west_perf
Well-known member
I bought a Sony tape deck and VCR at a flea mall a few weeks ago. Never thought I’d say that, but you’re right analog and physical media is hot again. Nice work on your projects Nick,
Between 265 & 485 SQ/FT Nick's Two-Car Detached Vdub Garage
- Thread starter nicholam77
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Workspaces sized between 265 and 485 squarefeet.
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nicholam77
Well-known member
Wow, that's a lot of Netflix rips!!!
I know a number of younger people (Gen Z's I guess?) that are into vinyl. I think it's pretty cool. Seems like most new music gets a vinyl release these days.
I'm 36 going on 37, old enough that I had a CD collection, grew up with VHS, then DVD, then Blu-ray. My parents had a large cassette tape collection, and when I was a younger kid I remember them playing vinyls in the living room. In middle school and high school I had a 'boombox' with dual cassette decks for making mixtapes lol. And would listen to both cassettes and CD's as I'd fall asleep almost every night. And had a portable CD player for road trips. Late high school when I got my driver's license I'd be constantly burning CD's for the car. And can't forget the iPod... while a bit different I'd still argue it was a physical device with physical inputs and a different type of relationship than clicking an app screen on your phone.
I'm torn because I love the convenience and music discovery aspect of Spotify, but honestly if it all disappeared tomorrow I'd be left with nothing and I don't even know all the music that's saved in my Spotify library. It would just be lost.
I don't think streaming and subscription is going anywhere, but I think there is a world in which both are important and valued. Not everything needs to go back to the way it was, but I really hope physical media keeps making a comeback, or at least remains available. Saving up money to go buy a CD you really wanted at the Best Buy, and enjoying the sleeve art and design, maybe buying it blind without even hearing it, was special. As my kids get older I want then to have some of those tangible experiences.
Make sure you get a CRT television to go with your VCR! And thanks!
Psiber
Active member
Hi Nick, long time lurker on your thread, really enjoy your projects and attention to detail. Just jumped on to second the 4k discs. Had a 4k TV for quite a while, but it was really only after buying a 4k bluray player that I really came to appreciate it. 4k discs were all that I bought on Prime day last year, some great prices. Another one to keep an eye on is Barnes and Noble pretty regularly have 50% off on Criterion Collection that has some great 4ks.
Catching up on some overdue commenting here!
My 2 kids might feel even more picked on...6 and 3 yrs old and they're both in bed with lights out most nights by 7:30. For awhile the 6 yr old was getting a later bedtime in that 8:15 range, but it was just a bear....fighting us, fussy at night, fussy in the morning so we went back to her bedtime at the same time(or immediately after) little brothers and it helped. They're both generally asleep within about 15 or 20 minutes of lights going off(she falls asleep faster). Unless it's a potty thing or a bad dream they don't get out of bed in the night. On school days lights come on in their rooms around 6:30-ish and we try to be putting shoes/coats on to head to school around 7:15.
My now wife and I had a good laugh when we were dating and found out we both did this while in college as well, though I used Blockbuster as well as it was just down the street and could get games then as well. Still got the binders downstairs....haven't pulled them out in years to watch. It was nice when I lived in the sticks in Iowa and internet wasn't fast enough to stream so I could pull out the binder to watch, but with a modern-ish ISP now we just stream unless I want to get the 4k benefits Nick mentioned.
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nicholam77
Well-known member
Thanks for chiming in!
4K is interesting. Obviously it's twice the resolution as HD, and it's hard to argue with that, unless you're sitting far enough away where it doesn't really matter (which is not actually that far)! But in practice, many other factors play into if a video looks good, regardless of the resolution.
I'm sure you know all this if you're into 4K physical media... but for anyone else following along, here are some other considerations.
4K releases in particular tend to have HDR, whether its Dolby Vision or not... and personally I think HDR usually elevates the experience (on a good TV). Discs (whether they are 4K or HD) also get a healthy bitrate — far, far beyond streaming... which is where all that picture clarity comes from. I would argue that the huge bitrate compared to streaming makes a bigger difference than the jump in resolution to 4K from HD. Or put in other words... there are people who swear a standard HD Blu-ray disc looks noticeably better than a 4K stream, because there is so much more data (and it's likely being upscaled anyways).
The other thing is sometimes films that have been already released on standard Blu-ray, get a 4K release where they just upscale it from the 2K DI. This is 'cheating' a bit because the source material isn't actually 4K. But the fact is, up until recently, most films were mastered for theaters at 2K because that's what the digital projectors of the time could do.
However, with movies that were actually shot on film... especially older movies, sometimes they will go back to the film negative and re-scan and do a whole new color grade and restoration. Probably more common with Criterion and some of the other boutique distributors. Either way... this is pretty exciting.
