Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

So on Monday we're doing a reno on my basement. I'm trying to figure out a layout for my office that works and was looking for some advice. I've got 12' by 9' to work with, and I can move the door wherever I want. There are no windows. I have a big desk with 2 monitors and a wacom tablet on it, and I want as much TF shelving as possible.

I've been looking at shelves that are 11.5" deep. Do you think that's too much or just right? They're each 8" long so it seems pretty ideal to me. What do you think if the right amount of space between each shelf vertically? I want to fit Fort Max somewhere, but otherwise should it be 12" between each shelf? 8"? I don't want it to look too cramped.

Anyways here is what I'm working with and what I've cooked up so far. I have no idea where I will put Haslab Unicron.

Any advice is appreciated!

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

TV stand? Hang that flatscreen from the wall and shelves all around!

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Depends how you want to display stuff. For G1, I'd think having a shelf at the bottom for huge guys would work, but most of the rest of "large" figures would be around combiner height, so that'd be a factor. Same with Generations, shelves with Leader class or combiners will need basically that much space.

Have you considered floating shelves along the upper part of the room, where you don't have normal shelving?

My shelves are around 9" deep and can snugly but comfortably display roughly 3 layers of figures. Unless you're using risers and lighting setups I worry 11.5" might be a bit deep for most displays. I guess it depends how tightly you want to pack them!

Don't forget to plan a bit of extra space if you can for collection growth! I do purges regularly but expansion can still occur. :)

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

💯 agree! Looks sleek and way nicer. Plus you get more space

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Yeah I think you guys are right about hanging the TV. That way I can instead use the stand to hold Unicron.

Thanks Badger, on the depth advice. I’m shooting for max 2 rows of figures to avoid crowding (I’ll rotate figures in and out I think).

I figured Fort Max would need a foot deep of shelving, so maybe I’ll do only the East side that deep, with more shallow shelving on the other sides?

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

You might want to test out your chair space, if going with a desk setup as in your second picture. By my estimate, it looks like you have a quarter-circle with a radius of 24"; that might not be enough space in which you could sit, shift, and swivel comfortably.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

It really depends on how many figures you have, and how crowded you're going to be with them, if you display them in robot or alt mode, if you plan to have them in poses/diarama approach.

My office is limited due to furniture, but I figured that some high shelves would work (and they did)

I ended up getting a 12 feet baseboard that had a nice pattern, cut it in two and painted them, mounting them with "L" brackets on top to "hide" them a bit and have a clean finish. The depth being around 6/8 inches has been a comfortable depth as I didn't want deeper than that.

With my planes, I got stands so to stagger them.

The bottom was dedicated for the Siege figures to be in "battle pose" (Autobot VS Decepticons), which, well.. ended up being a lot more than I had figured, so if I was to do this again, I would consider getting longer boards as they are much more crowded that I intended, but it still works.

So just to give you ideas.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Thanks for the advice! Glad to see a real-life example of this. Oh, can you tell me the vertical distance between the two shelves?

And yeah the desk/chair combo runs the risk of getting crowded. I’ll test it out and see how it feels on the fly I guess.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Some thoughts:
Not sure of the height of the various units (Cooler, TV Stand, Cabinet).

"Desk 2" in the first layout gains desk space, but makes it more cluttery, and means more of a walk-around to get to your desk chair from the door.

Less walk-around from the door to your desk chair in the second layout. Not sure if your cooler is attractive enough to put in the middle like that though. I am envisioning a mini-fridge-type thing. You could built an enclosure for it to hide it. Or move it under one of the long wall shelves, if possible. Or remove "Desk 2" and place it there.

Wall-mounting the TV, as suggested, is a good idea.

Depending on your desk, you might be able to add shelves on the wall over the desk (in either layout).

Best of luck with your project!

(Note: 32" wide door shown)

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

To be honest I’m now thinking of getting rid of the cooler. And yeah it’s maybe 2-3 feet tall? I’d planned on placing my CRT on top of it, but instead I’ll use the TV stand while mounting a new HDTV.

The cabinet is a billy bookcase. I’ll hold onto it for now.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

I went with 12 inches... it gives larger ones like Siege Ultra Magnus a good 3 inches above his head/shoulder pillar.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

I'm working with a 9x11 room, similar to your room but it has a window/vent on one side with door/closet on the other side. I have lots of space in the middle but the collection is getting cramped and I have run out of space for another shelf.

Here's panorama picts from both sides of the room to get an idea. Hope this gives ideas on what you want or don't want to have happen.


I would suggest room to let the door fully open otherwise your banging it on something every time you open the thing. Also be mindful of vents that pump out heat in winter, might not want that directly above your figures. Also be mindful of the light switch and outlet locations. And on another note, I suggest a ceiling fan with 3-4 light bulbs, having airflow makes it easier to spend time in there while providing adequate lighting to see your collection.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Thanks for the pic! Door will be swinging away from my office, though I’m not sure if I’ll even be using it. Good future-proofing as the kids get older, I guess.

Here’s the gutted basement, and you can see where my office wall used to be. Gonna move the door and go from there.

Edit: turn your head, I guess.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Alright new door location secured! Theres plenty of room for a CRT TV on the right and Unicron as well. I figure I might use that space for a table to lay out Fort Max as a city or whoever else in the future. We shall see.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

probably not possible but hanging haslab unicron from the ceiling would be epic. Enclosing your shelves/book case will save you from dusting if that’s consideration.

Can’t wait to see how it turns out!

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Thoughts on this layout? It’s 23.5” at the top, which I think will fit any titan and MMC Bruticus (which I think I’ll get). It’s 14” between each shelf, and 12.5” in that bottom space to fit all base bots.

I dropped the 5th shelf to make it all work. I’m trying to think if it was worth it.

Anyway, any feedback is appreciated before I get the brackets going into the walls. The top 3 shelves will extend across the right wall, and all 3 shelves will extend onto the left wall as well.

The Home Depot boxes are all temporary and there will be nothing there when it’s all done.

https://www.allspark.com/forums/uplo...609106780.jpeg

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

Some lights under the shelves and you're good to go

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

That’s the plan. Just gotta find the right brand. I’m thinking of strip lights.

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07CVRVPRM/...ing=UTF8&psc=1

These are the light strips I got for my displays

Re: Renovating space for display. Looking for advice!
 

I’ve got a 10 foot walk with shelves the length of the wall. The bottom shelf is 16” deep and the rest are 12” (storage under the bottle shelf for Rubbermaid totes). I put up 5 shelves initially but there’s a lot of headspace above some of the shelves and I’m gonna add another shelf this week. It’s all on tracks so I can adjust if needed.