The Beginnings of a Man Cave

It's every man's dream. A place they can call their own. A place where there are no girls allowed. As Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber best put it, a place where, "A place where the beer flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called..." my basement.

A great friend of mind decided that as a house warming gift he would give me a dart board. Great present, right?! The problem was, I hadn't played darts since college and I knew I would end up putting holes in the wall.

I looked at etsy.com for dart backboards but they were all expensive and not wide enough. So I decided that making one would be pretty simple.

I went to the store and bought 1/4 inch plywood measuring 4x4 as the backing. I also bought some 1x2 pine boards for the frame (enough for a two frames, one to hold the plywood and wrap the felt and another to place on top of the felt for a frame look) and black spray paint. To round it all off, I went to JoAnn fabrics to buy some green felt to make it look, "legit".

All in all the materials cost me around $45 and about 45 minutes to put together.

I started by measuring the 1x2 pine boards by 4 feet lengths and cutting 45 degree angles at each end. I then pre-drilled holes into each one for the screws to hold the frame together. I put this frame aside until i assembled the backboard.

For the 1/4 inch plywood, I created another frame to secure the plywood onto. After that I placed the felt around the frame and plywood and began to use my heavy duty staple gun to keep the felt tight.

Once the felt was on, I was ready to place the initial frame (the one with 45 degree angle cuts) on top of the felt and again pre-drill holes for my screws. Before I screwed the frame on, I spray painted the frame black for a nice flat finish.

Once it was dry I screwed the frame onto the plywood for the finished product. I also took some scrap wood from the 1x2 pine and drilled 3 holes into each one and attached it with krazy glue to the board to hold the darts (of course painted the same colors as my college, Go Mason!).

Below is the finished product. I wish I took pictures along the way but didn't think about it until just now as I drink a glass of Gold Label and play darts alone, in my man cave.

Side note, my first attempt at throwing a dart was about 23 inches down and to the left of the actual dartboard. Glad I choose to make it 4 feet by 4 feet!

Hope this helps you realize that some things can be made for cheaper than just outright buying it online or in a store.

Medicine Cabinet Disappearing Act

Your first time over his/her place (or for you adventurous ones, first time over on the first date), you love to take a peek into their medicine cabinet.

What kind of secrets will you find? What God awful disease/virus do/did they have and want to contract onto you? What are they NOT telling you that the cabinet of truth will surely unveil?

Well if you come over to our house, good luck finding out our secrets! I decided to take the "fun" out of snooping through our bathroom.

Taking out the medicine cabinet was not the hard part. A few screws and the cabinet comes right out.

Took This After I Already Removed The Mirror

Next, I had to measure out the hole in the wall and cut the appropriate sized drywall piece out.

Where I Like To Keep My Hard Earned Money

Then to ensure the drywall doesn't fall into the hole, I took a 1X2 and screwed it into the base, and a few inches above the top of the hole. When I put the drywall on, I screwed another drywall screw into the middle of the drywall piece.

In Retrospect, I Would Have Cleaned The Edges More

Once secured, I followed it up with a Sh*t ton of spackle. I had to fill in the holes, make it flat and level, and follow it up with more spackle after it dried.

One of Three (3) Applications

All-in-all, I would have sanded down the spackle one more time, and done one more layer before applying the primer.

Final Product But Could Have Done Better

Now the only thing left to do in the master bath is to redo toilet and tiles (Crown molding, lights, paint, medicine cabinet, shower, and mirror frame done).

Yard Crashers

"It's what's inside that counts."

That has been our mindset/mantra since we purchased our home less than 6 months ago. We painted, trimmed, and rejuvenated the inside of this house. We spent countless hours and money on new furniture, removing wallpaper, installing new toilets, faucets, water heater, etc.

I think we have done a good job so far with the inside, but there is something to be said about not only being beautiful inside but its also on the outside that counts. Call me superficial, but I don't want to be the ugliest house on the block. I want our house to be beautiful both inside and out!

Tip: Don't troll Home Depot and Lowes for Yard Crashers to show up and do your entire house in 3 days....it's a waste of time.

This was our house according to Google maps prior to us moving in:

Overgrown plants and Green Shutters

MRIS Listing Photo

Our list of items to fix:
- Widen driveway
- Remove overgrown plants
- Redo walkway
- Paint shutters and front door

A tall order given we had just finished with the interior of the house. We contracted out the work for our driveway and walkway; however, you get what you pay for and this contractor took 1 month to lay down concrete and incorrectly widen the driveway. Having said that, we are 50% there and just need to get another contractor to do the brick and asphalt work.

Front Porch

Laying Down the Concrete

Leveling Out

The next part was for us to repaint those horrible green shutters!

Painting these are very simple to do, but before you begin painting be sure you have paintable shutters. Most shutters today are non-paintable shutters. The pros for these? Never have to paint because they will never fade. The con? You can't repaint.

I only found this out because a storm had broken a couple shutters and we needed to replace them.

We still have the door to paint. Seems to be a power struggle in the home because I want it black while the wife wants it red.

So out of our list, we still have a ways to go but wanted to provide an update as we move forward.

Hope this helps you take that first step into a major over haul. Not everything can be done in a weekend (even if HGTV makes it look like it does).

Housewarming Video

For our housewarming, I decided to make a video for those in attendance to be able to get the HGTV effect.

Everyone loves before and after pictures, right? I mean, its almost the only reason why I watch 80% of the content on HGTV. If it were up to me, I would just watch an hour show of before and after pictures.

Either way, I posted it to youtube. Hope you enjoy it!