And then there's the opposite, where directors or studios take a 2K DI and use AI to upscale it to 4K, and if it was shot on film originally, do stupid things like remove the grain and make it look all pristine and perfect... I've heard James Cameron is guilty of this on his Terminator and Alien 4K releases.
So in that sense, it kind of depends on the distributor and how much care was taken, if it's true 4K or not, how good the upscaling is if it's not, if it has a good color grade, if it has HDR and if it's done well or not, if a certain director has ruined it with gimmicky AI processing, etc etc.
Anyways, bottom line, I fully agree after the one movie I watched
that 4K from disc is eye-opening.As far as sales... I think they are going to be me downfall. I love a good deal. I will keep an eye on B&N for Criterion stuff.
Denwood
Well-known member
So on the 4K, I tried out a (not cheap!) 4K projector on our 120” screen and returned it. Turns out that given the theater viewing distance of around 12-13 feet I honestly cannot discern a nice quality 1080P image from a 4K one, at least not enough to drop thousands on a 4K projector.. You need to be a lot closer to perceive it based on our visual acuity.Thanks for chiming in!
4K is interesting. Obviously it's twice the resolution as HD, and it's hard to argue with that, unless you're sitting far enough away where it doesn't really matter (which is not actually that far)! But in practice, many other factors play into if a video looks good, regardless of the resolution.
I'm sure you know all this if you're into 4K physical media... but for anyone else following along, here are some other considerations.
4K releases in particular tend to have HDR, whether its Dolby Vision or not... and personally I think HDR usually elevates the experience (on a good TV). Discs (whether they are 4K or HD) also get a healthy bitrate — far, far beyond streaming... which is where all that picture clarity comes from. I would argue that the huge bitrate compared to streaming makes a bigger difference than the jump in resolution to 4K from HD. Or put in other words... there are people who swear a standard HD Blu-ray disc looks noticeably better than a 4K stream, because there is so much more data (and it's likely being upscaled anyways).
The other thing is sometimes films that have been already released on standard Blu-ray, get a 4K release where they just upscale it from the 2K DI. This is 'cheating' a bit because the source material isn't actually 4K. But the fact is, up until recently, most films were mastered for theaters at 2K because that's what the digital projectors of the time could do.
However, with movies that were actually shot on film... especially older movies, sometimes they will go back to the film negative and re-scan and do a whole new color grade and restoration. Probably more common with Criterion and some of the other boutique distributors. Either way... this is pretty exciting.
And then there's the opposite, where directors or studios take a 2K DI and use AI to upscale it to 4K, and if it was shot on film originally, do stupid things like remove the grain and make it look all pristine and perfect... I've heard James Cameron is guilty of this on his Terminator and Alien 4K releases.
So in that sense, it kind of depends on the distributor and how much care was taken, if it's true 4K or not, how good the upscaling is if it's not, if it has a good color grade, if it has HDR and if it's done well or not, if a certain director has ruined it with gimmicky AI processing, etc etc.
Anyways, bottom line, I fully agree after the one movie I watched
As far as sales... I think they are going to be me downfall. I love a good deal. I will keep an eye on B&N for Criterion stuff.
Replaced the aging lamp on the old BenQ W6000 and that did make a massive difference!
Now, the DJI mini 4 pro shoots in HLG 10 bit and I’ve played that directly on a 70” 4K HDR display, and it’s veerrry nice at 6-8 feet away. Now of course we never actually sit that close…..
I understand the coil over issues well, after street driving a winning autocross car for a decade, ha. No fun at all in winter, so I ran 13” rims with very tall Blizzaks on the 84 Scirocco. Then I just stopped driving it in winter, period. My first thought on your suspension noise video was actually bushings. If you can jack it up and squirt some silicone lube into the bushings, then try it right after….. I had a front A-arm bushing issue on my mod’d ‘90 Westfalia that sounded very much like your noise. Replacing them was 100% the fix. Same thing with our 2014 Highlander. Front A arm bushings were shot. The ride felt like a bag of hammers until replaced…and I took it to the dealer for diagnosis as I could not pinpoint the noise. Did the A-arm replace and lower ball joint work on the hoist which was an ok job. Nice and civilized again.
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I think what Nick is asking us is to all go out and buy new, large 4k TV's to watch the Chiefs in the Super Bowl and then some new 4k movies and post back with reviews of the various models to help "the GJ community" evaluate what works well for TV watching vs movie watching?
You're out the door much earlier than we are so an earlier bedtime makes sense. We had to set a rule with my daughter about not turning a light on and reading before 6:30. When she's really into a book we sometimes have to bring it into our room so she's not getting up at 5:30 and reading.
