Molten Brown. You classy man
I just ran out, I really need to go and pick up some more. Love the wet shaving stand.
Show us your gaming setup: 2012 Edition
- Thread starter Hellish
- Start date
Molten Brown. You classy man
I just ran out, I really need to go and pick up some more. Love the wet shaving stand.
Chittagong
Gold Member
Finally finished with our London City setup. Tabris has been urging me to post pictures, so got around taking some this weekend with some loaner lenses and tripod.
We bought the flat in April 2011 and renovated it fully it through the summer until August. We redid every room, built in more storage, integrated cabling and overall just improved the aesthetics. A pretty stressful process I hope I don't have to repeat any time soon.
Our build philosophy was to create a highly functional space with everything non-essential out of sight, so we can fully immerse on whatever we are doing - gaming, reading, working, watching films. We have maximized storage space and integrated a lot of connectivity and lighting. We also wanted to design a space that feels casual enough to be inviting, rather than overly polished.
Lounge
The lounge is the heart of the flat - connected to dining and kitchen. It's designed to host people, but also to enjoy gaming and movies. We wanted to have all wiring integrated in the walls and the ceiling. Given that each console seems to come with a sensor of some sort now, a hatch was built for them too.
The 7.1 surround sound system consists of Genelec speakers used by many movie and gaming sound studios as monitors to master their music - the idea being that this easy I can hear the music as close to the intended mix. For example, Kojima and Platinum use Genelecs as monitors for Metal Gear Rising and Nightwish used them for their latest album, Imaginarium.
Sliding door cabinets house our glassware, printer, chargers and other electronics out of sight - including Guitar Hero guitars, Gran Turismo racing wheels etc.
All electronics are out of sight, controlled by a single Logitech Harmony 800 remote (thanks for the suggestion, Tabris!).
• 7.1 Speakers - 3 x Genelec 8040, 4 x Genelec 8020, 1 x Genelec 7050B sub
• TV - Sony 52X2000 1080P LCD
• AV receiver - Sony 5300ES
• Consoles - PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
• Set top boxes - Apple TV 2, Sky HD, Time Capsule 1TB
• Remote - Logitech Harmony 800
• Sofa - Togo by Ligne Roset
• Table - Skanno
• AV unit - Sideboard by Bo Concept
• Stool - Woodnotes
• Lamp - Arco by Floss
• Artwork - Africa by Patrick Thomas
Dining
Our dining space has an up to 10 seater table that doubles up as our joint working desk and a meeting table when needed. All of our non-design books are out of sight in the wall of cupboards.
• Table - Raft
• Chairs - Catifa by Arper
• Cupboards - Muurame
Bedroom
Our bedroom is really simple, with just the essentials - chargers for iPads, phones and more. The wallpaper reminds us of our old home country, Finland.
• Bed - Innovation DK
• Night tables - Bo Concept
• Chair - Barcelona by Knoll
• Wallpaper - Cole & Sons
• Hardware - iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle wifi
Guestroom
The guest room features an expandable futon sofa, and a sliding door. This allows the room to double up as an extension of our lounge space when there are no quests - just pack up the sofa and slide the door open.
• Sofa - Innovation DK
• Drawer unit - Muurame
• Sliding door - custom made, vintage floorboards
Study
A new study was built into one of the walls, providing a full size working desk with a minimal floorspace footprint. LED strips were integrated for indirect lighting. Design reference books are at immediate reach, which I have never had before, with desk space to place them on. Given they are visually quite pleasant, they are the only books in plain sight in the flat.
The study servers also a more fun purpose, playing those games not available on consoles - World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Torchlight, hence the speakers.
• Chair - Catifa by Arper
• Computer - MacBook Pro i7, Apple Cinema Monitor, iomega 4TB hard disc for work stuff
• Speakers - Sound Sticks II by Harman Kardon
• Clock - STP
Master bathroom
The master bathroom is designed for guest use mainly, allowing for a feature sink and no required storage.
Ensuite bathroom
The ensuite bathroom, even if tiny, features a luxurious double size walk-in shower, as well as lots of integrated storage for cosmetics so nothing needs to be on display.
Hallway
• Artwork - Little Scary by Eine
• Artwork - B by House Industries
Kitchen
Like the other rooms, also kitchen was completely redone, with a new breakfast bar, enough sockets for espresso gear, an integrated wine fridge and a induction hob. Black granite was used for worktops and floor. Splashback made from optiwhite glass.
