In the beginning

The Blog will appeal to gadget addicts, movie fans, shed and barn builders and grand designers everywhere.. The is the story of the greatest shed ever built. Okay an overstatement, but  the greatest shed I have ever built.

Well designed the builder is Darren, but I think if you pay for it you get to say you built it. I mean they call it Trump Tower but he didn't build it.

The Blog will follow the journey of the build and fit out of the shed then I hope morph into a series of movie and gadget reviews.
Hopefully the story of my journey will help others who yearn to build their own grand designs and avoid some of the many pitfalls that are ahead.

For my family the shed solve two problems, secure dry storage for all those thing you just must keep and secondly an entertainment room where the volume can be hitting the bars and not worry anyone.
To say I am excited about this project is an understatement.

Today Darren started building but I have been buying stuff for the shed for about six weeks.  Each piece has it's own story. That's how much fun this has been before the first shovel touched the ground.

The Design

The structural design of the shed was predetermined by the design of the existing house. The cheaper option of fitting out a steel barn or shed just wouldn't suit the existing home or the sloping block.

A 7 x 6 metre shed, iron roof 30 degree pitch, hard wood floor on steel stumps with weatherboard exterior.
Hardwood tongue and groove floor to be finished with an organic oil.
Double doors in the centre of the 7 metre wall, one window 180cm x 90cm and on the back wall one picture window 125cm x 180cm over looking the forrest down toward the creek.
Sound deadening insulation in walls and ceiling.

Both 6 metre sides windowless to allow for movie screen and kitchenette / wet bar.
ladder access to storage area in ceiling area.

Budget $30,000 - 35000 AUD

The excavator cleared the pad, dug the utilities trench and the holes for the posts. The ancient sandstone of my place does not yield easily. This had two effects, a cost over run in time probably $330 to be confirmed and a relocation of the shed about a metre ( three feet) further away than planned.

The pre-purchases:

Now the first thing you do after agreeing the contract with the builder is to do some research on the net on the all important fit out. 
I don't know about you but when I research on the net I  inevitably find bargains that in the building time line I am not ready to purchase but too good to miss out on.

I have two examples to share. The first was fairly straight forward. In a home cinema it is desirable to have a movie screen. The better ones are motorised and general rule bigger is better ( maybe that's just me) So in researching screens I  found that they are not cheap and that many people opt for such tricks as painting a wall with special paint or even hanging a sheet on the wall because after all it will do.

I also found on Grays online auction site a number of brand new motorised screens up for auction. Long story short I scored an amazing bargain of a 120 inch screen for $220 delivered. So now I have a projector screen around which to build a room.

Okay you think not crazy behaviour yet a bargain is a bargain is you need the item.

But for a home cinema you need a cinema lounge, with cup holders and storage and recliners. This is a must have item anything else is second best. More research required after all still a month before the shed is due to start.

Oh no a bright red leather cinema lounge on ebay buy it now $1,400.  Perfect, email to seller can I see it. No response arrgh.  After a week of emailing and falling more and more in love with the picture I finally get a call from the owner. Sorry I am a first time ebayer so don't really know what I am doing.
So off I go to view the lounge with a borrowed trailer, $1,400 cash and a helper.  The lounge is just as beautiful in person so we load up the lounge and head home. Only one problem, no where to put it because the shed is not built yet.
Okay so starting to enter the world of the obsessed now.
But look at this lounge, how could I leave it there:

The question now is will it ever get to the shed?

Preparation II
Now the gadget and tech possessed out there will know the import thing in build is to make sure the wires that can go behind the wall are all installed by the sparky.
The obvious one is the HDMI cable from the wall to the ceiling for the projector. Now these cables vary in price from $10 to $500 with no visible difference.
I tried a variety of places for advice and parts like face plates.
Even longer story shortened. Jaycar electronics came up trumps on price and advice. I now have the face plates the cable a splitter and a four port switch. All of which I apparently have desperate need of to install the electrical entertainment systems I have or plan to buy.

But be very careful this store is an Aladdins' cave of treasure. In addition to the things I needed I also bought a 35w rechargeable torch and a Mini Laser light show, ($99, $140) that I just had to have. No buyers remorse yet still love both gadgets.

Next part of the prep, the electrical plan.  This is the lighting and power point plan. Again general rule too many is never enough.  The sparky has these cool four point plugs where there is a gap between the two outside ones and the two inside ones to accommodate transformers which come with everything from laptop chargers to rechargeable torches and mobile phones.

I found two beautiful round fluro lights for the main lights and fours sets of twin spots, they look like miniature movie spots to highlight the movie posters on the wall on a dimmer switch.

I will also put in floor LED lights as a finishing touch.