I also used to rip movies and ended up giving them away a year or two ago to someone who had also done the same. Used to go to a place called Hollywood Video that had a monthly unlimited deal for 3 movies at a time for something like $15-20. I used to stop by there on my way home after work, get 3 dvd's and my brother would rip them. Used Netflix as well. I do have an external hard drive I used to use for a movie server but I don't have a desktop anymore and haven't picked up a NAS.
My siblings and I joke that we want a millennial movie streaming service that is all the junk we used to watch as kids in the 90s. I've wanted to show the kids a few different movies I used to love as a kid that aren't available to stream anywhere unless you buy them or rent them. We don't always get through a movie in a night so renting is usually out.
Wife and I were just going through our storage area as we've made the decision to invest in clear totes for storage vs the various sizes and colors we have now. Anywho...came across my old collection of cd's. I wasn't ever very good at caring for the actual CD's but the cases are all very well kept as they were never used due to the cd's being in a sleeved binder.
I'm thinking of dedicating a wall in the basement to displaying the CD cases. Trying to think of a 3D printed bracket solution that would help fasten the cds to the wall w/o having to drill 100's of holes in the wall.
I'm thinking of dedicating a wall in the basement to displaying the CD cases. Trying to think of a 3D printed bracket solution that would help fasten the cds to the wall w/o having to drill 100's of holes in the wall.
RickP
Well-known member
Cool idea -- you might try using 3M Command strips: Amazon link
I've had bad luck with them tearing the paper off sheet rock when trying to remove them if needed. I'd rather fill a screw hole then have to try and blend torn paper. Haha
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nicholam77
Well-known member
Totally. I think for most people with a good source (high bitrate), the HD-to-4K difference will be *mostly* negligible unless you're sitting very close as you said.
Interesting even on an 120" screen it doesn't make much difference.
But I think what most don't realize is digital movies in the theater on a giant screen used to be projected at 2K, which is *barely* bigger than HD!
Once again, provided a good source, I think overall brightness, contrast ratio, and ability to display HDR material matters more. Typically projectors don't do HDR that I know of.
That being said... if 4K is available it's going to be hard to persuade the video nerd in me that I don't need the *technically* superior format
Interesting, I can take a look at that. Which bushing are you referring to? I didn't take apart anything with the control arm or ball joint when doing the front suspension... not to say something isn't old or shot.
The reason I still suspect the spring coils rubbing is I think I cut down the foam bump stops enough where on deep strokes it's bottoming out or close to it. Because the noise didn't happen right away after install... only after trimming the bump stops more (from my recollection). And then after I put the spring coil isolator pads on, it completely went away for the whole summer. I could hit any bump as hard as I wanted and nothing. It wasn't until my winter wheel swap that it came back.
And it definitely doesn't ride like a bag of hammers... I've had loose control arm bushing / ball joint on my wife's SUV so I kind of know what that feels like. On mine it's not so much the feel as the sound.
I will keep investigating but I'm waiting for warmer weather at this point!
That's pretty much what I intend to use PLEX for! I'll pick up Blu-Rays for what's available, but no doubt there will be harder to find stuff I'll need to rip or source elsewhere. Would be nice to have a digital library of childhood media, and then the 4K discs for favorite films I feel deserve it (whether they are new or old).
Cool! Could you attach the 3d printed racks or whatever to some sort of 3/4 backing material? (painted MDF, some nice plywood, etc)? And then screw that into the wall with a few screws instead of a 100? Or even French cleat?
Hey I like the idea of the plywood or mdf. I suppose I could skip the 3d printed idea and just rip down some material to make some narrow shelves as well. Hmmmm
jar944
Well-known member
Denwood
Well-known member
Nick, your front strut attaches to the A-arm, and two bushings are used where A-arm attaches to the body. These bushings allow the A-arm to rotate (every time to hit a bump, corner, or stop) as the spring compresses, while keeping the wheel assembly stable. Those bushings can be hard to diagnose if they are making noise, but I'd agree that your spring comments with spacers etc. do point to the spring. I've just never experienced binding noise from a spring. You can always lube up the spring itself and check over that same bump.
I have an 11 channel ATMOS setup in the theatre using two Denon amps (one of them is just an extra amp to get to 11 channels). The 4K ATMOS amp (Denon AVR-X4400H) does all of the video switching, and does make things a lot simpler on the Harmony programs as we have both a TV, Projector and an acoustically transparent screen that drops down in front of it. The Harmony Elite remote is so good that I often forget where the individual remotes are stored.
I get a lot more excited experiencing movies with full ATMOS encoding as it adds that element of spatial placement along with the film. In fact, there are a few shows/movies etc. that I will only watch now in full ATMOS. Having the two subs along with the Audyssey MultiEQ software and mic for room analysis bundled with the amp was key to the acoustic wall treatments, room design, and final speaker setup. I saved all of the Audyssey profiles on my iPhone so I could monitor how speaker response (there are 11 of them, plus the two subs) cleaned up with acoustic treatments. Corner speakers were the hardest with respect to getting to a flat response curve.
