Currently my fairly large basement is lined with amps, guitars, stereo stuff, albums, CDs, parts, books, tools, etc., etc. Basically I'm about 2 steps away from having my own episode of "Hoarders". I'm ashamed to take anyone down there, but its where I spend most of my time when I'm home. My wife is always after me to get rid of most of my junk and make it nice, but I LIKE most of my "junk". I have a lot of stuff that is cool to me but not to most others - like several old nonfunctional mono tube amps waiting to be repaired and converted to guitar amp use. I work all the time, so I rarely make much progress on my multitude of projects. Anyway, I need to go through it, clean it up, sell off some, complete some of the more space hogging projects, and turn it into a man cave suitable for habitation by others besides myself. Currently besides being a storage dump its where my stereo listening is done, my workout room, my guitar and amp repair shop, and my library. Any tips?
I like all of the above except the storage part. About every six months I go through and move all the stuff out that can go into cold storage someplace else so I have room to work and play. Otherwise, it sounds like a great cave! --Ray ...you do have comfy chairs I trust?
My main problem is also too much stuff. I'm not going to store it all, I'm going to severely cull & sell. We all know the craving for "that guitar or amp that will be just perfect" only it wasn't quite & now it sits there unused. I will get much more pleasure out of what I do use if I get what I don't use out of the way. Less is more, just like arranging music!
Get yourself a comfy couch and a downstairs beer fridge...buy some industrial shelving and a bunch of rubbermaid style bins and organize all your stuff...shelve it...leave yourself a lot of open floor space. Amps along the wall, guitars hanging above...a large bean bag style chair is nice to have too...mid sized flat screen tv on the wall with blu ray / dvd player for your instructional & concert DVD's and obviously football... Poster of Kate Upton on the wall. Done
If you like spending all your free time by yourself- don't change a thing. If you like enjoying your passions with other people- listen to your wife. My best tip is just that- I asked for my wife's opinion of my basement music/entertainment zone, and she provided good insight. Sometimes you forget what those places look like through the eyes of people who can't appreciate the awesomeness of your 37 vintage Boss pedals scattered at random around the room. In my case I remained "in charge" but serious compromises were made, useless gear was purged, and I'm proud to show anyone the end result.
It's not a man cave, it's a sanctuary. Ironically, the room in my house that is supposedly the dedicated "music room" is actually typically the most organized. My living room, on the other hand, is visible proof that I am a guitar-playing bachelor...
No. No. No. I get the idea that you might not have been married all "that" long. My recommendation is surge in square footage and later negotiate for an agreed upon space. You know, put your foot down!! Actually, that's only kind of tongue in cheek.
That's true man. I've been married for 13 years, and I'm only enjoying my music/recording space today because of some hard fought and won tooth and nail battles waged within the first year. It was my sanity here, and worth a full on war. She actually won, because god knows what kind of monster she would have to deal with if I didn't have my space.
