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utee94

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Everything posted by utee94

  1. Thanks. Originally I was just planning on using normal library lights like this one below, but I bought one and test-fit it and it just didn't create the feeling I wanted. The industrial brass with glass cone shade actually matches a lighting fixture I made for the dining room which is parallel to this room and they are open to one another, so it all flows nicely. And the whole bookcase is pretty masculine so I added the more petite white-shaded fixtures to the sides around the niche.
  2. A few months back I did a project in our formal living room. I had it set up as a lounge because it's opposite the formal dining and unlike a lot of people, we actually use these rooms because we entertain a lot. And even when we're not entertaining, we like to be fancy sometimes. The rooms in the house all have 10' ceilings and I always wanted to build a floor to ceiling library wall in there. And we've also used it as a place to listen to vinyl, separate from the other sound systems in the house. So sometime in February I decided it was finally cool enough to work out in the shop, and do some work. Design must include space for amplifier, turntable, speakers, books. It'll be built with a large niche in the middle where the bar sits, but the next step is to take my parents' piano and put it in there. The final result is what we call the Vinyl Lounge. I don't have a great before shot, but the room is about 12'x12' with a 10' ceiling. We have a couple of chairs on one side, a couch on the other, a coffee table in-between them, and then on the far wall, an antique buffet/sideboard type cabinet that we use as our bar. Next step, I built up some stock Ikea billy bookcases to use as the basis for the wall and test fit them to get the actual width and height of the upper cabinets that I'll build. Yes this is a bit of an Ikea hack. No I don't like calling it that. Maybe I should though, if I do it on YouTube or TickTock I might make some money... Next I built a 2x4 frame to support the run of upper cabinets that will go all the way across the wall. I also test-fit one of those upper cabinets to make sure my height measurements were working out. This is ultimately going to be a painted-looking project, so I went with cheap 1x12 whitewood. I managed to find some that was pretty clear. Using 3/4" ply and ripping to size would have been a little cheaper, and I could have gotten cleaner surfaces, but I honestly didn't want to drag out my table saw, as it's getting pretty old and the cuts just aren't that straight on it anyway. So, 1x12 it is. Test fitting the other side on top of the left stack. Now test-fitting all of the top run of cabinets. The outside cabinets are the same width as the bookcases. The inside are a couple of inches longer. I had the option of building two longer ones or three shorter ones, and although I typically prefer odd numbers in these cases, as they tend to look more pleasing to the eye, when I planned it out on paper, the resulting width of each bookcase if I built three, made them look really small and choppy. So I went with two longer ones. It could also be I just didn't want to build another bookcase... Next, put on the backs of the cabinets and stain them and begin the install. I also painted the exterior surfaces of the Ikea bookcases to match the wall color, but in a satin sheen instead of matte. The entire bookcase will have face frames painted out in the same color. Not surprisingly, the real wood stained to a walnut color, looks warmer and richer than faux walnut woodgrain on the Ikea cabinets. But no matter, it's all going to get covered up with books and record albums and tchotchkes and shit. Installing some of the pre-painted trim, and some 2x4 blocking at the top that will serve as a backer for the top trim piece and eventual crown mold. Nest up, install some more face frame trim, and the vintage-looking library lighting. It runs off smart plugs and I can turn them off and on or dim them, either via Alexa voice or an phone app. I just chuckled at this picture and how the coffee table is getting more and more cluttered. At this point the project had taken a couple of weeks of working mostly just an hour or two per night, and I was tired of cleaning up each day... I had to build out that middle shelf on the right stack-- the turntable and old amp were too deep for the 11.5" or so that the stock cabinets run. And finally the finished product. We actually have a piano now where the bar is in this picture. It's crazy how much more we use the room. Both of my teenagers like to go in there and read books, and they've even had music nights with their own friends where they'll spin records, play the piano, and just hang out. So glad I did it and although my wife was skeptical at first, she absolutely loves it now. The couch and chair are antiques from her grandmother that we had recovered in a more modern fabric, many years ago. And now she's really happy that they're showcased instead of just being in "that other room."
  3. Everyone will be interested to know that the mighty Trojans of Anderson High defeated the lowly Knights of McCallum 37-2 last night. It felt like there was a flag for unsportsmanlike thrown after every single play. These kids really don't like each other. Which is funny, because they're all basically the same. (I can say that since I went to Anderson and had numerous friends at McCallum. We were all the same then, too)
  4. I'll be at the game formerly known as the Taco Shack bowl tonight. Will report back about all of the 5* talent. Tomorrow night is Cedar Park v. Harker Heights, that one could be fun.