I have an 11 channel ATMOS setup in the theatre using two Denon amps (one of them is just an extra amp to get to 11 channels). The 4K ATMOS amp (Denon AVR-X4400H) does all of the video switching, and does make things a lot simpler on the Harmony programs as we have both a TV, Projector and an acoustically transparent screen that drops down in front of it. The Harmony Elite remote is so good that I often forget where the individual remotes are stored.
I get a lot more excited experiencing movies with full ATMOS encoding as it adds that element of spatial placement along with the film. In fact, there are a few shows/movies etc. that I will only watch now in full ATMOS. Having the two subs along with the Audyssey MultiEQ software and mic for room analysis bundled with the amp was key to the acoustic wall treatments, room design, and final speaker setup. I saved all of the Audyssey profiles on my iPhone so I could monitor how speaker response (there are 11 of them, plus the two subs) cleaned up with acoustic treatments. Corner speakers were the hardest with respect to getting to a flat response curve.
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That is a brilliant idea! I'd subscribe in a heartbeat.
FWIW... Pluto TV (free w/commercials) has a pretty good selection of random 90's movies. Not as an extensive collection as your proposed streaming service would likely offer, but I've been finding some long-forgotten gems on there over the last couple of months.
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nicholam77
Well-known member
Oh man Jar you should not have posted that!
Must. Show. Restraint.
I think I will hold off until a larger revamp of the "home theater" some day. Even $300 could buy a lot of Blu-rays.
Gotcha, yeah I guess anything is possible, the car is 10 yrs old. But only has 50k miles. Not that it excludes it from being an issue but the control arms / A-arms were not taken apart at all. And fwiw it's happening on both sides.
This week we are getting a warm spell so if I have a chance I might try to take a wheel off, jack it up and see if the spring is contacting itself, and try putting on my extra rubber pads I ordered.
Nice! I've only experienced ATMOS at the movie theater. I would almost imagine it would be more noticeable at home.
For some reason my Harmony remote (I have the regular one w/hub, not the Elite) is a bit laggy controlling my TV, so I prefer the remote that came with it. But I use the hub to start and stop Harmony Activities via Home Assistant.
I agree routing everything through a nice 4K A/V receiver would be the best option, but what I have technically is working so it feels like upgrading would be a bit of a waste.
I am a believer that sound > picture in most cases. My receiver is Denon and I remember doing the Audyssey setup, but my room is most definitely not acoustic-ly treated, and I've only made things worse with the concrete floors
Knowing the effort you put into testing and tuning I'm sure yours sounds amazing!
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nicholam77
Well-known member
Basement TV Room Closet
Inching ever closer.
Got the bi-folds in from Menards.
Turns out when it said 30 x 80 it meant 29.5 x 79.
That's just too much gap, so I was trying to think of how to solve it, and decided to put a 3/4" plywood spacer / header up top.
After moving way too many boards off my lumber rack, I found one and cut it to size.
I screwed the closet top track into that, and screwed the board into the closet header.
My first attempt getting them installed, they wouldn't close and even though the sides had even gaps, the middle gap was horribly crooked.
So I'm fighting two things. First, the left side of the floor is 1" lower than the right side. And second, the width at the top of the opening is wider than the bottom. Both sides taper out. And the left side is built up more in the middle (maybe due to my mud work?).
Taking a 4' level to the jamb you can see it's pretty far out.
So making a bazillion adjustments I worked on getting the actual doors plumb.
Now the problem is they barely fit. I really REALLY didn't want to have to trim them down this time.
I am also kinda mad at the quality, they chipped very easily.
Somehow I got them to *barely* fit, albeit with very obviously uneven side gaps.
Then took them down and into the 'paint booth', where I did two coats of semi-gloss and tried to repair the chips I had made.
The Result:
I am surprised at how much more complete the room looks with the closet done, and I am mostly happy.
Well, not DONE done, I am going to put some 3/16 material at the top, tacked into the plywood board as a sort of valance / trim to hide it and the roller track.
And then I need to finish the baseboard detail and find some inoffensive pulls.
Inching ever closer.
Got the bi-folds in from Menards.
Turns out when it said 30 x 80 it meant 29.5 x 79.
That's just too much gap, so I was trying to think of how to solve it, and decided to put a 3/4" plywood spacer / header up top.
After moving way too many boards off my lumber rack, I found one and cut it to size.
I screwed the closet top track into that, and screwed the board into the closet header.
My first attempt getting them installed, they wouldn't close and even though the sides had even gaps, the middle gap was horribly crooked.
