My Cave

Discussion in 'Home Improvement, DIY and Repair' started by Droopy, Feb 10, 2022.

  1. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    it's compact, it's spacious, it's in an out-of-the-way corner, and it's mine!

    Ok, it's not 100% finished. I am waiting for my keyboard tray. It's a sliding one for under the desk. I'm also figuring out where to put light, probably a LED-list of some sort. Maybe underneath the wall cabinets. I think I'm in need of a pop-up double USB charger in the right-hand corner, and maybe a small shelf, also underneath the wall cabinets, for our PC games. I definitely need a shelf in the corner underneath the desk, but hey! Improvements will suggest themselves as we work.

    *hang on, dorbell. BRB*

    HAH! The postie brought my tray. I'm even happier now.

    So, photos:

    Floor-to-(almost)ceiling filing cupboard will hold stamp collection, binders, some photo albums, the bed linen and stuff for the guest bed (my office corner is in the guest room), and there's room for even more hobby-related items. The wall cabinets will hold odds and ends that I don't know where to file but need to have around. Drawers for old-fashioned office equipment like pens, post-its, notepads, envelopes, and such. The small gap between the cabinets and the ceiling will hold my jigsaw puzzles. The ones that I intend to work on when I have time, you know? 4000 to 6000 pieces ones. Guess I'll just write them up in my will immediately because I probably won't have time for them.

    20220210_124344.jpg

    I'm amazed at what those cabinets can hold, and I love them!

    So, desktop:

    20220210_134305.jpg

    All my computer's parts are still working, but they won't forever. So, hard drive will be a lot smaller, probably stronger, but anyways they'll be under the desk. The loudspeakers are almost antique, but they work so I won't discard them. I need a big, curved screen once this old thing says good-bye. No, I don't, but I drool when I see them, so I've started saving up for one already. Mouse and keyboad will eventually be wireless. I'm not a tech geek, just so you know, but I love gadgets that make life easier. And those that make life more fun.

    Our printer is bluetooth and so big (inherited from my tech geek oldest daughter) it needs to sit on the shelf underneath the sewing machine, who is lucky enough to live on a trolley on wheels for easy transport to whomever's room it is wanted.

    All in all I'm quite pleased, but that doesn't say much since I've never had anything like this before. If anybody has constructive input or smart suggestions I'm happy to read them.
     
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  2. Frank

    Frank GardenStew Founder Staff Member Administrator

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    That's a nice chair Droopy! Stuffed creatures under the monitor is a nice touch.
     
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  3. eileen

    eileen Resident Taxonomist Staff Member Moderator Plants Contributor

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    Everything looks so tidy compared to here.:setc_032: OK I'm off to tidy up now although I doubt anything will look much better when I'm done.:(
     
  4. marlingardener

    marlingardener Happy

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    My stars, I see why you are quite happy with the results! I left arranging the computer room/office space to my husband. I'm busy enough managing the kitchen!
    Congratulations on your achievement!:smt038
     



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  5. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    Grannies need good chairs. It's a bit big and getting on in years. I might have to replace it soon. Maybe with a gaming chair. :scheming::whistling: The stuffed animals have been given to me by family and friends over the years, and I just like having them around. Eeyore is actually a screen wiper.

    Eileen, my office has been underneath the bed, in a small shelf and a drawer in the laundry room, on top of my computer desk, in a pile by the sewing machine, everywhere! And I couldn't find anything when I needed it. My stamp collection and genealogy papers and books - the same. I feel pampered and spoiled now, and I'm enjoying the feeling of getting organized for the first time in very many years.

    Thanks, but I just drew the design up on a piece of paper and bought some furbishings. The furniture carpenter did the rest. My husband is busy managing the kitchen and his own stuff. I have a backlog that's at least ten years old, if not more, and you may congratulate me once I'm up to date on everything I need to sort. I'm enjoying every sorting minute, mind!
     
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  6. Sjoerd

    Sjoerd Mighty Oak

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    That looks like a cracking set-up, Droops. It is almost finished, but I think that it already looks quite smart. The chair looks like a winner. Like Frank, I think your stuffed friends look cute.
    Well done you.
     
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  7. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    Thanks @Sjoerd, I love it as it is, but now that I've started using it I can see improvement potential. Since the furniture chap's not all done yet he'll be able to fix the few things I see I need. I'll talk to him tomorrow. I'll probably have to promise him to paint the extra shelves myself, or he might bolt.
     
