materials to size. I think the units cost about $75 each (if not less).
My father in law assembled the units and we put them in place.

Some issues (or things I didn't think of) :
- Videogame console shelf. I wish now I had run the wires behind the unit. With so many wires, so many consoles it looks quite sloppy. Ikea sells some white split tube material that you can run your wires in.It helps control and hide your wires, I still fully plan on using this to hide the black mess. But since all the AV wires run to the top of the unit (console selector) I just wish I ran the wires behind. It's not a huge deal, and I'm sure I can clean up the wall. But its just something that came to me after.

Other issue (little issues) . I picked up a low profile TV bracket for my 55". I then purchased from Ikea the LED dioder lights they sell, the color changing ones. Sadly that TV is sooooooo close to the wall and I can't get my fat paws behind it. So I was never able to mount the LED lights.
Would have looked cool !

Over and above that I love the space. I think it is both good for me and my wife. I won some, I lost some (battles of what makes it in the basement)....but I tell you I won far more then I lost !

One of the greatest losses, and I can honestly find an alternative to this was the hook up of a second TV. I picked up a 42" to mount above the candy/popcorn station. Idea was a TV hooked up to the net and equiped with a wireless keyboard/mouse. I would have hooked it up to my AV equipment so uses could go on YouTube, VEVO, etc. Create a playlist and play thru the audio.
Quite a ways back I had purchased a PC that was for the sole purpose of a touchscreen jukebox. I used Uncle T's awesome software and created a custom skin. I decided to not go with the touchscreen, but wanted to use that PC in connection with my external HDD (full of music) with the TV. I thought that would have been an awesome project. WIFE DIDN'T THINK SO !

But I can plug that external into many of my electronics via USB, or even hook up my laptop to the TV with the extra HDMI connection I have. Perhaps even install Uncle T's onto my laptop, still use a bluetooth keyboard/mouse and simply do the same thing via my 55".

One issue I see (again little)....if I were to keep my external with music upstairs on my main PC, the laptop can see if via network, but I don't beleive you can set an extenral HDD to share, or if you can, you need to set it up everytime. Help ?

Pehraps I'll test that when I go home. Now I'm excited.

[mike boss]

@ javeryh

You know what I don't even know off hand.
I'd need to check.
But I think the room is 400/450 sq ft (no more than 500).

Room flows well, looks full, but not sloppy IMHO.

[leapinlew]

Those glasses just sitting in the wide open on the lower shelves....

Ah, the joys of not having kids.

[mike boss]

@ leapinlew

Yep.....no kids............YET ! Soon Soon!
Get's me thinking I'll have to revamp everything soon.
Ah well ! For now I enjoy as is.

[Shortbus]

Wow, you are lucky, that is sooooo awesome! Nice Job...Enjoy!

[mike boss]

@ Shortbus

Yeah, I feel lucky.
I've wanted a gamesroom since I can remember. So I'm quite happy to have it.
Like I said I've been quite lucky to get most all I want.
A few final touches needed...but soon this will be %100 !
Can't wait to play a few gun games.

[Acids]

Awesome job.  I had all my consoles set-up in a large cabinet a few years back.   It actually turned out to be a BIG P.I.T.A
The problem was that older consoles don't have wireless controllers.

Trying to play a game so close to the screen was just terrible,   In the end i used extension cables but it was still messy   .

Just wondering how you manage?

[mike boss]

@ Acids

To tell you  the truth I actually ran into an error when hooking everything up and the consoles (despite being hooked up) can't be played.
My TV has 4 x HDMI ports and 1 X Component Video connections. The component video connection has it where one of the 5 connections, say green (don't recall off hand) is also Yellow, used  for your basic video hook up.

I split the connection so my Wii could run using component video, everything else through the switcher boxes, then into the TV.
Well because the TV detects that all 5 connections are used it looks for the rest of the signal. And all consoles display black and white.

I'm going to use one of my modified XBOX consoles with full console emulation and wireless controllers to rectify this.
So I get the retro look I wanted, I get people asking, "Oh do you have (insert game here) ?"
And once they are inspired I'm able to play said game via my XBOX.

Not the best solution, but it works.

I'm setting up a second gaming station in a room upstairs where I'll use most of my duplicate consoles. So it isn't a total loss.

[kahlid74]

Those glasses just sitting in the wide open on the lower shelves....

Ah, the joys of not having kids.

Dude, I was thinking the same thing.  My 15 month old son would do a "WOWWWW" and then proceed to trash everything lol.

Well done man.  A nice enjoyable space for sure.