So I'm fighting two things. First, the left side of the floor is 1" lower than the right side. And second, the width at the top of the opening is wider than the bottom. Both sides taper out. And the left side is built up more in the middle (maybe due to my mud work?).
Taking a 4' level to the jamb you can see it's pretty far out.
So making a bazillion adjustments I worked on getting the actual doors plumb.
Now the problem is they barely fit. I really REALLY didn't want to have to trim them down this time.
I am also kinda mad at the quality, they chipped very easily.
Somehow I got them to *barely* fit, albeit with very obviously uneven side gaps.
Then took them down and into the 'paint booth', where I did two coats of semi-gloss and tried to repair the chips I had made.
The Result:
I am surprised at how much more complete the room looks with the closet done, and I am mostly happy.
Well, not DONE done, I am going to put some 3/16 material at the top, tacked into the plywood board as a sort of valance / trim to hide it and the roller track.
And then I need to finish the baseboard detail and find some inoffensive pulls.
Denwood
Well-known member
Basement TV Room Closet
Inching ever closer.
Got the bi-folds in from Menards.
Turns out when it said 30 x 80 it meant 29.5 x 79.
That's just too much gap, so I was trying to think of how to solve it, and decided to put a 3/4" plywood spacer / header up top.
After moving way too many boards off my lumber rack, I found one and cut it to size.
I screwed the closet top track into that, and screwed the board into the closet header.
My first attempt getting them installed, they wouldn't close and even though the sides had even gaps, the middle gap was horribly crooked.
So I'm fighting two things. First, the left side of the floor is 1" lower than the right side. And second, the width at the top of the opening is wider than the bottom. Both sides taper out. And the left side is built up more in the middle (maybe due to my mud work?).
Taking a 4' level to the jamb you can see it's pretty far out.
So making a bazillion adjustments I worked on getting the actual doors plumb.
Now the problem is they barely fit. I really REALLY didn't want to have to trim them down this time.
I am also kinda mad at the quality, they chipped very easily.
Somehow I got them to *barely* fit, albeit with very obviously uneven side gaps.
Then took them down and into the 'paint booth', where I did two coats of semi-gloss and tried to repair the chips I had made.
The Result:
I am surprised at how much more complete the room looks with the closet done, and I am mostly happy.
Well, not DONE done, I am going to put some 3/16 material at the top, tacked into the plywood board as a sort of valance / trim to hide it and the roller track.
And then I need to finish the baseboard detail and find some inoffensive pulls.
In an older home, and in reference to challenges like "anything square" I give you this very simple adage: "If a man on horseback wouldn't notice...."
For my kitchen reno, the floor slopes nearly an inch, the walls were up to 1.5" out of plumb, and the room was nowhere near square. Not sure how many hours I spent staring at laser lines, sister-studding walls to at least get them plumb, planning electrical outlets to match counter tops...etc. etc. It's a royal, royal PITA.
TX4runner
Well-known member
Now we know that new shim you added to get to 80 inches is going to get painted right. 
Before the year is up? It's on the list..... J/K Looks like that was a frustrating exercise, and the chipping may be a continued issue with regular use.
Before the year is up? It's on the list..... J/K Looks like that was a frustrating exercise, and the chipping may be a continued issue with regular use. Denwood
Well-known member
Kind of interesting that you have the treadmill in there and my wife has asked me to the do the very same thing in the, gulp, theatre room. Call me stupid, but that's one issue I'm not compromising on. It's the only space in our older home that is wide open, and dedicated to one purpose. That said, the theatre is also the sleep over space with the fireplace etc. I have two of those 2 feet high blow up queen size beds specifically for this purpose. That way the kids still have their "own" space when needed for parties with their own bath/sauna, and kitchen keeping the craziness at least a bit contained. ha.Basement TV Room Closet
Inching ever closer.
Got the bi-folds in from Menards.
Turns out when it said 30 x 80 it meant 29.5 x 79.
That's just too much gap, so I was trying to think of how to solve it, and decided to put a 3/4" plywood spacer / header up top.
After moving way too many boards off my lumber rack, I found one and cut it to size.
I screwed the closet top track into that, and screwed the board into the closet header.
My first attempt getting them installed, they wouldn't close and even though the sides had even gaps, the middle gap was horribly crooked.
So I'm fighting two things. First, the left side of the floor is 1" lower than the right side. And second, the width at the top of the opening is wider than the bottom. Both sides taper out. And the left side is built up more in the middle (maybe due to my mud work?).
Taking a 4' level to the jamb you can see it's pretty far out.
So making a bazillion adjustments I worked on getting the actual doors plumb.
Now the problem is they barely fit. I really REALLY didn't want to have to trim them down this time.
I am also kinda mad at the quality, they chipped very easily.
