Designing the Nerd Cave–Home Theater

     Maybe “home theater” is a bit of an overstatement.  I’ve never been one of those guys who needs to have the surround sound speakers finely tuned to the acoustic profile of a room and the windows shaking.  If I can understand the dialogue, I’m usually good.

      I actually had contemplated NOT having a TV in the new nerd cave.  But that feeling passed after about 10 seconds.  Let’s face it, no self-respecting nerd would voluntarily exclude a TV from his or her den.  My problem was that I had nowhere to put the TV.  My wife suggested mounting it up high in the corner but that would’ve meant a pretty small screen and I’d have felt like I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room watching the Weather Channel.

     After a bit more catalog perusing, I noticed that CB2 (I swear, they’re not paying me) carries a metal media cart on casters (the go-cart line).  I’d already decided to use the room’s closet to house my comic book collection (more on that later). Since I didn’t need to get in there more than occasionally, I could place the TV in front of it.

    I shopped around a bit and found a 46” Sony Bravia LCD at Wal-Mart for dirt-cheap. I’d had a 42″ at our old house and loved it.  A few days later, the T.V. took its place on the new CB2 media cart.  Things couldn’t have worked out better. The cart puts the screen at a perfect height for viewing from the couch and it looks great.  When I need to get in the closet, it takes about 10 seconds to roll the whole thing out of the way.  Plus, the cart provides me with a bunch of additional space on the bottom shelf for my PS3 as well as several large hardcover books and oversized game boxes.

CB2 go-cart media cart & Sony Bravia LCD T.V. with a little Darkseid on the side.

      For Blu-Ray/DVD storage, I purchased a vertical metal bookcase (the array model) from CB2.  Empty, it looks more like a modern art sculpture than a bookcase but is really quite functional.  It holds upwards of 80+ Blu-Rays, DVDs and PS3 games (or books) and looks pretty cool doing it.  Plus it fits right against a narrow span of wall between the closet door and the corner.  This space would’ve otherwise gone totally unused.  Maximum use of space is one of the big picture concepts I kept in mind when designing the layout of the room.

CB2 array model bookcase (holding Blu-Rays, DVDs & PS3 games instead)

     I’ll probably be adding a soundbar to supplement the Sony’s internal speakers which aren’t all that bad considering.  I don’t plan to run cable to the room since watching Blu-Rays, DVDs or streaming video from Netflix has kept me busy so far.

Next time: A modeling work area for me and my son