Basement flat refurb - completed

kristoffdj

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You may have seen the odd thread on this as I've been messing with the flat for a couple of years now.

Seeing as it's now totally finished, finally, I thought I'd consolidate the pics.

Thanks to everyone who assisted with the various questions I've had whilst doing this. I'm very happy with the eventual outcome.
 
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Cheers, been a labour of love (and occasionally of hate) over past couple of years. Not much I'd change now it's all done. Which is good. Probably would have gone for LED controllers that allow saturation control, mine do RGB and W but you can't do RGB mixing and white at the same time. Still, those controllers weren't available when I started, so weren't an option for me. The flats all zoned so I just have some stuff RGB and some stuff white. Not the end of the world.

Other than that, all the Av stuff works great, and the Denon Multiroom AV receiver runs it all superbly. The projector hidden in the kitchen ceiling is probably my favourite bit of it all. Started off as a bit of a daft thing to do as I had a spare projector lying around from my old setup, but it get's used all the time when cooking and washing up etc...
 
Wow amazing. What storage unit are you using for your AV equipment in the lounge? Looking for something similar but in black
 
I made everything in the flat other than the kitchen units, mostly out of MDF and plasterboard.

At AV unit was just MDF 18mm thick, doubled up in the middle. Then 1.5" wooden batons added to make it look thicker and to hide the LED tape.

Then had it wrapped in gloss white like everything else.

The pic shows how simple it was to make, one of the easiest bits to do in the flat really.

The pic at the bottom where its wrapped, shows a bit more how I 'sunk' it into the false wall to gain extra depth for the AV receiver as the flat is obviously small and every inch is important! You can also see the sub box in both pics which doubles up as the step up to the office.

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Stunning. I am not jealous at all...:love:
 
Cheers. My advice for anyone thinking of doing something like this is to just do it. It's really not that hard once you get started.

The thing that made it possible for me was the fact you can now get things wrapped. If I couldn't have done that, getting a decent painted finished on everything would have been a nightmare. In reality I'd have been forced to use pre-finished board instead and my skills are nowhere near up to that, every cut has to be perfect.

With wrapping, you can build out of mdf, cover it in filler (I used P38) to hide mistake and errors, and to fill gaps. Get it all smooth and then have it wrapped. So easy.

I also now love dewalt power tools. The drill, impact driver, circular saw and jigsaw built the whole flat. Made it much quicker. I started using a hand saw and an old corded drill would you believe?! I wasn't getting anywhere fast.
 
Cheers. My advice for anyone thinking of doing something like this is to just do it. It's really not that hard once you get started.

The thing that made it possible for me was the fact you can now get things wrapped. If I couldn't have done that, getting a decent painted finished on everything would have been a nightmare. In reality I'd have been forced to use pre-finished board instead and my skills are nowhere near up to that, every cut has to be perfect.

With wrapping, you can build out of mdf, cover it in filler (I used P38) to hide mistake and errors, and to fill gaps. Get it all smooth and then have it wrapped. So easy.
What's the sort of cost on that? How does it hold up to the heat of typical AV gear?
 
Not had any issues with heat to report. You have to have a smooth finish for it to stick to, so no rough-cut tends. I used some P38 filler on some cuts and shellac sealer on others, sticks fine to either.

I've an Denon AVRx 4200 crammed into one of the shelves and it gets hot under there, nothings peeled off, yet.

Price wise, the wrap itself is cheap. The cost is having someone good install it, it's a skilled job. It works best on large flat surfaces, so desks, worktops and and cupboards are easy for them to do, they throw it on, and the finish is great. Shelves and racking causes them to swear a lot and the finish is good but if you look closely you'll see that some areas are not perfect.

To do all the stuff I've had done you are looking at about a grand all in.
 
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Living room ceiling showing the edge lighting and the 5.1. Bose acoustimass dual cube system, not the last word in fidelity I know, but sounds very nice in the small space and is obliviously discreet.

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