Somehow I got them to *barely* fit, albeit with very obviously uneven side gaps.
Then took them down and into the 'paint booth', where I did two coats of semi-gloss and tried to repair the chips I had made.
The Result:
I am surprised at how much more complete the room looks with the closet done, and I am mostly happy.
Well, not DONE done, I am going to put some 3/16 material at the top, tacked into the plywood board as a sort of valance / trim to hide it and the roller track.
And then I need to finish the baseboard detail and find some inoffensive pulls.
OP
nicholam77
Well-known member
Now we know that new shim you added to get to 80 inches is going to get painted right.
Hey now, I can't do it all at once or my wife is going to think I'm superhuman like @jar944
But yes, I'm going to put a thin white trim piece over the 'shim' and closet track to cover it up. And yes I will probably wait about 5 months to do that.
Looks like that was a frustrating exercise, and the chipping may be a continued issue with regular use.
I definitely banged the floor, ceiling, and support columns way more times than I should have while I was moving things around, so I can't completely blame the doors.
It seems the panel faces are MDF. Pretty fragile on the edges.
I hope it won't be an issue... there is clearance on the sides and of course top and bottom... the doors contact in the middle when closing but not on an edge.
Very true!
The treadmill was actually my idea, and my wife was resistant to it initially. I was coming off a summer of exercise and feeling great about two years ago, and wanted to keep it going during the winter. Almost immediately after getting it I went into a downward leg/back spiral. I still walk on it occasionally, but only if it's too cold to be outside. I far prefer walking outside if possible.
My wife on the other hand now uses it a bunch, maybe 3-5 days a week depending on schedules.
I don't really have a better place to put it so that's why it's in this room. Mine is less of a purpose built home theater and more of a 'basement living room', though. And because of the longitudinal nature of the room the treadmill is more adjacent to the TV space than in it.
It actually works out really well, because we are able to have the kids watch cartoons while we use it... keep them busy and keep an eye on them. If it was in a dedicated exercise room or room with no place for the kids it would be harder to find time to use it, especially when one parent is not at home.
As they grow older and have friends over that may change things.
Denwood
Well-known member
Hey now, I can't do it all at once or my wife is going to think I'm superhuman like @jar944
But yes, I'm going to put a thin white trim piece over the 'shim' and closet track to cover it up. And yes I will probably wait about 5 months to do that.
I definitely banged the floor, ceiling, and support columns way more times than I should have while I was moving things around, so I can't completely blame the doors.
It seems the panel faces are MDF. Pretty fragile on the edges.
I hope it won't be an issue... there is clearance on the sides and of course top and bottom... the doors contact in the middle when closing but not on an edge.
Very true!
The treadmill was actually my idea, and my wife was resistant to it initially. I was coming off a summer of exercise and feeling great about two years ago, and wanted to keep it going during the winter. Almost immediately after getting it I went into a downward leg/back spiral. I still walk on it occasionally, but only if it's too cold to be outside. I far prefer walking outside if possible.
My wife on the other hand now uses it a bunch, maybe 3-5 days a week depending on schedules.
I don't really have a better place to put it so that's why it's in this room. Mine is less of a purpose built home theater and more of a 'basement living room', though. And because of the longitudinal nature of the room the treadmill is more adjacent to the TV space than in it.
It actually works out really well, because we are able to have the kids watch cartoons while we use it... keep them busy and keep an eye on them. If it was in a dedicated exercise room or room with no place for the kids it would be harder to find time to use it, especially when one parent is not at home.
As they grow older and have friends over that may change things.
I get it 100%. We've configured our house quite a few times from no kids, then 2 young ones, and now two young adults. I'm sure we'll reconfig yet again if we stick around..ha. I'm a huge fan of smaller "quality" spaces vs massive ones with all that overhead that brings. I have a set of three of these books from Sarah Susanka: https://susanka.com/not-so-big-house/
OP
nicholam77
Well-known member
That's funny, I've had that book in my Amazon wish list for 3 years haha. I browsed her website and agree with the concepts on a surface level... but I've wondered how in depth the book is. Would you recommend picking up a copy?
Well @TX4runner, the day has come sooner than I thought.
In a perhaps controversial move I decided to use a piece of maple plywood, clear coated with my favorite General Finishes, as a trim piece instead of painting it white.
It stands out, but I kind of like the contrast in the otherwise sea of white. And while it looks dark in these pics, it more or less matches the birch passage doors in the space, as well as any other future wood elements I might introduce.
I can always paint it white if I change my mind later, but for now I like it.
I also finished the last bits of baseboard trim at this closet (not pictured).
Now I need to fix the bottoms of the support columns some how and I'll be done with this side of the basement.
