Livingroom Remodel. HT gear, etc. Detour on pg 2...

[CraZx2ing]

I have been working on and off on a new theater room for my house. The entire house is pretty much getting remodeled, slowly, all at the same time. I decided to stop working a little in each room and will be focusing in the rooms that the little stuff will make a big differance. I decided I'm going to update the livingroom to make it a little more HT friendly over the next couple weeks.

Things to do:
Remove old fish tanks 50gal, 120gal (done)
Tear down wall between main house and livingroom (done)
Trim up the removed wall area so it looks nice (this week)
Rip up current floor (this week)
Clear everything off the walls and plug holes (this week)
Prime/paint (this weekend)
Tile the room (sometime this month)
New ceiling fan (done)
Move the HT gear back in. (ASAP!!)

The way I'm going to set the room up to be both HT and family friendly I'm going to lose my rears. It'll be okay for now, until I find a way to put them up with out the chance of them falling down. I'm okay with it though...

I will update the 2nd post with pictures of the progress asap. There is going to be a huge transformation with just a little bit of hard work.

[CraZx2ing]

Here is what I started with:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1305/674846013_ace93e3de8.jpg?v=0
In this picture you can see I had to cram my gear in to make it fit on the short wall. You should notice the crappy paint job and stupid chair rail thing. Look at the horrid blue fake wood floors. There's also some holes in the walls and a out of place cabinet to the upper left.

Another shot of the "livingroom":
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1219/674846047_6086c225f1.jpg?v=0
In this pic you can see the crappy furniture, the random shelf to the left, pink blinds, a speaker blocked by a fish tank, etc. Its all crammed, and crappy. Nothing really fits.

The TV is going to go where the fish tank is, and the wall behind the current TV location is now opened up instead being a doorway.

Here is the current floorplan of the house done in mspaint :):
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3258/2632053519_464617e2d4.jpg?v=0
Here is a bigger size... (http://www.flickr.com/photos/9236850@N04/2632053519/sizes/o/)

And here is the finished floor plan as I want it in less than the next 5 years:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3120/2632053535_fa055abd3f.jpg?v=0
Biggie sized!

Here is the HT gear moved to the front room for the time being. I ended up just hooking up the TV and the PS3 as i need something to do when I'm bored. All the crap in the room is from a commercial that my buddy was shoting for a tech school. They needed a crapped out livingroom... which i had. No big deal and I made $200 off it :).
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3112/2632662242_96905a8841.jpg?v=0

Opening up the wall:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3171/2631838725_18677c0a87.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3025/2632662604_2253421932.jpg?v=0
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3108/2632662572_5ed7b95f37.jpg?v=0

Sorry about the snow like dust that the flash caught. Here is the wall all nice and opened. You can also see I removed the stupid cabinet from the top left corner.:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3047/2632662404_4a87e883df.jpg?v=0

Freaking dust EVERYwhere lol. In this picture to the right you can see the doorway for the theater room. You can also see the now removed cabinets and the big fish tank that will have to be moved this weekend. Opening the wall up makes it look like I have a much larger house. Most people don't even realieze i have 3 more rooms beyond that wall because of the small doorway. You can also see some of the random furniture I moved out of the room and into this one.:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2632662374_9124c5ca0d.jpg?v=0

Another shot:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2632662348_66709f739b.jpg?v=0

Here is another progress pic. The floor is half up. I have no idea who put that sheet over the door, but I need to get around to taking it off lol. In this pic you can also note the broke multicolored fan. This will be replaced this month as well. Can anyone spot frosty?!:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/2632662480_0d2d98168e.jpg?v=0

In this picture you can see the fish tank is moved away from the wall. I have it drained and emptied, just haven't decided which room to store it in. You will also notice the new ceiling fan:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3261/2644844132_1b9a083efa.jpg?v=0

This is the ceiling fan. It took forever for me to find something that fit my tastes:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/2644020797_99a67f711e.jpg?v=0

Here is a pic of the walk-through cleaned up a bit with wood installed. The big tank is also removed now. I haven't decided if i'll paint the wood and trim it or if I will drywall it and trim it. Odds are I will paint it and then decide on how it looks and if I don't like it, I will drywall it anyways.:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/2644025247_2dece39210.jpg?v=0

[CraZx2ing]

Late on the pics... gotta resize them before I upload them. Gemme another day or so. I have a ton of pics to update with.

[EmoRebellion]

Please tell me you arent putting tile in your HT room..

[powder]

Selling those fish tanks?

[CraZx2ing]

No, this is a living room. I'm tiling it, but making it more HT friendly. I need a room where i can sit back and enjoy a movie, and have guests over. Once the theater is complete (complete with stage, seating, soundproofing, etc) I will move my gear into there. I don't see the theater getting completed for a while yet do to time and cost. I can have this living room updated for around $300 by the end of the month.

