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This is a FANTASTIC game room. Stylishly adorned (although maybe not to my wife's tastes), plenty of hidden storage under the gaming tables, lots of light, places to put down a few drinks and ranks of casualties along the wall mounted shelves... this is gorgeous setup. This is what every gamer's basement should aspire to. Hopefully this gamer's hobby and painting area is just as nicely done.
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Speaking of model train rooms, this hobby room obviously belongs to a train enthusiast. I like the used of cabinets and wall mounted shelves for storage. The pics and maps on the walls are also a great touch... it's nice to have visual inspiration on hand. While not an elegant setup (by design magazine standards, which is what some spouses and in-laws base their "good taste" on), it's actually quite tidy and organized.
These are the types of hobby rooms that might meet with spouse approval. Especially if her hobby is drinking wine and collecting antique long guns.
Those are some beautiful cabinets. The way the lighting is set up, and the professional design and layout... this screams money. It's like a wonderful private museum for when the rich Illuminati get together on weekends. I would LOVE to see something like this, but geared towards the gamer / mini-painter / hobbyist. I dunno... anyone got any pics of George R.R. Martin's private mini collection?
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Speaking of classy... this is a pretty nice display of reproduction fantasy swords and staves. Most of them look like the United Cutlery line of Lord of the Rings swords, but some of them I don't recognize (but they still probably have plenty of meaning to the owner). Again, tastefully done, although I'd probably keep them behind glass myself... I can see my 7 year old taking a few down and hacking up my man-cave while playing with them.
Love it though. A great example of how geekery can be done tastefully.
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This, unfortunately, is more common amongst geeks. This is Adam Savage's (of Mythbusters fame) collection of movie props and reproduction pieces. To a diehard geek, this collection is absolutely gobsmacking awesome. To anyone else though, it looks like the cluttered set of the TV show, "Hoarders". To be fair, he's got enough stuff in this one room to fill a multi-level museum. It would be hard to imagine how else this could be artfully displayed in such a space. As it is, I'd be worried that if I tried playing pool here, I'd accidentally smack and set off the Rocketeer's jet backpack, a la "The Empire Strikes Back" ("Boba Fett? Where?").
https://www.pinterest.com/hmoly/cool-stuff/
This wall of display cabinets are done pretty nicely as well. Probably not TOO expensive to do, either. I understand that there are inexpensive glass doors sold for the IKEA “BILLY” bookcase line that would do the trick. Add a tiny bit of weatherstripping around the edges of the doors, and it’d be dustproof too.
http://robhawkinshobby.blogspot.ca/2012/01/kicking-off-new-year-with-new-hobby.htmlThis wall of display cabinets are done pretty nicely as well. Probably not TOO expensive to do, either. I understand that there are inexpensive glass doors sold for the IKEA “BILLY” bookcase line that would do the trick. Add a tiny bit of weatherstripping around the edges of the doors, and it’d be dustproof too.
Plenty of gamers would have something more
like this setup. Plenty of eye-candy on
display for the gamer, but for non-gaming guests, it may look like a confusing
mess (although from up close, you can tell that it’s actually pretty tidy and
organized). From a design standpoint, I
would probably try and have a bookcase and display case that were pretty close
in dimension and scale. Similarly, I
would prefer to have them in the same colour if possible. This would make for a more seamless
transition visually, and make it easier for your eye to read.
The colours of the shelving units are also
something to consider. The white is nice
in a small room because it recedes into the light coloured walls nicely, and
visually opens up the space. However, I
do like black too, because the colours of the models pop better against it, and
black has a nice museum-quality to it that acts like a nice picture frame. The only drawback to black is that it shows
dust easily, and it visually occupies a lot of space.
Having both units with such dissimilar
footprints and overall dimensions breaks the flow of the room quite a bit
too. What I would have liked to see
instead of that puny (in comparison to the glass door cabinet) bookcase is
another cabinet with the exact same dimensions, but perhaps with opaque doors
instead of glass ones. This would allow
you to cram all sorts of modelling supplies and unsightly mess, and still have
a clean streamlined appearance in the room.
That being said, I’ve also seen many books artfully displayed in glass
door bookcases too… something about the doors frame the books nicely, so opaque
isn’t the only way to go.
