proper shelving - the backbone of great gamerooms

[christianscott27]

looking at alan d's gameroom pics reminded me again of the importance of shelving, between the great finds and playing the games there lies the little discussed area of storage and display. being a show-off collector with a massive amount of games the quest for shelving and then shelf order consumes me as much as any game. i'm lucky enough to live near lots of renters so i've had great luck finding shelves in yardsales and cleanout piles. i'll walk my dog around on trash night looking for more shelves, sometimes i'll even rush back home to get a few carts to see if this shelve will indeed be suitable for say atari 8 bit carts.

i'll spend entire afternoons working a new shelf into the room, as once it arrives i'll be moving the SNES games which will open space for the 5200 games which will then create a proper space for the coco carts which have been annoyingly piled on top of shelf...and so on. my ever growing collection leads to strange library like towers of shelves going over my head and eventually covering up all the bare walls. perhaps i could just get uniform shelves from a store but i like the hodge podge of different woods and sizes, looks more homey. of course once i get the game shelves just how i like them i come across a sizeable amount of boxed games and the space crunch starts over again.

so what are your shelving quest stories, am i the only one who gets excited to find a shelf mighty enough to house my entire 2600 collection? do you mentally measure every shelf at the yard sales for gameroom purposes? i've seen lots of people recomending steralite bins and other target type plastic containers, fine for you but not for my gameroom, i'm all about eye candy and solid wood. eventually i'd like to dump my big particle board shelves and go with 100% non warping wood, for the consoles themselves i use metro steel shelves. if i were a carpenter, ohh dont get me started on that dream.

[Nez]

All my games are stored in two solid oak dresser drawers. Keeps em clean and dust free. Found the dressers at a yard sell didn't pay too much and was just what I needed. The interesting part was that when I purchased the items I had to tkae them home right away. Being that I was by my self and the seller was an old Sun Citisen I had to load them by my self. After nearly killing myslelf my times they were finally on the turck. Lucky the ride home was uneventfull, but damn that was the heavyist shit Ive ever carried.

[sisko]

Someday when I have money to burn, and a house, I'd like to place my entire collection in a Barrister Bookcase, the shelves with glass door that lifts up. It would look very sleek, but they're just so damn expense.

Now I just use a few Sauder shelves (two very large ones), and a metal unit to hold my extras (consoles, guides, big controllers, etc etc)

[Jibbajaba]

I'm actually moving into a new place next month that will allow me to have a game room. Right now, my collection is spread out between a small shelving unit meant for DVDs, the shelves at the top of my closet, and a large flat container under my bed. I have been searching for a suitable shelving system that will properly house my collection after I move for quite some time, but have yet to find anything that I "fell in love" with. I too agree that the proper type of shelves is essential, so Ive been looking for a shelving unit that is shallow, with a buttload of shelves in it. I'm going to hit up the IKEA in Emmryville pretty soon....

Chris

[Kamino]

I built the shelves for my consoles myself. works quite well, as instead of hunting for the right size, i simply drew plans and built it.

[Flack]

I built both my CD and DVD shelves, and they both turned out great. I agree with Christian, the key to a good game room begins with the shelves. If it's not out where people can drool over it and you can get to it, what's the point?

[fahrvergnugen]

Emeryville Ikea! You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

But, Ikea Billy bookcases may indeed be the economical way to go as far as keepinga collection neat.

[Jibbajaba]

Ikea Billy bookcases may indeed be the economical way to go as far as keepinga collection neat.

Nah I'm looking for something that is specific for DVD storage so as to maximixe the amount of storage space. Using bookshelves wastes a lot of space because they are too deep and there is too much space between shelves.

Emeryville Ikea! You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

Well I'm really not out to do *THAT*. I'll wear fast running shoes and a garlic necklace when I go in there.

Chris

[fahrvergnugen]

Ikea makes a couple of products that are a sort of "shelf insert," which turn the extra depth into an advantage. One is a sort of stair-step piece, so that you can stack DVD-cases/VHS tapes/books/CD jewel cases double-deep and still see & easily access the items stored in the back. I've used them to cram a couple hundred titles onto a small half-height bookshelf.

[MarioAllStar2600]

I agree with you 100% but have trouble finding a good shelfing idea. Here is what I have.
- On the biggest wall in my room a shelf goes across the whole top with tons of Mario merch. and what not on it. I plan on putting a shelf underneath it for more mario stuff.
- Two other walls have shelfs that have boxes for systems, controllers, and some other little stuff still in box.
- a big bookcase with misc. games on it including my gamecube collection.
- my systems are ina custom made unit with plexiglass doors covering it.
-Under my TV there are drawers with my larger collection in it (NES, atari 2600, genises)
- Above my TV are three shelves the top shelf has boxed 2600 games, middle shelf has all my collection highlights, and bottm has boxed NES games.

After the super auctions I might finally get some pictures up.

[captain nintendo]

I am looking at buying some good shelving units for my room. (my current ones are blah) Ok people fire me some links


I do like some of the Ikea shelves , but I dont know when the store will be done here in Arizona And I am sure shipping would be a bitch.

[christianscott27]

my 2 cents on ikea...its apartment furniture as my classy sister calls it, disposible stuff that will last thru the lease but not the next move. we have two ikea bookshelves in our place and i'm none too pleased with the quality. the laminate skuffs, the frame bends and the shelves sag. ok so i'm thinking "hey you loaded those shelves with heavy books so no wonder they sag" then it hits me they're sold as bookshelves. of course most games are fairly lightweight compared to books so you'd be alright using them for a game shelf but i wouldnt suggest them for anything heavy.

heck sometimes i think of going back to sturdy 70s chic board and cinder block shelving. you get what you pay for.

[Daria]

My room used to have, or I guess it still has, a natural alchove. When I decided to redecorate over a year ago I decided it would be the perfect spot to hang some shelves. So now i have my own custom book case that houses my NES, and next gen games. Course since it's my bed room I also had to squeeze in normal things like books so I have other smaller sleves hung around the room devoted to single systems.

I love showing off my games so I refuse to use storage bins, but I make an exception for first party bins. I have one designed for the n64 that holds them and genesis cartridges perfectly.

[sniperCCJVQ]

The greatest bookcase i saw for NES games was made by dave2236 (just looks at is collection, you will understand).

I ask to him the blueprints so i can do it myself but he never respond to me

[dreams]

We have a couple of these along with some smaller shelves.

Nice thing is each shelf is individually adjustable, so you can have Saturn games next to Gameboy games, and not lose precious room.

We bought both of ours at Media Play. I believe they are marked at $75. If you exploit triple point weekends and any coupons you have, it's not too bad of a deal.

[Goodwill Hunter]

Ikea Billy bookcases may indeed be the economical way to go as far as keepinga collection neat.

Nah I'm looking for something that is specific for DVD storage so as to maximixe the amount of storage space. Using bookshelves wastes a lot of space because they are too deep and there is too much space between shelves.

Check out the thread "Custom Shelving - Start to Finish." I'm building DVD shelves right now, and documenting the steps...FYI you can fit 11 rows of DVDs in a floor-to-ceiling unit (8-foot room, that is).

Rich

[-hellvin-]

I've got a few little dvd racks in the closet which I put nes/snes games sideways in as well as pc games and cds. The other fits all my current gen console games and some other random things. The large adjustable shelf unit I bought a while back holds a majority of my other games but I'm accumulating so many things monthly that 1/3 of my games are pretty much sitting on the floor and tables.