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| A whole LOT of the fairly RARE amount of spare time for the 'ol Loydster lately, has been taken up with thoughts, planning, and tinkering---- concerning the return of the MAN-CAVE! A decent amount of progress has been made too! Keep 'scrollin-&-readin' to see just how much! |
While not exactly moving at any kind of 'break-neck' pace--- things ARE moving along well with the setting-up of the 'reborn' man-cave! As I mentioned last month, a good chunk of time was spent over in the storage unit, back in late July--- digging out what framed items and other various 'wall-mounted' doo-dads I had CAREFULLY mapped-out places for, here in this 'down-sized'-version of the 'Secret Sanctum'. MOST of those are parked in their designated spots, I'm glad to say!
I've also found some additional NEAT-O items online, that fit right in to the over-all ULTRA-geek-tastic theme of the room! Not to mention I've managed to thrash-out a hand-crafted thing or two here and there!
So--- that's enough of an intro! Keep scrolling & scanning on down, to check out the Loydster's progress--- with the usual comments and general GOOFINESS from yours-truly to go along with each pic.... of COURSE!!--- (AND-- apologies in advance for some of the semi-CRUMMY photography! Guess the 'ol hands aren't as steady as they USED to be!)---
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| What would a 'Man-Cave' be, without a 'welcome-to-the-Batcave' welcome mat? Just as you come in the doorway--natch! I snagged this particular (pre-owned / used-- but in PRIMO-shape!) model for a REALLY decent price online. When Mrs. Deb saw it, she just smiled and shook her head at my HOPELESS nerdiness! |
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| The current view as you enter the 'cave'! Shelves and cases are all now sporting either NEW paint-- or fresh paper-- ready & waiting for all of the gee-gaws and doo-dads that'll fit into them! AND-- yes, that's the classic model of the 'Enterprise', hanging in it's rightful spot-- near the center of the room! (Just like in the previous 'Hide-out'!) |
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| The left side of the room, after you step through the door. Again, hopefully-- despite the somewhat 'shaky' camera-work-- you can sort-of-spot just what all the items are! |
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Sadly--in this 'down-sized' version of the 'cave, there was NO space for the 'life-sized' stand-ups (that I've had for MANY years!) of the Duke and Mr. Spock! BUT--- not to worry! BOTH those individuals are STILL represented in the room by 8 x10 (Duke) and 5 x 7 images (Spock). The stand-ups, meanwhile... will simply STAY in storage for a while longer.... 'til I can figure exactly WHAT to do with them!
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| Despite spending over 3 years boxed-up in storage, BOTH the 'Batman Forever' and (HEAVILY-customized) 'Animated Series' Bat-Wings are holding up amazingly well! They now are proudly stationed at both ends of the room's left side, hanging by the usual trusty 4-pound test fishing line! |
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| The little yellow 'Geek-out-zone' sign was a little something I put together a couple of weeks back. There's also an original pencil-drawing of Batman by my son Wade, to the right of 'Bats '89. Down by the lower right of my little (EXTRA-down-sized) desk, there's also an original piece of art by my daughter-in-law Chloe. I decided pretty early on, that I wanted each of my kids to DEFINITELY be (artistically) represented in this version of my little hang-out! |
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| I love super-heroes, love coffee too! So-- why shouldn't I PROUDLY display six of simply the COOLEST coffee cups EVER??? Yes indeedy, that IS a CAPE on the large Bat-mug! No-- I didn't customize it, it actually came that way! |
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| Right corner of the 'Rumpus-Room'! The Bat-Wing from last year's 'Flash' movie, sits on one the 'semi-triangular' stands I cooked-up, of course! |
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| The 'tape-light' set-up for the 'former-closet-space', as well as some of the decor I've managed to get in there so far. As mentioned last month, this will also serve as a little 'nook' for my collection of CDs and additional books. |
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The 'side-wall' spaces, on the left and right-- inside the 'nook'. The 'Batman: 8 decades' poster, is actually a 'combined-artwork-effort' between my daughter Shelby and I. The 3x3 inch 'boxes' with the various 'Bat-silhouettes', were put together by Shelby on cloth.
I then went over each of the images with craft-paints, glued them onto poster-board and came up with all the graphics on the top and bottom. The end-result turned out pretty NIFTY! At least, I think so!
The ELO 'picture disc' albums, (on the 'Nook's right wall) were a Christmas gift-- also from Shelby--- who's JUST as much of a 'music-NERD' as her old man... maybe even MORE than me, in fact! |
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| Various items on the left-side of the large bookcase on the room's right side. Those are framed neck-ties -- (one of a good number that I've framed! Hey, I managed to collect a LOT of ties!)-- (ALL 'geeky-stuff'-related, of COURSE!) there at the bottom, from back in the days when I taught a couple of different adult Sunday school classes. A stretch of around ten years, that hold some of the HAPPIEST memories in my life-- for sure! |
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| Autographed pics of some of my favorite HERO-portraying-actors from childhood / young-adulthood, as well as the now 'mounted-up' Bat-Wing model collection-- sitting atop the large bookcase! |
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| Yet ANOTHER online find! This roughly 4x6 foot area-rug just HAD to wind-up on the floor of THIS room! Thanks SO much to the folks at Amazon! |
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| Goodies to gander-at on the room's right side, as well as the back of the door. The Batman 'wall-light' does indeed STILL work! Amazing, considering it's well OVER 30 years old! |
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| Perhaps the MOST difficult task of ALL, as I've been setting-up this room! The L.E.D. 'neon-rope-style' lighting! All the effort / sweat / aggravation was WORTH it though, after I flipped on their power for the first time! They have a 'coolness-factor' that makes ALL of that 'grunting-and-groaning' a SMALL price to pay! VERY neat-o INDEED! |
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| The framed items, etc... on the right of the door, as you leave the room. Each of them brings a different goofy-geeky-GRIN to my face! |
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| A closer look, # 1--- the Way-COOL 5x7 image of the Green Hornet & KATO! Outside of 'ol Bats, (AND the 'Lone Ranger'!) The 'Hornet is probably one of my FAVORITE 'non-super-powered' characters! Also-- the '66 TV show is one of the BEST adaptions of a super-hero, PERIOD! |
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| A closer look, # 2--- My 'scratch-built' cover for the room's light-switch. For THIS room--Just a BORING old 'plain-jane' white light-switch is simply NOT gonna cut it! |
And there you have it! what's been accomplished so far--- in what's pretty much turned into a hobby itself!-- the converting of a small spare-bedroom into a 'Geek-Out-Zone' for the Loydster! In the coming weeks, I hope to start actually setting-up items into the showcases and shelves-- as well as finally digging the books out of storage too! At any rate, I'll only do it as I can CARVE-out the little chunks of spare-time here and there!
In the meantime, I'm just having a MAJOR-amount of fun thinking it all out, planning and tinkering with it as I go along! Rest assured, there WILL be 'update' posts as I'm thrashing-away at this on-going effort!
'Til next time, then --- stay SAFE, SANE and HAPPY everybody!