Currently, the theater has drywall installed, electrical work pretty much done, in wall wiring done, and lighting done. Still need to tape the drywall, install a 2nd layer on the interior wall and do the sound proofing and then do all the finishing details like a stage and the seating and such.

My long term goal for the "livingroom" is going to be converting it into a good sized kitchen, and hanging a LCD somewhere in the front room of the house and adding a couch.

You guys will understand as soon as i get the pics up.


Powder, no. I'm putting them into storage in my utility room. I have not decided what I'm going to do with them yet. I have too much invested in them to get rid of them. I want to run a salt setup, but i want to get them put in the perfect spot of the house, once all the remodeling is done. (i'm sick of moving such a heavy tank around lol).

[powder]

Fish tanks? Sale?

[CraZx2ing]

Updated the 2nd post with a couple of before pics so you guys get the idea of the room i'm working in. I need to measure it out but its something like 12 x 16 or so. The wall behind the TV is already opened up, I just need to do some finishing work on it so it looks good. Both fish tanks will be moved this weekend and I should be able to get the walls all finished within the next week (plugging and painting).

[CraZx2ing]

Updated again... If a Mod wants to move this post to the "worklog" forum under the photoforum... that's fine too.

[Buster]

No, this is a living room. I'm tiling it, but making it more HT friendly.

If you want tile instead of carpet, I'd look into cork flooring.

It will help with the soundproofing and will not bounce the sound all over like a harder tile would.

Some of it looks REALLY nice.

http://www.corkfloor.com/colours.html
http://www.corkfloor.com/pics.html
http://www.corkfloor.com/benefits.html
Sound & Vibration Reduction
Cork cells Cork reduces the transmission of sound, vibration, heat and thus is a great insulator. The tiny cellular compartments seal air in each compartment insulating each from the other with a moisture resistant, waxy-like substance. This makes cork a great material for recording studios, entertainment rooms, and any other places where sound needs to be reduced. Cork has long been used in commercial buildings between floors and on roofs under heavy machinery for sound and vibration reduction. Cork reduces impact sound (IIC) as well as sound transmission (STC).


Some examples:
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/finish1RGBweb.jpg
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/RizFinalA72.jpg
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/Amberpine72.jpg
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/renafloor.jpg
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/wwemptyroom.jpg

http://www.corkfloor.com/images/GoldenOak100.jpg
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/Scotchwood100.jpg
http://www.corkfloor.com/images/Sable100.jpg

[CraZx2ing]

Interesting idea. Like I mentioned before though, this will be a living/family room with a great HT in it. Once the dedicated HT room is completed, I will move my HT gear into there and upgrade to 7.1 (already have everything i need) and a nicer TV or projector. This room will be carpeted.

The living/family room will then be converted into a kitchen. i only want to do the tile once. I have a feeling the cork stuff would not be good in a kitchen. It is nice though.

[Buster]

Actually a lot of people use it in kitchens.

Carpet is best in a HT room. Glad you're going with it in there.

[xtremecaraudio]

Looks good man. Can't wait to get my own house so I can set up an HT room. I have a nice setup but the room I'm stuck in right now sucks. haha.

[CraZx2ing]

Yah, this room sucked very bad, so I'm working on getting it up to par. The theater will be insaine, but that is still a ways away from being completed.

[Beodude123]

Man, looks like it should be good when done. I know that when I have the volume cranked on the receiver, I love the 7 channel sound that it puts out. It's really fantastic.


PS. You should clean the lens of your camera.

[CraZx2ing]

Man, looks like it should be good when done. I know that when I have the volume cranked on the receiver, I love the 7 channel sound that it puts out. It's really fantastic.


PS. You should clean the lens of your camera.

Thanks for the comments! I've only had my system setup for 5.1 so far. Once I get the theater room done it'll be awesome. We'll see how long 3.1 lasts in this room. I'll probably get bored with it pretty quick.

The lens is actually clean. The pics with stuff on it was the flash bouncing off of the dust in the room from the drywall cutting i did.

UPDATED again.

[CraZx2ing]

I've been slacking off a bit on this lately. I'm torn between buying tile or a new computer lol. I want both but can't buy both until next week. We'll see :). I did get everything cleaned up quite a bit and the hosue is more presentable, but no where near where it needs to be. I've been putting in a lot of hours at work :( and haven't had the extra energy or time to do stuff at night during the week. We'll see what happens this coming weekend. Hopefully I won't have nothing but time and I'll get a hand or two to help me wrap up the wall project and floor removal.

[powder]

Lookin good Timmah! I like how you opened up that doorway.

This reminds me i need to post updated pics of my project.