• Hob, Stove and Extractor - Ora-Ïto for Gorenje
• Fridge and dishwasher - Smeg
• Espresso machine - Gaggia Classic
• Grinder - Rancilio Rocky
• Dual temperature wine fridge - Samsung
• Artwork - Toaster from Nelly Duff
Details
iPod Hi-Fi acts as the sound system for our guest room. Loaner piece of Roman Klonek woodblock printing.
Our brand new Nokia Lumia 800s.
Guest room door made out of vintage floorboards
PS Vita and iPad, my main portable gaming devices, pictured on top of breakfast bar.
Wet shaving kit from Mercur, thanks to Wet Shaving GAF for the inspiration.
Extra stools for extra guests, by Artek. Customized by Morag Myerscough, bought from a charity show.
Genelec reference quality monitors, ceiling mounted for a 7.1 surround setup.
Arcade Stick setup for fighting games
Process
Some pictures from throughout the build process, showing the sliding wooden door being made, entertainment cabling being integrated, kitchen and bathroom demolition. The overall build took 4-5 months, with a couple of months of snags here and there. The project ran 2 months late and 50% over budget, eating pretty much all of our savings... but it was worth it.
We bought the flat in April 2011 and renovated it fully it through the summer until August. We redid every room, built in more storage, integrated cabling and overall just improved the aesthetics. A pretty stressful process I hope I don't have to repeat any time soon.
Our build philosophy was to create a highly functional space with everything non-essential out of sight, so we can fully immerse on whatever we are doing - gaming, reading, working, watching films. We have maximized storage space and integrated a lot of connectivity and lighting. We also wanted to design a space that feels casual enough to be inviting, rather than overly polished.
Lounge
The lounge is the heart of the flat - connected to dining and kitchen. It's designed to host people, but also to enjoy gaming and movies. We wanted to have all wiring integrated in the walls and the ceiling. Given that each console seems to come with a sensor of some sort now, a hatch was built for them too.
The 7.1 surround sound system consists of Genelec speakers used by many movie and gaming sound studios as monitors to master their music - the idea being that this easy I can hear the music as close to the intended mix. For example, Kojima and Platinum use Genelecs as monitors for Metal Gear Rising and Nightwish used them for their latest album, Imaginarium.
Sliding door cabinets house our glassware, printer, chargers and other electronics out of sight - including Guitar Hero guitars, Gran Turismo racing wheels etc.
All electronics are out of sight, controlled by a single Logitech Harmony 800 remote (thanks for the suggestion, Tabris!).
• 7.1 Speakers - 3 x Genelec 8040, 4 x Genelec 8020, 1 x Genelec 7050B sub
• TV - Sony 52X2000 1080P LCD
• AV receiver - Sony 5300ES
• Consoles - PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
• Set top boxes - Apple TV 2, Sky HD, Time Capsule 1TB
• Remote - Logitech Harmony 800
• Sofa - Togo by Ligne Roset
• Table - Skanno
• AV unit - Sideboard by Bo Concept
• Stool - Woodnotes
• Lamp - Arco by Floss
• Artwork - Africa by Patrick Thomas
Dining
Our dining space has an up to 10 seater table that doubles up as our joint working desk and a meeting table when needed. All of our non-design books are out of sight in the wall of cupboards.
• Table - Raft
• Chairs - Catifa by Arper
• Cupboards - Muurame
Bedroom
Our bedroom is really simple, with just the essentials - chargers for iPads, phones and more. The wallpaper reminds us of our old home country, Finland.
• Bed - Innovation DK
• Night tables - Bo Concept
• Chair - Barcelona by Knoll
• Wallpaper - Cole & Sons
• Hardware - iPod Touch, iPad, Kindle wifi
Guestroom
The guest room features an expandable futon sofa, and a sliding door. This allows the room to double up as an extension of our lounge space when there are no quests - just pack up the sofa and slide the door open.
• Sofa - Innovation DK
• Drawer unit - Muurame
• Sliding door - custom made, vintage floorboards
Study
A new study was built into one of the walls, providing a full size working desk with a minimal floorspace footprint. LED strips were integrated for indirect lighting. Design reference books are at immediate reach, which I have never had before, with desk space to place them on. Given they are visually quite pleasant, they are the only books in plain sight in the flat.