Denwood
Well-known member
So my wife picked up a 3 set volume of her first three books for me...they are excellent. Lots of good ideas, methods and inspiration. The basics are quality over quantity and careful attention to sight lines, purpose etc to make a small space, largeThat's funny, I've had that book in my Amazon wish list for 3 years haha. I browsed her website and agree with the concepts on a surface level... but I've wondered how in depth the book is. Would you recommend picking up a copy?
Well @TX4runner, the day has come sooner than I thought.
In a perhaps controversial move I decided to use a piece of maple plywood, clear coated with my favorite General Finishes, as a trim piece instead of painting it white.
It stands out, but I kind of like the contrast in the otherwise sea of white. And while it looks dark in these pics, it more or less matches the birch passage doors in the space, as well as any other future wood elements I might introduce.
I can always paint it white if I change my mind later, but for now I like it.
I also finished the last bits of baseboard trim at this closet (not pictured).
Now I need to fix the bottoms of the support columns some how and I'll be done with this side of the basement.
I very much embraced the principles in the books doing a 3 piece bath and sauna in a 6’x12’ space.
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west_perf
Well-known member
Been there, done that. After the whole Napster debacle, the RIAA went ********* anti-customer and sued some folks, as well as mandated all these copy-proof protections. I purchased a whole bunch of singles from Walmart.com and every time I got a new computer had to call their help desk to have them "unlock" the files so they could be played on a new machine. I think there were $1.19/ea, that's a couple hundred I'll never get back and lord knows where the music files are now. Then later I subscribed to Zune/Xbox/Groove Music pass (Microsoft) and when that shut down I again lost all my files and playlists.
You know what I haven't lost? The crate of CD's in the corner, or the CD folio that's in the backseat of my truck and is 25 years old.
Sometimes newer isn't better - this is a long way of saying you're absolutely correct to be concerned about losing music, or any "media" that isn't physical.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
I buy physical media, then rip it, back it up on the NAS, then copy it to my SSD. It's time consuming, but I get to keep my music one way or another.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Kay, I do the same thing but my ripped CDs are backed up on multiple desktop and laptop machines as well as multiple 32GB iPods in the cars, garage and workshop. The original music CDs live in a Sony 400 CD changer and a few audio books (Game of Thrones and Outlander) live in a second Sony 400 CD Changer. I keep thinking I'll find time to organize the music CDs into their genres.
Back when really loud stereos in really small cars was the rage, the baby drivers with windows down and volume up would pull up alongside my Corvette convertible. I would glance over at them and switch the CD in the changer to Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Beethoven's 9th Symphony and crank mine up. I rarely recognized what they were destroying their hearing with but I know the woofers behind my seats were giving me a nice massage. They probably couldn't hear mine but at least I could no longer hear theirs.
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Bob I do the same thing but with a cammed motor or loud exhaust!
Finallygotit
ALLIANCE MEMBER
That's why I don't have audio in the Cobra. I have the best stereo with those sidepipes.Bob I do the same thing but with a cammed motor or loud exhaust!
OP
nicholam77
Well-known member
The year sure is flying by. I can't believe we're two months in already.
I've been laying low mostly because I haven't done much that's GJ-worthy. And also for most of Jan and Feb it was very, very cold.
But it only snowed once or twice, so there is not much to do except hide inside from the negative temps. We did get up to Wisconsin during a big snowfall for some fun with the kids' cousins.
After jumping through a few hoops I got a surgical consult for the hernia, and by then it was actually feeling better, pretty minimal. They suggested waiting another 6 weeks to see if it keeps minimizing, stays the same, or gets worse, and then make a decision. I guess it's a small amount of fat pushing out, not my intestine like a classic hernia (good!) and it's tiny so maybe I can just live with it if it doesn't get worse. The doc seemed to think surgery might not be worth it.
My leg is not really improving. I've been consistently doing gentle stretching and strengthening which is only ever a temporary relief.
Work has been busy (fortunate for that) but the chair time hasn't been helping my tight muscles.
New Tool Day
Got this puppy on a Woot! deal for $49
No real reason other than I've always been interested in the Pliers Wrench and am a Knipex fan. Not the best way to buy tools, but hey we all have moments of weakness.
Speaking of... blu rays keep showing up.
Trying to go for a mix of favorites, titles with rewatchability, and childhood nostalgia factor.
And still picking away at the basement.
My wife has been begging me to fix the bottoms of the support columns, but I'm struggling to figure out how to do it. They are in rough shape. Ideally I would like them to seamlessly meet the flooring without a baseboard wrap.
I started applying some corner bead, but not sure how I'll mud the bottom near the floor cleanly, or taper it off into the column. And there is metal corner bead under the existing drywall, so not sure I can even staple it in.
So I gave up on that for now and moved back to the closet, finally installing some knobs.
Then I got the great idea to clean and organize the inside, since drywall dust got in during the mudding. So... everything out.