[CraZx2ing]

Thanks. It used to be opened a long time ago. It was easy as pie to open it. I would have opened it more, but the rest is block and a load supporting wall :).

I'm thinking on the right side corner i might put in a small breakfast table and two chairs. If not, I've got plenty of Viet art to hang still and I'll get a line of art going down it. We'll see :).

[Buster]

I've been slacking off a bit on this lately. I'm torn between buying tile or a new computer lol. I want both but can't buy both until next week. We'll see :). I did get everything cleaned up quite a bit and the hosue is more presentable, but no where near where it needs to be. I've been putting in a lot of hours at work :( and haven't had the extra energy or time to do stuff at night during the week. We'll see what happens this coming weekend. Hopefully I won't have nothing but time and I'll get a hand or two to help me wrap up the wall project and floor removal.

Your computer obviously works, so get the tile.

The computer will be cheaper if you wait. :D

[CraZx2ing]

Your computer obviously works, so get the tile.

The computer will be cheaper if you wait. :D

HA, too true. The computer is just cause I want to buy a new electronic and this time around i'm going to build it my way. I still don't *need* it because my laptop is still functioning (currently the screen is destoryed so i leave it opened and plugged while useing the vid out port to an old crt monitor... ghetto to say the least :) ).

I'm still hanging around looking for a good deal on the tile i like. we'll see :). In the mean time, i still have the walls to finish up before I worry about laying tile. I just need to do it. Maybe this weekend i'll wrap that up.

[CraZx2ing]

Finally a little bit of an update. I got all the flooring up and cleaned it up a bit. I still have some scraping to do and a little prep work on the surface before i start worrying about the tile.

Here you can see the still unfinished wall opening (man, i'm lazy!) and the pile of fake wood floor stuff i took up. Those three doors? the one on the left is the bathroom that has the leaking ceiling, the middle one is a small closet that i'm considering closing up and opening from inside the bathroom, and the right is what was a walkin closet that had the rear wall knocked out and a master bedroom added on.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2284/2838143623_88b187e02f.jpg?v=0

Part of the same room:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3076/2838974656_c682514233.jpg?v=0

And another angle:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3105/2838972374_0396c08fa9.jpg?v=0

[nvSpeed]

spend less time on chat box, hittup the living room. keep up the good work :rofl:

[Beodude123]

Mmmmm... Home theater stuff.....

[slammmed]

is that a cat door to your closet?

[Pacmanjoe]

Dude, if that floor is concrete, I suggest you stain it with concrete stain, 10 times better than tile. Hell you can get a tile look if you want but 100 times easier to maintain and clean. Plus, possibilities are endless. Even if your floor isn't concrete you can still use decorative concrete materials.

[CraZx2ing]

is that a cat door to your closet?
Yah, that used to be a master bedroom before i started remodeling. The cats used to go in and out of the bedroom via that cat door. My little bro rents that room out. I'll have to replace that door, because I don't need cat doors in my doors.

Dude, if that floor is concrete, I suggest you stain it with concrete stain, 10 times better than tile. Hell you can get a tile look if you want but 100 times easier to maintain and clean. Plus, possibilities are endless. Even if your floor isn't concrete you can still use decorative concrete materials.
Nah, tile will be cheap enough. There's also this thing with Asians (wife) where the whole house has to be tile. I'm fighting hard to get carpet in the bedrooms and HT room. I'm also wanting wood in the rest of the house. The room that we are talking about will eventually be a kitchen and tile works well in a kitchen.

And now... my detour:
My lil bro introduced me to a couple of his buddies that are all about home remodeling. Their speciality is drywall. I just so happen to need drywall work done, and they just so happen to need some extra work on the weekends. The one guy works for his dad's drywall company.

So long story short... They are patching all my crap work in the room you've already seen pictures of, they took down part of my ceiling and rehung it, hung a wall, and are wrapping up finishing of the HT room, and next up is a bedroom that has been modified extensively.

By the end of the month, the living room, HT room, and bedroom will be completed including walls, trim, and floors. Woohoo.

Here are some pics of the HT room:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3143/3019282520_6e27437f33.jpg?v=1226322414
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/3019282318_07413cd52d.jpg?v=1226322443
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3189/3018451611_f99b94329c.jpg?v=1226322474

[2000zx2chik]

Looks Good Tim!

[Beodude123]

Do you already have the wires run where you need them?

[CraZx2ing]

Yup. You can see in this picture the wiring for my 4 rears and my new electrical stuff, as well as, my new lighting.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1325/1199888765_ea0607db85.jpg?v=0

I still have a lot more work left in this room so I won't call it done once the drywall work is done and carpet is installed. I'll have to work on the sound once I hear the room. I'm going to do a bunch of sound treatments and depeneding on how loud it is I will do some more sound insulation stuff. My goal is just to get everything installed and in there and up and running for now.