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  8. Sjoerd

    Sjoerd Mighty Oak

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    You outta write a book on how to keep homeworkers happy.
     
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  9. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Young Pine

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    Looking good, it's great to have an "office," mine is our box bedroom.

    The room is only about 6ft X 6ft and the ceiling above the stairs intrudes into the room, but makes a handy footrest!
    The shelving units have "grown" over the years to accommodate more stuff. Most recently a vintage Leak 2000 tuner amp and some bookshelf speakers.

    P1050702_50.jpg

    I have two "pull out" leaves, one for my laptop and mouse mat, the other above the second-hand filing cabinet for my guillotine. I have a Maxtel back up hard drive on one of the lower shelves.
    I also have several USB sticks, some stuff I back up twice. I keep nothing important on my laptop which I usually use downstairs and I keep a little plug in hard drive with it. All my photos, music and financial stuff is on it, so if I have a crash it's not that much of a problem. But I have to discipline myself to take it upstairs every few days to do second back-ups

    LED lights are ideal for places like these. Mine are under the bottom shelves, the switch is under the worktop and there's a bank of sockets right at the back on the wall.
    The lights are just stuck on with the pads supplied, as are the wires, so it looks very tidy, I hate seeing cables.

    These were the ones I bought on eBay. They were about sixteen pounds a year ago.
    They haven't fallen off!

    s-l1600.jpg
     
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  10. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    You have a very neat set-up there, @Doghouse Riley! Thanks for the tips. We have a nice, little electro shop with reasonable prices near here. That's where I get the pop-up thingies, and probably also the LED lights. I'm thinking a LED strip, not single spots. My socket bank is under the desk on the wall. I don't like cables either so they're going away one way or another. I only use my laptop for genealogy. That's the blue bag on top of the drawers.I'll get the sticks and extra hard-drive. Thanks for reminding me.

    @Sjoerd, I don't think so. They like working here, we get priority, and I don't want anybody else snatching our modus operandi. Our house is a stress-free zone. Stressed people make mistakes, and we don't want that, do we?
     
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  11. Droopy

    Droopy Slug Slaughterer Plants Contributor

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    The pop-up USB- and socket bank is bought but not installed. The LED-lights are glued in place. The strip is connected to our Wi-Fi, it has an app, and I've already had too much fun playing with all the light mode settings. I'm such a child, I know. But not a tech-geek. I just like gadgets. The permanent setting will be daylight or pure white. I need proper light to work. Since this is in the guest room I'm gonna pester the guests with party light settings, Halloween glow, or other fun effects until they figure out my game and pull the plug on the lights.

    I bought this type:

    WiZ ledlys.jpg
     
  12. Zigs

    Zigs Young Pine

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    Looking good :)
     
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  13. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Young Pine

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    There's a lot you can do yourself to accommodate stuff, if you don't mind laminated chipboard.

    My wife wanted some storage space in my "office" for some of her craft materials.
    So I built this. Just a quastion of drawing it on "the back of a fag packet" and taking the measurements to a woodyard getting them to cut out all the bits, plus byting some "door furniture" and screwing it together.

    I made it in an afternoon.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    She doesn't use it so much, now as she's conmmandeered the cocktail cabinet in the wall unit in the front room, as it saves her having to keep going upstairs for stuff.

    Well over twenty years agp we wanted a bookcase of a particular size in the hall, so I made one out of bull-nosed mahogany window sills and a sheet of faced plywood for the back.

    I dread to think how much the wood would cost now, laminate is dear enough.

    [​IMG]

    No special skills or tools were necessary.
     
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  14. MIKE ALLEN

    MIKE ALLEN Seedling

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    Totally agree. The price of timber nowadays is out of this world, plus so much is poor quality.
     
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  15. Doghouse Riley

    Doghouse Riley Young Pine

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    Exactly!
    The soft wood used in the construction industry now comes we are told, from "sustainable sources." Fast growing varieties, the density of which I think is similar to forced rhubarb.
    My tea-house I built in 1978, is made of reclaimed roofing ply, this had a tar like filling between the laminations so has been very durable and has never rotted.

    Even the chipboard you can buy which is laminated, is not as dense as it once was.
     

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