The basement do-over continues.

This weekend I finally got going with the painting, which required that I clean out the remainder of what was in the computer space. I am now seriously running out of available room for things elsewhere, and with my head down, I haven’t yet considered where all of this displaced junk will live once I get everything complete.

Painting is not my strong suit. Walls especially, as I have never been able to master the art of the paint roller. I started by painting around the edges of the walls and doors and the recessed bookshelves, and then set upon the walls proper. I am only using white primer, because I’m not really sure if I want a color in the basement or if I did, what that color would be. Because of the condition of the walls (pretty much all of the walls) I had/have to apply at least two coats, and while the Walls That Matter have received this application, I am running out of paint and don’t know if I’ll be able to finish two coats on all walls. I really don’t want to buy another can of paint, even a small one.

With the Important Walls done, I pushed my desk against the Strangely Arranged Wall where I think I want to have it.

This is located directly opposite to where my desk was, so I’m trying something new. The main reason is because I still have parts from the original desk kicking around, and thought that maybe I could get some kind of larger desk going on if I got some additional legs, and then bolted these desk surfaces together.

With the current desk in place, I put one of the other surfaces down to see how far it would stretch out. It’s not ungood, although doing this essentially rebuilds the desk I had originally taken apart. So I turned to a freemium online room layout app called Planner5D to see if I could visualize exactly what a three-part desk would look like in this space.

Not too shabby. My measurements are pretty good, which I know because my visualization of the current desk, tucked away in that strange partial recess, matches how well the actual desk fits in the same area. I measured all physical parts and translated them to the app, and came away with this “command center” style set-up. The only issue is that there’s a 2 foot gap between the far wall and the peninsula beneath the recessed bookshelves (shown above by the blank frame, which is the best representation this app could offer). I think I can live with this.

Being a visual person, though, the cheap-ass freebie models available in the app aren’t really Doin’ It for me. I don’t actually have that geometric shelving system on the wall above, but I do want something there…just not sure what, or for what. The black box at the end of the desk is a microwave (in the app) representing my printer. It’s the only thing I know I’ll need to put on the desk aside from the computer and monitors. Then I’d need to find a way to mount my webcam and Yeti mic (both on booms), and also where my speakers will live (I’d like to mount them somewhere if I could, instead of leaving them on the desk). Maybe I could do that underneath the desk…I also need to order additional legs and some cable channels, so I can ensure that I don’t end up with a disgusting mess of cables screwing up my hard-won aesthetic. Finally, I need some decor. I will be ordering some Smart Home lighting strips and bulbs, because the ones I have don’t Do Color, and wacky colors seems to be de rigueur for Cool Computer Rooms these days. I found an old cloth map of Norath from EverQuest, so I might frame that! I think I have an Ultima map somewhere, and might frame that if I have it as well. I’ll certainly frame my daughter’s sketch of my GW2 character, seen on the top shelf in the image above. I have a massive Firefall poster, which would be cool but kind of out of fashion, so maybe I’ll find some kind of cool shelving unit and use it to display my CE boxes that are currently on that recessed shelf.