I guess the big thing is that the beautiful
fully painted minis should be the focus of everyone’s attention, not the boxes
of unassembled models and bottles of flock.
If the supplies were in covered cabinets, then they would not be
competing for attention with the gorgeous paintjobs.
Now THIS is gaming and display done very
well. Museum style display cabinets in
the back, with a clean, classy gaming table before it, with plenty of room to
walk all the way around it. If I was to
nitpick, this room might benefit from some nicely framed art and decorative
items on the walls as well (the space above the alcove is just screaming for a
horizontally displayed sword, or a movie prop fantasy tavern sign), but I can’t
really say much else about it.
Hmmm… could THIS pic be of the same room,
only taken from the other end of the table? :
The one thing is that I normally prefer to
have my work space in a separate area.
To me, they are like garages and artist studios. They are naturally very cluttered, messy areas. You wouldn’t want a mechanic’s garage and the
supercar sales showroom occupying the same space, as one is a messy workspace,
and the other is a pristine display.
Similarly, you wouldn’t want to entertain high society guests in the
same room where wine is being pressed… it’s hard to feel classy about drinking
fine wine when there’s someone stomping barefoot on grapes right next to you.
However, in the context of everything being all part of one “man-cave”, it works regardless.
However, in the context of everything being all part of one “man-cave”, it works regardless.
The gaming table looks interesting. It’s almost as if the varnished brown wood
top is set atop of a regular dining table.
It would have to be anchored down somehow to prevent tipping over, if
that’s the case.
However, books can also be visually chaotic
and cluttered looking, unless organized and displayed properly. There are plenty of pics of private libraries
online that illustrate this idea… many libraries are sumptuous and inviting,
whereas others look like rat nests.
The way to improve this room would be to
replace all the bookcases with the same kind… not necessarily identical to one
another, but at least thematically and dimensionally the same family.
This is better. The cabinets against the far wall are
visually related and sympathetic in dimension and appearance. The table is a good size as well, and can be
worked around easily. I might have added
some doors to the shelves of both the cabinets and the table though, just to
clean up the look of the room and refocus the viewer’s attention to the game in
play and at the armies in the cases. A
few art pieces on the walls above the glass cabinets would be a nice touch, and
I would move the sword to the column between them. Also, the room could use better lighting.
My wife hates valances above windows and
doors, so those would have to go. She
does have a point… the era of the pleated valance has come and gone.
Love the big AT-AT. Damn, that’s nice.
One question I would love answered is
whether or not the short bookcases holding up the gaming table have wheels on
them. It would be interesting to have a
table you could break down between games... put the terrain and models away,
put the green table top against the wall or in a closet, and then wheel the
supporting bookcases back against the walls to open the space up again. Hmmm…
I have the same idea about this game
table. Take the table top off and store
it somewhere, and then push the “legs” back against the wall to be regular old
bookcases again.
My only concern would be whether or not the
table is very stable when set up.
Perhaps you’d have to have to incorporate some way of clamping the
tabletop down to the cases, so that it doesn’t tip off when you lean on one
end, or bump into the table.
Another simple, attractive, and functional
gaming table. More artwork on the walls
would be nice though (you guys should
see a theme in my personal tastes by now).
This room looks a little stark, and art would make it a bit more
interesting and inviting.
If the last room was a bit bare and cold, this one is a bit too busy. Not the same hobby as us, but I like this pic in terms of it being a good example of someone showing off their passion like we gamers / mini-painters like to do. This guy definitely put some thought and consideration into planning out this room, but then crammed it to overflowing with sports memorabilia. It’s really hard on the eyes, and can use a little bit of negative space just to open it up a tiny bit.
They say that a cluttered work space can be
stressful to work in. If that’s the
case, then this room would be like zen meditation.
Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough for one
blog post. I’m pretty sure I could keep
going on and on for days by pulling up more and more pictures off of Google and
Pinterest. For now, I’ll just end this
article with this pic of a really cool hidden door that would be the ultimate
finishing touch for any man-cave.
Really now… what would be cooler than a “Scooby-Doo” style hidden door to your hobby room? There are a million reasons to have something like this. Where would I even start?
As always, I welcome your thoughts and
comments.
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