The study servers also a more fun purpose, playing those games not available on consoles - World of Warcraft, Starcraft II, Torchlight, hence the speakers.
• Chair - Catifa by Arper
• Computer - MacBook Pro i7, Apple Cinema Monitor, iomega 4TB hard disc for work stuff
• Speakers - Sound Sticks II by Harman Kardon
• Clock - STP
Master bathroom
The master bathroom is designed for guest use mainly, allowing for a feature sink and no required storage.
Ensuite bathroom
The ensuite bathroom, even if tiny, features a luxurious double size walk-in shower, as well as lots of integrated storage for cosmetics so nothing needs to be on display.
Hallway
• Artwork - Little Scary by Eine
• Artwork - B by House Industries
Kitchen
Like the other rooms, also kitchen was completely redone, with a new breakfast bar, enough sockets for espresso gear, an integrated wine fridge and a induction hob. Black granite was used for worktops and floor. Splashback made from optiwhite glass.
• Hob, Stove and Extractor - Ora-Ïto for Gorenje
• Fridge and dishwasher - Smeg
• Espresso machine - Gaggia Classic
• Grinder - Rancilio Rocky
• Dual temperature wine fridge - Samsung
• Artwork - Toaster from Nelly Duff
Details
iPod Hi-Fi acts as the sound system for our guest room. Loaner piece of Roman Klonek woodblock printing.
Our brand new Nokia Lumia 800s.
Guest room door made out of vintage floorboards
PS Vita and iPad, my main portable gaming devices, pictured on top of breakfast bar.
Wet shaving kit from Mercur, thanks to Wet Shaving GAF for the inspiration.
Extra stools for extra guests, by Artek. Customized by Morag Myerscough, bought from a charity show.
Genelec reference quality monitors, ceiling mounted for a 7.1 surround setup.
Arcade Stick setup for fighting games
Process
Some pictures from throughout the build process, showing the sliding wooden door being made, entertainment cabling being integrated, kitchen and bathroom demolition. The overall build took 4-5 months, with a couple of months of snags here and there. The project ran 2 months late and 50% over budget, eating pretty much all of our savings... but it was worth it.
Jaded Alyx
Member
...nice.
...
...
sixteen-bit
Member
Beautiful stuff, Chitta
Love it Chitta. Almost exactly what I would have gone with. Fantastic taste of style and you have given me a lot of ideas.
Now since I'm all about improving, I thought I would give you a couple quick recommendations (otherwise everything else is perfect). All of this is for the lounge (the hub):
- Replace the ugly plant that looks like it's dieing in the corner.
- Remove or hide the wire somehow in that corner too.
- Pet bed? in the lounge next to the stand looks really ugly. At least remove it for the picture.
- Paint speaker cables and twist ties white.
Otherwise, I award this setup the Soo good award:
Now since I'm all about improving, I thought I would give you a couple quick recommendations (otherwise everything else is perfect). All of this is for the lounge (the hub):
- Replace the ugly plant that looks like it's dieing in the corner.
- Remove or hide the wire somehow in that corner too.
- Pet bed? in the lounge next to the stand looks really ugly. At least remove it for the picture.
- Paint speaker cables and twist ties white.
Otherwise, I award this setup the Soo good award:
iSurvivedTheOutage
Member
Ahhh...the smell of new technology. I love this thread.
Chittagong
Gold Member
Thanks for the compliments guys!
Great recommendations, Tabris, and most of them should be easy enough to do. Need a new dog bed anyway, but yeah I could hide it for the picture, same goes for lamp cable. Painting cables, can that be done? What kind of a paint and process would you use? These are rubbery XLR cables we have here.
Great recommendations, Tabris, and most of them should be easy enough to do. Need a new dog bed anyway, but yeah I could hide it for the picture, same goes for lamp cable. Painting cables, can that be done? What kind of a paint and process would you use? These are rubbery XLR cables we have here.
You just need some kind of bonding and flex agents included in the paint. You should be able to go the UK version of Home Depot and have them advise better than I would but definitely possible. If you were constantly bending the rubber, probably not though. For lamp cable, I recommend pushing it into the gap between floor board and wall board around until it's to the lamp, so you should just see a straight black line from the charger to the floor.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Got.