  5. The best engineer I've ever worked with graduated from UTSA. You can get an excellent education just about anywhere, if you work at it.
  6. Accidental post. Delete user.
  7. Well I just spent 30 minutes digging through all of my various "A/V boxes" at the back of the closet for my OTA antenna. I dusted it off, set it up, ensured it's still working fine-- so now I have no doubt Fox and YTTV will resolve their issues and make all of that work unnecessary. You're welcome.
  8. Yeah but I'd prefer to fill that gap with a marquee team, rather than... Nebraska.
  9. My 17yo is done with her first draft of her essay and won't let me read it. She's a very good writer, I've read lots of her other essays for English or whatever, but she doesn't want, or isn't ready yet, for me to read this. We'll see if that changes. At the very least I suggested she let some of her teachers read it. I know my parents never read my essays either, never even asked for them, but my English Lit and APUSH teachers did.
  10. Yeah I initially switched from Spectrum cable boxes to the Spectrum streaming app. Saved the money on equipment rental but lost DVR/pause/rewind capability. Also, they proceeded to crank up the price of that package to the point where it was more than YTTV, so I called up customer retention and they had nothing to say to me. So I killed Spectrum streaming and switched to YTTV. Now I have DVR/pause/rewind, a bazillion more channels, split screen viewing, and a less clunky interface.
  11. It was ABC/Disney two years ago, in a fight with Spectrum/Charter.
  12. Spectrum has a digital package of something like locals plus 20 channels or something, that you can choose. As I recall it's even pricier than YTTV and has far fewer channels which is why I switched. But if you could get a newcomer discount or something, it might work out okay.
  13. And Reason #2 to stay off the game threads is, well, surly posters on game threads!
  14. Eh. Tattoos weren't the only thing but being a blue blood saved you from really getting popped, same as many other big name programs over the years. If Akron had been doing it though, look out!
  15. Oh don't sell them short, they were cheating before Urban Meyer showed up on campus.
  16. That book and that class were way better with Dr. Streetman himself teaching it, which I had. In fact it's why I ended up in semiconductor engineering for the first decade of my career.
  17. The gambling thread for degenerate morons is over there -------->
  18. Gleeson was awesome, I repeatedly wrecked the curve in his Honors Engineering Physics class with breathtaking scores like 28 and 35. The valedictorian of the LBJ Science Academy and the salutatorian of my own Anderson High graduating class were both my friends, and both in that class, and were not very appreciative of my accomplishments.
  19. Yeah. I gathered. I don't haunt Ferrari social media so unless/until one of you yahoos brought it here from somewhere else, I never would have seen it. Her name is Rey. THAT is the joke.
  20. Huh. Cause we stay away from the idiots on reddit, maybe? Anyway that's a new one on me. I still think in that meme, Rey Sweek is much funnier.
  21. Yeah our resident crazy person aside, I think most of the rest of us understand where you're coming from. Our school has also allowed the conference television money to screw us over on kickoff times on numerous occasions. It's not the fans' fault, we don't like it, and there's nothing we can do about it.
  22. My room was on the fourth floor, which was just the front part of the building, and my room faced that little back alley parking lot rather than 21st Street. To move this thread back on topic, I doubt either of my kids will be going to UT or staying in Moore Hill. My 17yo daughter will get in but just doesn't want to go to UT, she really dislikes downtown Austin and the campus area, having had a couple of unsettling run-ins with homeless dudes over the past couple of years in the downtown area. And my 15yo son is... well... not motivated enough, to get in, I suppose.
  23. I have a set of these that my NASA friend brought me back from Russia. My set is a little older, the second biggest is Hodges Mitchell, and the smallest is Casey Hampton.
  24. Probably not, actually. Texans are friendly by nature. We always had opposing fans dropping by our tailgates. For that one, we served over 200 plates of food and went through 20 kegs of Live Oak and 10 cases of Tito's. Tons of them were Ohio State fans.
  25. Oh yeah, I bought a used dorm fridge for $40 from a friend. My roommate had a microwave and a tiny black and white portable TV that we only ever used to watch The Simpsons and Beverly Hills 90210 on Thursday nights. So I spent $65 on stuff. All my own money, I worked summer jobs every year back then.
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