Hey Everyone!
Okay, Okay, I'm playing catch-up with my articles lately. I'm going to make it a goal to get at least 2 articles out a week. So, I live in an apartment right now living paycheck to paycheck. But, someday... yes someday I will be purchasing a house of my own that I can do whatever I want with the basement. I'm not a millionaire, so, I really can't put the bowling alley in the basement like I want to. But there's some reasonable stuff that I may do someday. I guess It's still a dream, but if I had about $5000 to blow on a basement I may create what I call "My Dream Basement"
Let's start with the floor. I've always wanted to have an old school arcade look in my basement when it comes to the carpet. I remember in about 1982 when there was a restaurant called Showbiz Pizza. Well, it was probably one of my favorite places to go as a kid. Chucky Cheese bought them out about 15 years ago, but they were pretty similar. Except for the fact, they had Billy Bob (which was a bear) as their spokesman instead of a Rat. They also had a really cool band called Rock-a-Fire Explosion.
A
Please check out this
site
. That's where I got this Billy Bob picture, plus it's a great site
dedicated to showbiz pizza. Anyway, what was I talking about.
Okay, they had a great arcade, I can picture it now glow in the dark
space voyage carpet. They also had a cool little pac-man maze on
the ceiling. And it was all video games. None of those
stupid kiddie rides or balls.
Okay, I guess back to my point. I want some really cool glow in the dark carpet on my basement. And black lights in the ceiling to add to the effect. I think this would really add to the nostalgia of an old arcade. I picked a couple designs that I liked. I like the mardi gras theme which is above, or even better the space design, which is above billy bob.
Of course I'm going to need an arcade game. I found this on a site called gamecabinetsinc.com. It's a pretty sweet site, but I think I can build my own ultimate machine. I can build a replica cabinet, and using the X-Arcade Controller I can make a two player stand up arcade system. Of course it won't just have one game on it. I will use a little piece of software called MAME, and put tons of old arcade games on my gaming machine. Just think, from the same arcade cabinet you can play Pac-Man or Mortal Kombat. It'll be great. And It's very easy to build. Look up MAME cabinets in google, you're bound to find some plans.
Next, I will need a nice bar to serve all my all my hard liquor. You see about 4 years ago I decided to start a shot glass collection. (send me shot glasses please!). Anyway, I have absolutely no place to put all of them in my apartment. So, I will need a bar, so I can put all my shot glasses on shelves behind it. Plus, it'd be cool if I had a tapper hooked up to the thing. So, you excited about my place yet? You want to come over and party. Well, I'm not done telling you about my awesome basement.
I found some of the coolest Wall Decor for my basement. It's the old space invaders as vinyl wall stickers. I definitely need this, even if I don't have a sweet basement this would look great anywhere. I found this on thinkgeek.
Here's another idea I have. You know those shuffle board tables that you usually see at the nastiest bars in the world. Well, I want one of my own. They used to have one up at a bar near my apartment called 'Woody's'. But that place is pretty much a dive. They got rid of it for some reason. Perhaps it took a lot of money to maintain the thing. But, I think I would rather have one of these over an air-hockey table. I mean, how many times have you went into someone's basement and they have the pool table or the ping pong table or even an air hockey table. I've never seen anyone have one of these babies! So, I want to get one.
With all these games and such, it would only be complete with a neon 'Game Room' sign. What could look better? I guess some neon beer signs. But I'd only get a neon beer sign if I was able to install a tapper into my bar. Okay, so I've shown you one side of the basement. Let me show you the rest.
I haven't really priced LCD projectors in awhile, but I know the are going way down in price. I just need to compare them to find the best one for my needs. Of course I'll have it hooked up to my hidden A/V room. All my stereo equipment, dvd player, tivo, etc. will all be hidden in another room, but still controlled by a UHF remote that can operate through walls.
To top off my projector, I will have a screen that will automatically retract from the ceiling by the touch of a button on the remote. What better way to watch the big game on Sunday or play a game of Tekken. I'm thinking the screen size I'd like to get is a 12 foot by 9 foot. But I'll probably get whatever will fit in the basement.
What better way to relax in front of the huge screen than with the most comfortable couch you've ever seen. I found this couch at a place called Amini's. If you have never checked out their stuff, do it now. They have everything that is wonderful in home entertainment. Its also the same place I found the shuffleboard table.
I also want a coffee table shaped like Tetris, just like they have on the tv show, "X-Play". This may not be the easiest table to stack a glass on without it tipping over, but it's so cool looking.
So, there's the whole blueprint of my basement. Hmm... maybe I should have made it blue, oh well. Anyway, you can see where I want everything set up in the basement. Of course, I'm going to need a pretty big basement to fit all this stuff in. Also, I'll definitely need a walk-in basement. Or else it's going to be a pain in the ass to fit all that stuff down the stairs. Speaking of stairs, I forgot to put them on this blueprint. Oh well, this is a rough draft, but I think you'd agree with me, that it'd be paradise!
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- Greg
8-25-05