Damn.
Damn.
Yeah, that combination (corner seat, 2 love seats without arms and chair) is about $8000+ retail. Those couches are more expensive than my entire living room setup.
Chittagong
Gold Member
Never say never, we saved for ours for ages after sitting on ones in The Standard on Sunset Boulevard. They are the best cure for hangover created by man, making them very appropriate for London.
The best thing is that they are now 4 years old, and show absolutely no sign of aging, which is pretty incredible. So I'd imagine they have decent resell value, too.
RibbedHero
Member
Togo high five!
Chittagong
Gold Member
Thanks! indeed one thing that might not come across in the pictures is that the flat is quite small, less than 900sqft, that's most we could afford in a good location - not a huge space to fit in 2 bedrooms, living room, 2 bathrooms, kitchen and breakfast bar, study, utility room and wardrobes.
To utilize the space we ended up rethinking the layout, up reversing all doors, replacing a wall and door with a sliding door and integrated wardrobes and study, knocking down visual obstructions to create the illusion of space and making most out of it.
Heh, come on. Kinda being a bit too picky. The setup's great.
Chittagong
Gold Member
Oh, one last recommendation is a bigger TV with that distance away from the wall. I need to do the same, I'm waiting for this TV to go on sale:
indeed, the current TV is a 52 incher, and it's pretty old, from 2006. So I think it'd need to be 65 inch at least, need to find something of a good value.
I designed the wall for an up to 70 inch TV:
but given how the renovation overrun nearly bankrupted us I had to put that plan into hold and build back our savings. For a while we were literally one boiler eruption away from disaster, very stressful. Being able to afford a new TV will take a long while... maybe next year.
Chittagong
Gold Member
thanks! East Central, on the border of City. Certainly not as expensive as West End but a superb location regardless in terms of access to entertainment, restaurants and transport.
chitta, I swear I read your post with the house pictures, just as the scene in American Psycho where Patrick Bate man introduces us to his home/lifestyle played. Pretty funny.
You sure are blessed with a sense of style. How about I fly you to the states and you work on mine? I can get you free passes to Disney, with park hopper!
:-/
You sure are blessed with a sense of style. How about I fly you to the states and you work on mine? I can get you free passes to Disney, with park hopper!
:-/
couldn't even afford the plane ticket
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
Chitta, how old are you, exactly? I'm trying to figure out by what point in my life I need to stop being lame.
Buggy Loop
Gold Member
@ chitta
PjotrStroganov
Member
Great setup!
I wouldn't have put the center speaker in front of the tv though. I've tried it once with my center speaker and it bugged me to hell to see it breaking the lower line of the tv.
I wouldn't have put the center speaker in front of the tv though. I've tried it once with my center speaker and it bugged me to hell to see it breaking the lower line of the tv.
dehydratedbabies
Member
Very nice, it looks far more homey and livable than what a lot of people with money come up with. The sliding door looks great, and the sofa looks unbelievably comfortable. The bathrooms are perfect. Considering the amount of available wall space I'd have gone with a projector, but definitely upgrade to a larger TV when you can.
Yeah, I do not like the upturned corners of the sofas aesthetically, but goddam do they look comfortable. I think it's dangerous to pick a sofa based solely on aesthetics though. I'd happily hire Chittagong as an interior designer tho. I would just have fought him on the couch and gone for something low, slender and predictably Scandinavian.
Chittagong
Gold Member
Just over 30, however I have been working since I was 13 since our family wasn't very wealthy. Currently I'm doing a 60-80h day job and a couple of start-up projects on the side so free time is the one thing I haven't been able to get enough of yet.
Indeed, that's one of the biggest design compromises I had to make in the entire flat - Genelec says that center channel has to be same size as front channels, and I wanted Genelecs specifically - and TV couldn't go any higher in order not to break our necks.
Was in fact considering a projector for the longest time, but eventually decided against it as on a bright day even the LCD TV struggles a bit - and I didn't want to bring in curtains to the living room. So bigger TV, one day.
Comfort was a huge factor in deciding on this sofa, along with design. Back in the day we had a minimalist futon style sofa, but given how much time we spent on it, it just wasn't comfortable enough. So we recycled it to the guest room and got the comfiest sofa we had seen in a designed environment. Inspiration came from The Standard hotel on Sunset Boulevard, they had these in their lobby.