Prototyping

"It's Perfect!" Is what my wife says for almost everything. For the most part she is right. Then there are the other times when it's perfect at the store or online and horrible at home.

We bought outdoor furniture (a few times online), bath mats for the master bathroom, mirrors, console tables, etc. 

Even when we saw the measurements online and thought it would work, we would get it home and think that it was absolutely perfect......for Keebler Elfs. 

To combat this, we now hold off on buying things the first time we see it. We take down the measurements, go home, find the spot we want it in, and take blue painters tape to tape out the furniture.

Taping the height and the depth gave us a better picture of how far out the table would be. We needed to make sure that it did not take up too much hallway space.

We also had a mirror from Ikea that we brought with us. We needed to figure out how to put this mirror up in a way that worked with the room.  

Mirror from Ikea ($99) 75"X37"

Blue Tape of the Ikea Mirror Off Center of the Couch

The couch was not center of the room, nor could we move the rug and the opposite couch into the middle. We thought of having the mirror off center but did know what it would look like. By taping it out, we were able to visualize it and realize that it would look fine that way. 

Off Center Mirror

Not only did this make sure that the furniture's measurements fit the spot we wanted it, but we could better visualize what it would look like.

I hope this helps you in your furniture buying adventures.

Rugs, Rugs, and Even More Rugs

There are things that I am good at and like to share (or my wife likes to say, brag/pontificate about/etc), but then there are things that others are good at and can explain much better.

Rugs are one of those instances. I know we need rugs in our house, because it sounds like a warehouse, but I don't know where to start.

What to do? Google. My best friend. However, Google showed me a lot of dead ends until I found this gem of a site. She laid out all of the things one would need to know to get a rug. As an added bonus, she added a video to show the various sizes and mistakes.

So rather than steal/regurgitate what she put, how about I send her some of you readers to her.

Style By Emily Henderson

Just be sure to come back here every once in a while.

What we decided on was an 8x8 for the gamily room, a 9x12 for the dinning room, a 6x9 for the living room. All wool and all from Overstock.com. In all, we spent about $800 dollars on rugs that will help give the room depth and reduce the warehouse effect in our home.

Photobomb by Our Dog Chewy

Oh, be sure to buy rug pads to prevent slipping. I did a combination of Amazon.com and Overstock.com to get the best price.

Hope this helps you choose the right rug for you once bare and cold room!

Clean Mounts

For men like me, mounting a TV is like grilling, and similar to grilling, everyone mounts differently. Some do it right and use charcoal and others are lazy and use propane, but I digress.

What does this have anything to do with mounting a TV? EVERYTHING.

When it comes to mounting a TV, understand that you will be judged on three categories. Appearance, Execution, and Ingenuity. There are a lot of factors that go into the judging. The type of mount, where you mounted it, the height you mounted it, how you hid the cables, where's the cable box, etc.

You cannot, simply, mount your TV and call it quits. There has to be much thought into how you will execute the art of dark magic.

First step is figure out where to put your TV. In the corner? Over the fireplace (never do this, since most of the time it is too high and you have "Front Row of the Movie Theater" effect), flat against the wall? in the corner? Do I need to have it swivel? All of this goes into picking out your mount. 

Perfect transition into picking out your mount. I like Amazon.com since its much cheaper than going to Best Buy (how this store is still around baffles me). But you can always try Google to find the best price. Make sure the mount can withstand the weight of your TV. Just because the mount can hold a 55-inch, it might not be able to hold yours since your 55-inch is much heavier than the normal 55-inch. I bought a single arm mount but if I were to do it all over again, I'd go with a dual arm to distribute weight.

Recommended TV Mount from Amazon.com

Once you have your position and mount identified, you need to find the right viewing height. As I mentioned before, above the fireplace usually is a bad option since it sits too high. Even with angling it downwards, it is a strain on your neck. 

What I usually say is sit on the couch, cut out cardboard as big as your TV. Have someone hold it in various heights until you feel it looks good from the couch and from a standing position.

I like 37 inches off the ground to the bottom of the TV. But do what works best for you.

Once you have the right measurements, mount your mount! Make sure you take into account the fact that the mount may not be the middle of the TV so do your measurements of where the mount should be placed on the wall. Use a stud finder, my wife found one on October 2, 2010 (our anniversary).

In all seriousness, use a stud finder from any hardware store or do the ol' knock test. Either way, all studs will be 16 to 24 inches apart. Also most electrical boxes (outlets) are screwed into a stud.

In the case where your mount is set for 16 inch studs but yours are 24 inches apart, et 3/4inch plywood (36 inches long) and screw that into the studs then the mount into the plywood.

3/4 Plywood for 24 inch apart studs on a 16 inch mount

Next is to hide the box and cables. I've seen many people use conduit like I did. Others go behind the wall (a lot of effort) and some just put everything hidden behind something decorative like a console table.

I went with attaching the cable box to the back of the mount and used conduit to hide the coax and power cables.

Can only tell if you look behind it

This is what the end product looks like. I would give myself the following grades (leave a comment for what you would give me):
Appearance: 8 (can see the conduit for power and cable)
Execution: 7 (the single arm mount isn't the best for adding weight (cable box) to one side)
Ingenuity: 7 (mounting the box behind allows for full floating effect)
Total: 22/30

End Result:

Master Bedroom

Family Room (see other posts for how it looks from far away)

Hope this inspires you to do some magic of your own and mount your TV this weekend!

Tools needed:
- Level
- Stud Finder
- Socket Wrench
- Chromecast ($35, best investment ever. Google it and be amazed. Its Apple TV but much smaller and only $35)