[mike boss]

@ kahlid74

Thanks !
We do enjoy the space. I think like many in the same state with all the big stuff done and the room usable the small things get neglected.
Wife and I had picked up some frames from Ikea, idea was print out some scaled down versions of our favorite movie posters.
We would frame them and hang them. I Photoshopped the images, cropped them, and modified them as needed (removing all the fine print).
The images were moved to a USB drive.................needless to say NEVER PRINTED ! FRAMES NEVER HUNG !

None the less, the colder months are upon us, more and more time at home. So I think I'll make a push.

[drventure]

Nicely done!

I love the neon

[mike boss]

@ drventure

Thank you.
They were a gift from my wife on my birthday.
A local kijiji find! I'm quite happy with them, people get a kick outta them.
Mind you they get slightly disappointed when a stripper doesn't come walking down the stairs.
But hey, cant win em all !

[atog]

Looks like we have the same hobbies

I spent the last year working on my theater room and snack counter, now that it is finally finished I can start in on the pinmame machine, when that is done it will be time to update the 10 year old mame machine and with a pull pc upgrade.  It never ends...

[steveh]

Here is my finished gamesroom/movie room.

Do you ever really finish a Game room?

Looks great.  I hope to have one like this one day.

[opt2not]

I hate you guys. 



I mean it looks great. jerks.

[mike boss]

@ atog

WOW ! WOW ! WOW !
What a room ! Amazing !

[Louis Tully]

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[atog]

Right back at you Mike!  I am jealous of your awesome arcade alley. 

Also pull pc upgrade = full pc upgrade, I can't type.

I don't know about winning life but I can tell you the past year spent finishing the basement and having my wife complain about me tracking sawdust and drywall dust all over the house was rough.  I think she thinks I am crazy but maybe all our wives think that?

Shot of the gameroom, the pinmame project is all spread out making a bit of a mess.  Shouldn't be like that for more than a year or so though

[mike boss]

I'll tell you guys a funny story (or what I think is a funny story!).
A buddy of mine has a Star Wars room, top to bottom Star Wars.
Now it's his home office and it's the space his wife has "allowed" him to display his stuff.
And display he did, in the boxes, all set up and looking almost retail (in my wifes opinion).
This room scared my wife, she questions weather or not things these days, so mass produced are even worth money ? If not why keep them in the box ? Can you enjoy them in the box ?

The room in my opinion is cool, and I've never even seen Star Wars (let the insults begin!).
As a collector I can appreciate this. The room is neat, my buddy digs it, it's his space.
Thats it ! DONE !

Now my wife, she was freaked out. And this room left her with fear, thinking our basement would look like this room. Odd to me as I have a few small collections of random things. As assortment of Spawn figures, some other toys I thought were cool. Nothing like what my buddy has, not in volume, not theme, nothing.

Why she would think this was beyond me ! With that said, I also think my house is quite well done. Quite polished, flows well, and (lame) one room in many ways matches the others. As much pride as I take in my home and the interior why would you think the basement would be different ?

When I was able to squash the wifes fears and family was ready to help the basement started. It is today what you see in the pictures. I'd like to get some more items to display, an Omnibot, Rob the Robot, hang some art, and break out a few toys. But as you see in the pictures is how it will remain...a lil bit more clutter if you can call it that.

Now am I lucky that my wife was down for a space like this, oh yeah, I am. I agree !
But I did want this space to be equal parts her and I. I think I got it more me, but she likes it.
I gave her projects, like make the candy station your own. Pick what movie posters you want in the frames, etc. My wife questions the games as they dont often get played. It's a valid question/point. However a few years ago she learned the answer. It's not about how much you play, but how much you enjoy it when you do. The stuff did not cost me a small fortune and everyone gets a kick out it. She learned this, as did I to a lesser extent when at my brothers one day father and sons, husbands and wives all got together and played a lil Foosball. It was fun the entire family enjoyed, and it might have only been 20 minutes, but it was 20 great minutes of everyone having a blast !

[ark_ader]

Looks nice but I would have tinted glass panels hiding the consoles, darker colors on the walls and carpets to make it warmer.

The paintwork alone would drive me mad after awhile.

Hope you change it into something more subdued.   

[chopperthedog]

@atog, best pRon room ever!!!


good day.

[mike boss]

For me, my budget, etc my room is all I could want.
I mean I could have 1000 other things on the "wish list", but in reality how much space/money do I have ?
As far as the consoles go I wanted them on display, to quote a wrestling phrase.....they are a "nostalgia pop!"

[mike boss]

I picked up a nice 3 top Beaver gumball/candy machine and some cool signage in the last few weeks.
Time to get a jump start and wrap up some unfinished projects.