Chittagong
Gold Member
I think I paid less than third of that some 3 years ago. Nice to hear the investment was good, I would never pay over a thousand quid for art! In fact, most of my art is in the 50-200 pounds price range. Nelly Duff is amazing for finding rising artists on the cheap.
wow, nice chittagong!
if you dont mind could you do a rough sketch of your floorplan? it blows my mind how that is 900sq ft... i have a 1000sq ft condo and it looks cramped compared to your photos so im thinking of doing some wall renovation as well.. i love the hybrid 2nd bedroom idea
if you dont mind could you do a rough sketch of your floorplan? it blows my mind how that is 900sq ft... i have a 1000sq ft condo and it looks cramped compared to your photos so im thinking of doing some wall renovation as well.. i love the hybrid 2nd bedroom idea
Chittagong
Gold Member
Thanks for the compliments again, means a lot as I have been waiting for ages to complete and post pics to gaf - after all, it was this very thread series that got me to the arms race sometime in 2004!
It all comes down two things - having a good division of space between bedrooms (tiny) and lounge/dining (huge) and to maximizing spaces by reverting doors and arraning sliding doors to free space for empty floor space.
Most flats feel smaller than they need to because there is a lot of excess space in bedrooms you really only use for sleeping. Reallocating some of that space to the lounge will make all the difference - plus smaller bedrooms feel naturally cozy.
If you want PM me your floorplan and I can see whether I have any ideas.
It all comes down two things - having a good division of space between bedrooms (tiny) and lounge/dining (huge) and to maximizing spaces by reverting doors and arraning sliding doors to free space for empty floor space.
Most flats feel smaller than they need to because there is a lot of excess space in bedrooms you really only use for sleeping. Reallocating some of that space to the lounge will make all the difference - plus smaller bedrooms feel naturally cozy.
If you want PM me your floorplan and I can see whether I have any ideas.
Melchiah
Member
Bedroom
Our bedroom is really simple, with just the essentials - chargers for iPads, phones and more. The wallpaper reminds us of our old home country, Finland.
No drapes?! You're a braver man than I am.
Never could imagine moving out of Finland myself.Love the design of the apartment, and the sofas.
Chittagong
Gold Member
No drapes?! You're a braver man than I am.
Love the design of the apartment, and the sofas.
Thanks! For bedroom, roller blinds, in that small hatch above the window. In terrible form I might add, need to replace them with something nice, but the space is so tight can't fit any nice wooden blinds... One of the things on my to-do list.
Melchiah
Member
Ah, nicely hidden. Thumbs up.
vicissitudes
Banned
Finally finished with our London City setup. Tabris has been urging me to post pictures, so got around taking some this weekend with some loaner lenses and tripod.
We bought the flat in April 2011 and renovated it fully it through the summer until August. We redid every room, built in more storage, integrated cabling and overall just improved the aesthetics. A pretty stressful process I hope I don't have to repeat any time soon.
Our build philosophy was to create a highly functional space with everything non-essential out of sight, so we can fully immerse on whatever we are doing - gaming, reading, working, watching films. We have maximized storage space and integrated a lot of connectivity and lighting. We also wanted to design a space that feels casual enough to be inviting, rather than overly polished.
Lounge
Chittagong your setup was always my favorite. It's funny I'm really into large windows lately and your new place is filled with them.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Chittagong, I think it's the light, but is the stain on your hardwood in your living room a different shade than in your dining room? Actually in general I'm surprised that you went with such a light stain, if someone had shown me the room I'd assume the floor would have been a chocolate or so, closer to where your dining room table is.
Also contrary to Tabris' advice, I like your "gimp plant", which looks to my eyes to be a "ponytail palm" -- beaucarnea recurvata. The sansevieria (probably s. trifasciata) has got some beautiful colouration too, it stark clean room colours help it really pop! It's nice to see more GAFfers lately have some plant life.
Also contrary to Tabris' advice, I like your "gimp plant", which looks to my eyes to be a "ponytail palm" -- beaucarnea recurvata. The sansevieria (probably s. trifasciata) has got some beautiful colouration too, it stark clean room colours help it really pop! It's nice to see more GAFfers lately have some plant life.