Basement of Salvation? Well, whatever the opposite of Room of Doom is. (pictures)

[Cornelius]

There's been a fair bit of gushing over some Rooms of Doom lately, and deservedly so. But I thought it'd be nice to have a ... change of pace. Hopefully posting this will make some people feel less bad about the state of their collections, as well as help motivate me to actually get this mess under control. I'm not sure what to call it, but without further ado, my Basement of Horrors:

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Room%20of%20Doom/sIMG_2639.jpg

I'm not sure how well you'll be able to make stuff out, but this shows just how far my stuff has sprawled. In the foreground you can see a Miracle Piano, and going back from there you see piles of crap that should pretty much all be on those shelves. This is mostly unsorted acquisitions and/or stuff I need to sell. e.g. that Amazon box has in it a CIB Baldur's Gate that's on eBay and probably won't sell. There's also a VB display unit looking at you that I don't know where to put. Better view of stuff coming up next...

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Room%20of%20Doom/sIMG_2640.jpg

So this is probably the money shot. But before I get too far ahead of myself, I should say that this is all quite a bit better than it was a couple days before I took the pics. Not that I dealt with anything, but I organized quite a bit. Oh, and it is even better now, a few days after the pics.
Anyway, so here you can see it all. Well, all that isn't obscured by the towering piles that are in front of other stuff. Dammit, I'm a collector, not a hoarder! Or so I tell myself. The bins on the left and one under the tables are my NES collection. The rest of my collection is really on those shelves way at the back that you can barely see. The tables I built for my wife's LEGOs. She has several train sets and the like, but our basement isn't very hospitable, so after setting them she never used them anymore and they gradually became overwhelmed.
The box in the foreground has a CDX I still haven't sold. Under the Mountain Dew Xbox are a couple video game TV trays on top of drawers with my LCD hanhelds/electromechanical games/etc. Bags on the floor have system lots I need to sell (can't seem to find enough SMW carts to bundle!). The first tier of stacks and boxes on the table are mostly things going into the collection that haven't made it into the alphabetized boxes yet. Not having everything out on shelves makes adding stuff a real bitch. Shelves on the right have lots to sell and boxes of controllers/ac adapters/video cords/etc. I guess I could go on all day.

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Room%20of%20Doom/sIMG_2641.jpg

Just more showing the depths of my depravity. The boxes in front are actually only there temporarily. Those have my old computer crap/cables in them and I needed a cable. But just behind those are some stacked up boxes with a bunch of Genesis games and some old SSI PC CIB games.

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Room%20of%20Doom/sIMG_2642.jpg

The cats knocked those (empty) boxes over. Don't mind them. So that on the left is the bulk of my catalogued collection. It is even in more or less chronological order starting with the C64 and going left to right (top shelf has empty stereo component boxes and the like).

I do have a plan for the collection, though. It started with changing our 100 year old house from this:
http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Room%20of%20Doom/IMG_0332small.jpg

to this:

http://i707.photobucket.com/albums/ww75/evanwink42/Room%20of%20Doom/IMG_8809small.jpg

with a full basement under it. I had the shell put up and did most of the interior stuff myself. This photo is actually pretty old and I now have real stairs, patio, lawn, etc. Anyway, back to the full basement. Yeah, that's where my Room of Doom will be some day. That's Phase ~6, and Phase 3 (master bath/closet and upstairs laundry) is on deck.

[Clownzilla]

You have some room to work with which is the important part. I just wish I had room available to do a project like this:(

[SpaceHarrier]

You just know that under one of those boxes there is a totally flattened, decomposed cat corpse.

I kid, I kid..

[treismac]

Best of luck with the cleaning.

[Aussie2B]

I love how menacing that Virtual Boy looks in the first photo, haha.

Anyway, it'll take a lot of work, but, yeah, you have a lot of good space to work with. It'll be fun to compare the pictures when you have it all set up.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Next time my family complains about my storage, I'm gonna show them these photos and kindly tell them to shut up.

[Leo_A]

I have the exact same cat carrier.

[Orion Pimpdaddy]

With the glowing eyes, the Virtual Boy looks evil, like it's going to latch onto your face or something.

[Sunnyvale]

OK, I'll accept the invitation to show my ass :ass: This is the best/worst time for me to show my mess; end of yard sale season is here. I'm testing things I haven't yet, taking stock of my collection, making repair lists for the winter... Anyway, here's some of the mess.
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture355.jpg
It gets worse.
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture354.jpg
A pile of GameCubes, Dreamcasts, complete Genesis games, and lord knows what else.
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture356.jpg
Almost looks decent compared to the rest, eh?
http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n629/ConneticutLeatherCompany/Picture358.jpg
I know, I know... I'm working on it @_@

[Emperor Megas]

That basement may be abysmal, but you've definitely got your priorities in order. That add-on to your home is great. Gaming takes a backseat to home improvements every time. It's good to see you putting your time and money where it counts.

That Virtual Boy does look ominous as hell, in that first picture, BTW.

[savageone]

100 year old home and all that in the basement? I don't know how often basements flood where you are but I'd seriously consider getting everything 3-4 feet off the floor or out of the basement altogether.