I had ordered a bunch of these IKEA Kuggis bins for small items, based on this YouTube video.
I will label them all when contents get assigned eventually, like I've done with these on the office side when I threw out a ton of old smart home device boxes and organized the manuals.
Back to the TV closet.
Moved stuff, threw away stuff, wiped the whole thing down, and got out the label maker.
The goal is most everything is in bins, with a label. Everything in its place.
That's the final result for now. Ideally all the bins would be the same for a very clean look, but I don't want to buy all new bins just for that.
That's all I have for now!
I've been laying low mostly because I haven't done much that's GJ-worthy. And also for most of Jan and Feb it was very, very cold.
But it only snowed once or twice, so there is not much to do except hide inside from the negative temps. We did get up to Wisconsin during a big snowfall for some fun with the kids' cousins.
After jumping through a few hoops I got a surgical consult for the hernia, and by then it was actually feeling better, pretty minimal. They suggested waiting another 6 weeks to see if it keeps minimizing, stays the same, or gets worse, and then make a decision. I guess it's a small amount of fat pushing out, not my intestine like a classic hernia (good!) and it's tiny so maybe I can just live with it if it doesn't get worse. The doc seemed to think surgery might not be worth it.
My leg is not really improving. I've been consistently doing gentle stretching and strengthening which is only ever a temporary relief.
Work has been busy (fortunate for that) but the chair time hasn't been helping my tight muscles.
New Tool Day
Got this puppy on a Woot! deal for $49
No real reason other than I've always been interested in the Pliers Wrench and am a Knipex fan. Not the best way to buy tools, but hey we all have moments of weakness.
Speaking of... blu rays keep showing up.
Trying to go for a mix of favorites, titles with rewatchability, and childhood nostalgia factor.
And still picking away at the basement.
My wife has been begging me to fix the bottoms of the support columns, but I'm struggling to figure out how to do it. They are in rough shape. Ideally I would like them to seamlessly meet the flooring without a baseboard wrap.
I started applying some corner bead, but not sure how I'll mud the bottom near the floor cleanly, or taper it off into the column. And there is metal corner bead under the existing drywall, so not sure I can even staple it in.
So I gave up on that for now and moved back to the closet, finally installing some knobs.
Then I got the great idea to clean and organize the inside, since drywall dust got in during the mudding. So... everything out.
I had ordered a bunch of these IKEA Kuggis bins for small items, based on this YouTube video.
I will label them all when contents get assigned eventually, like I've done with these on the office side when I threw out a ton of old smart home device boxes and organized the manuals.
Back to the TV closet.
Moved stuff, threw away stuff, wiped the whole thing down, and got out the label maker.
The goal is most everything is in bins, with a label. Everything in its place.
That's the final result for now. Ideally all the bins would be the same for a very clean look, but I don't want to buy all new bins just for that.
That's all I have for now!
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
You really don't want your drywall touching bare concrete. It'll wick moisture. Were I in your shoes, I'd paint the floor under the edge of the columns a couple coats, then run that plastic corner bead around the bottom, and mud it up.
Bob Heine
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Nick, go with Kay's suggestion. Trim the bottom side of the plastic corner trim as needed to fit flush with the drywall and mud away. I'd miter the corners to reduce the chance either the horizontal or vertical pieces generate a crack.
I'm doing my part!
It's been a minute since I last watched Starship Troopers... I need to track that one down.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Get the books, too.
I didn't even know it was a book/series... is Starship Troopers the first book, or should I start with a different title first?
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Just the one. I just realized that I read it in serialized form. However there are a whole series of space marine kind of stories and books that have the same feel.
OP
nicholam77
Well-known member
Thank you Kay and Bob. In some areas the corner bead was not tall enough to attach and reach the floor, but I did a Home Depot run this weekend and found some that is wider, as well as some other products like L-bead and such. I think I can hack something together based on what you're saying.
I will take a look at the floor under the drywall... they did 3 coats of epoxy under the concrete topper so it should be pretty sealed from the slab moisture, but I will check it out and see if I can add some paint if needed.
Maybe try some recessed molding there like this.
I’ll have to watch that video later and possibly order a bunch of those bins for my next project. Thanks for sharing!
Nice suggestion, I do like flush baseboard, but with the way my floors are a lumpy topper I would have to scribe again, as well as miter, and it sounds like a big PITA. I can't believe I'm saying this but I think mudding will be the lesser frustration.
I still need to implement the contents of most of those bins... but I had never really considered bins for the "small stuff". I also love the concept of the "don't know, looks important" bin lol.
I watched for the first time last year. Lots of fun.
Gruv just started a March Madness sale...
. Going to try to resist buying for the sake of collecting vs. stuff I will likely watch more than once.