Back in 2008 I had this idea to seriously take on reorganizing my 'man cave'. It's my own little room, where I have my collection on display and where I practice the fine art of customizing. It's a small room of 2m. x 3m. (6ft. x 9ft.), but it's mine. Mine!
Fast forward six years and I've finally started the makeover! Here's a series of photos showing the progress.
These two 32" Billy cabinets feature part of my collection and some random stuff as well. It all looks a bit sloppy. I was never happy with the way the cabinets met in the corner, but due to the size restrictions of the room, there wasn't another way of placing them.
Panning to the left you can see my customzing space:
And here I've disassembled one of the grey Billy cabinets and assembled the first two of four 16" Billy cabinets:
Another Billy and a Benno CD case waiting to be assembled:
This shelf above my workbench has to go, otherwise I can't fit all the Billy cabinets:
I don't have a big collection, but man, even a small collection consists of a lot of stuff. I'm just glad all of my action figures are packed away in bins in the attic:
This is a quick setup of the first three Billys, enabling me to maximize the use of the corner. Of course, there's quite a bit of empty space behind the middle cabinet, but that can be used perfectly for hiding the wiring of the lighting inside the cabinets:
Here's a test fitting of the LED strips:
I'm not sure what looks best: one on top and one on the bottom shelf, or two on top and two on the bottom. If only one, should I place it in the back, middle or front?
My girlfriend mentioned finding a mural or wallpaper of a starfield and applying that to the back and/or inner sides of the cabinets.
Thoughts on which direction I should go from here?
*** update 07/25 ***I installed all of the LED strips and guided the cable through the back panel of each Billy:
The back panel of the Benno CD case hasn't been fixed with nails, as one would normally do. Instead it just sits loose, held in place by this metal plate.
This knob allows me to slide up the back panel of the Benno CD case, so I can reach the switches of the LED lighting units, that lie behind the Benno case....
... as demonstra-.... what the... ?!! Jawas?! I can't abide those disgusting creatures! Oh well, at least it's not a flock of mynocks!
*** update 08/05 ***Ikea has tiny covers for the countless small holes in the sides of their cabinets. Had a little help from my girls plugging those in. 400+ of those things!
Installed four Morebo glass doors and placed a lot of my collection in the cabinets. You can still see a couple of wooden shelves, but I have already bought glass ones to replace those too.
But first I will take care of the other side of my room. On this side I will set up three 42" high / 32" wide Billy cabinets with a Benno cd case between each pair of Billys. The Benno cases will be cut to size, since these don't come in 42".
I've decided this side will feature my action figure collection of vintage Kenner SW figures and their best modern counterparts.
Although I've put in quite a bit of money so far, I'm pretty proud of my timing. Ikea has replaced their old Billy and Benno cabinets with newer models, so the older models were all on sale. Safe for the 42" Billys, it's all old skool Billy and Benno what you see here. Another advantage is that additional products (such as the glass shelves and Morebo doors) were also on sale, up to 50% off!
*** update 08/26 ***Never realized placing 180+ figures neatly in a row could be so time consuming. It was much easier to just throw them in a big bin
But I have to admit, it's very satisfying seeing all these on display.
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[/size]On top you can see a small Ikea Ribba frame, that holds 24 mini figs. I don't have that many mini figs yet, but it's on my list.
These are four mini posters from a very old set, published by Zanart in 1994. I'm looking into replacing these frames by one giant mural, preferrably a battle of Hoth one, or a scene from Tatooine. A space battle would be really cool, but I like to keep my room light.
