Design the ultimate geek house

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 2:31 am

I recently bought a place and it has more space than I have stuff. I could rent out part of it, but I honestly like having my own space.

If you had space to fill, what would you put in it?

snoopy · Post by **snoopy** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 5:24 am

a big workbench, and lots of tools.

Richard Cranium · Post by **Richard Cranium** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 7:37 am

a 105 inch Big Screen TV and home theater.

DCrazy · Post by **DCrazy** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:47 am

Cheese.

Are you talking about extra rooms or just too much space in each room?

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:10 am

I second Snoopy, id get a bunch of tools and start a hobby of sorts.

EngDrewman · Post by **EngDrewman** » Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:01 pm

It's a rite of passage for a Geek to have his own electronic keypad protected lair.

part 1: http://hackaday.com/2008/06/12/how-to-m ... ck-part-1/

part 2: http://hackaday.com/2008/06/20/how-to-m ... ck-part-2/

SilverFJ · Post by **SilverFJ** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 2:13 pm

Build a bar.

Kiran · Post by **Kiran** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:22 pm

Turn a room into a library and put a really comfy chair in there

Put all sorts of cat condos in the room- cats are ultimate entertainment when put in a roomful of stuff spotted with random catnip.

Entertainment room- video games, comfy couch and random individual chairs, a huge plasma tv plus a surround sound system installed. Put in a mini bar and you're all set!

That's about all I can think off...

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 3:31 pm

I would lock the cats out of my library…(if I had one)

ohh, they were two separate ideas…n/m

I would have to go with the workshop, mine came in handy when I built most of my business equipment.

Although, a den is a good idea.

SilverFJ · Post by **SilverFJ** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 4:33 pm

rp

Build a full bar with a pool table and a dartboard and a giant plasma screen, and theres your booty palace.

(dont forget the stripper pole)

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:14 pm

Build a dungeon. Furnish with all things Medieval.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 5:47 pm

AlphaDoG wrote:Build a dungeon. Furnish with all things Medieval.

don't forget the 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 20 sided Die.

Ferno · Post by **Ferno** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 6:27 pm

big deck/entrance at front with a 20ft overhang supported by two large pillars, an equally large back deck off the second story. massive open centre area inside.

d3jake · Post by **d3jake** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 9:28 pm

I'd be willing to say convert it to a study, complete with comfy chairs and rows of books. Assuming you have the money of course, I think a beanbag chair would suffice in the beginning. To populate teh shelves with books find your local Half-Priced Bookstore, find the $.99 book shelves, and buy a whole side of a row. Odds are you can get some pretty dern good books (assuming you don't get duplicates) and you'll prolly still have money afterwards.

Foil · Post by **Foil** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 9:21 am

A LAN party.

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 12:07 am

Thanks for all your responses.

I don't have a basement, so I would build a bar and game room, but I think that needs to wait for my next place.

I'm all for a LAN party, I'm just lame at organizing.

I love cheese.

My front already has a covered entrance with poles, but since it's a townhouse with other units attached, I can't make exterior changes.

Where do you get a 105\" TV? I'm kind of adversed to projection TVs, I love the 50\" plasma I've had for 3 years now because of the great viewing angle.

I'm seriously tempted to convert one of my two single garages into a home theater. I worry about losing home value though, but I might come around.

Space I have:
- Second garage (has its own door next to the first). Could become a workspace or theater or something. I would love to get better at basic construction stuff, but I'm lacking in experience. Any recommend books?

- 7'x6' walk in closet. I honestly don't have enough clothes to justify it (I use the linen closet since it's closer to the door). I'm thinking of going to Home Depot, buying those 8'x4' white board things and lining the walls with it, making it a \"thinking room\". BillG has his trampoline room, maybe I'll have a white board room. I need to make it not feel a closet then.

- Small upstairs bedroom. This is slowly becoming a gym, I have most of my equipment up there now since the garage turned out to be too cold during the winter. But what do I do with the closet? I feel like there needs to be a secret \"launch the missles\" control panel hidden in there.

- A larger upstairs bedroom. This has a nice futon which is comfy to sit in and becomes the bed when guests are over. I have some bookshelves in there displaying my tomes of The Farside and Calvin and Hobbes. I should probably round it off with a desk and it will be a good study.

SuperSheep · Post by **SuperSheep** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 8:37 am

I like the home theater idea best. I would highly recommend if you go that route, acoustically treat the garage.
http://www.realtraps.com/
http://www.gearslutz.com/

After hearing the difference between treated and untreated, I was blown away. The nice part is it is all DIY and very GEEKY evidenced by the fact that when I talk to most people about it, their eyes gloss over.

Lothar · Post by **Lothar** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 1:59 pm

How many people are living there? Just you?

It sounds like you have plenty of space to do a lot of things, you just have to decide what's most important. Prioritize.

I love the idea of a \"thinking room\" covered in whiteboards -- great for coding, doing math, dealing with finances, or analyzing D&D. Seems like you've already got simple stuff like a study/guest room and a workout room and just need to add some finishing touches there; how big is the closet in your gym?

The garage can be a nice space to start learning basic woodcraft or auto maintenance or something of that sort, or even homebuild a boat / airplane / whatever. This is especially true if you can find a friend who has some experience who you can work with.

What area are you in?

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 6:33 pm

Yah just me. There's definitely plenty of space, the size is about 1700 sqft without the garages.

The gym closet is probably 5 feet wide and 1 1/2 deep.

I live in good old Redmond.

Spidey · Post by **Spidey** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 7:57 pm

After seeing you refer to those columns as “poles” I would have to recommend the library.

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 9:42 pm

Oops, I mixed my terminology up.

I would buy poles, but alas I know no strippers or firemen or firemen strippers...

AlphaDoG · Post by **AlphaDoG** » Mon Mar 23, 2009 10:10 pm

LOLZ!

Capm · Post by **Capm** » Tue Mar 24, 2009 5:53 am

You don't have to know them, you just have to pay them.

Design the ultimate geek house

Design the ultimate geek house

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