[Emperor Megas]

I'm just way too paranoid about using basements for anything besides storage (of non electronics), and even then I'd make sure nothing was on the floor. I suppose it's because I'm from New Orleans, where flooding is an issue (the city is below sea level and sits on top of swampland). Basements are very uncommon there.

[OldSkoolBrian]

You have a ton of room to make that an EPIC gameroom.

[xelement5x]

I think I'm the first to note that boxed Pico in the second picture, niiiice :)

Since it sounds like you've already undertaken some major home renovation projects it looks like you know how to make a plan and enact it, that's the biggest hurdle I've seen a lot of people have trouble with in moving from a hoarde to a collection. Take heart and don't give up, I'm sure you'll be able to get everything done!

My garage looked like a total pit until I decided to spend a minimum 10 mins a day every day on it until it looked better. As soon as I got home before I went on the house I worked on cleaning it up, and after a couple weeks it looked great and was an amazing transformation.

[Cornelius]

100 year old home and all that in the basement? I don't know how often basements flood where you are but I'd seriously consider getting everything 3-4 feet off the floor or out of the basement altogether.


I'm just way too paranoid about using basements for anything besides storage (of non electronics), and even then I'd make sure nothing was on the floor. I suppose it's because I'm from New Orleans, where flooding is an issue (the city is below sea level and sits on top of swampland). Basements are very uncommon there.

You don't think putting boxes on top of plastic kitty litter containers is good enough? I'm actually pretty high up on a very large area of high ground, so a full on flood is pretty well impossible. We do actually get some water in the basement when it rains a lot, but even then it is a small puddle here and there. It does mean I generally keep stuff in plastic bins or off the floor.

[Cornelius]

I love how menacing that Virtual Boy looks in the first photo, haha.

Anyway, it'll take a lot of work, but, yeah, you have a lot of good space to work with. It'll be fun to compare the pictures when you have it all set up.


With the glowing eyes, the Virtual Boy looks evil, like it's going to latch onto your face or something.

It reminds me of Number 5 when it goes bad.


I have the exact same cat carrier.

It sucks, too. The inside edges of the holes are sharp. One of our cats freaks in cages, and he cut his paws and nose when we put him in that one.

[gameofyou]

That's actually a really good idea to use the Rubbermaid containers for game storage, until you have a finished space.

[Koa Zo]

Yikes! Remind me not to purchase used stuff off either of the guys who posted pictures here!

[Cornelius]

Yikes! Remind me not to purchase used stuff off either of the guys who posted pictures here!

Okay, don't purchase used stuff from me. What about new stuff?

Also, what the hell?

[Cornelius Spunkwater]

Yikes! Remind me not to purchase used stuff off either of the guys who posted pictures here!

So you're not going to purchase things because of a messy house? That's just stupid.

[MachineGex]

You have some amzing items sitting around. What's your address again and when do you and your wife go to work???

[Cornelius]

Next time my family complains about my storage, I'm gonna show them these photos and kindly tell them to shut up.

Laugh it up fuzzball! :) It sure seems like your fox-thing avatar is laughing directly at me in this case.

[Cornelius]

So you're not going to purchase things because of a messy house? That's just stupid.

A perhaps minor quibble, but I have a messy basement. I keep the rest of the house in very nice shape, especially considering I have two small children.


You have some amzing items sitting around. What's your address again and when do you and your wife go to work???

Well, I'm an at-home dad these days, which is part of how things got so bad in the basement. I started collecting before kids and kept everything very tidy and sorted/properly stored as they were acquired. Once I started staying home, I found that it was even easier to get out to garage sales and thrift stores on a regular basis. In fact, getting out of the house and doing stuff when you have kids is pretty much required for sanity, so on days I didn't have a class or playgroup or something, we'd go on the hunt. But when you get home with a bag in one hand, kid in the other, and it is lunch-time plus you've still got that trim to stain and varnish, tile to grout, and a ceiling fan to hang... well, you just shake your head at the sad state of your collection and put the bag in the nearest convenient place. :bawling:

[Sunnyvale]

Yikes! Remind me not to purchase used stuff off either of the guys who posted pictures here!

Well, I can't speak for Cornellius for certain, but you should see how this stuff was looking in the wild before it came here. If you want nice, pretty, new-looking used video games, better start combing the wild, or buy your old stuff NIB. And take out a second mortage, cause that crap ain't cheap.

[Blitzwing256]

The one thing that caught my attention was the 12' taun-taun peaking out from the shelf,would fit well in my star wars collection ;-)

[crazyjackcsa]

When I began reading the thread, I was like "look at that basement, so much potential for finishing it! And then I noticed you totally rebuild the house!

There isn't anything wrong with a basement for storage, My family room is in the basement, and there isn't any chance for flooding of any sorts. Every house is different.

[Cornelius]

The one thing that caught my attention was the 12' taun-taun peaking out from the shelf,would fit well in my star wars collection ;-)

I got that at a sale one morning walking to classes. Had to turn around and leave it at my girlfriend's place and it rather startled her roommate. There was a Han that goes with it, but that had been sold separately before I got there. :puppydogeyes: