Transformers Room Construction - any tips?

[BigTransformerTrev]

We are finally starting our house extension and the architect came by the other day to take photo's and measurements. This is what we have initially thought for the Transformers Room (named Rumpus room on the plans).



As you can see from the plans, the room will be 8m by 4.5m. Putting a full length BIR on the south side (Sliding doors with shelves and a clothes rack for extra display space and for my 60+ TF tops) and built in shelves along the west and north walls. There will be three small high windows (two on the west side, one on the north) - the minimum required to let in enough natural light. Double doors will open into the room from the east side.

We are still at the drawing board stage and the architect is awaiting our revisions before he starts to do all the computer planning and simulation of what it would look like.

Do people have any suggestions or ideas in regards to the rooms set up? None of it is set in stone yet and haven't even thought about the lighting. Probably the only thing not to change would be the double doors. My collection is near 1800 figures which will continue to expand so the shelving needs to hold at least that many. I've made the room wide enough that if we sell the house in ten or twenty years we could stick a pool table in the middle of it and sell it as a rumpus room/man cave.

Thinking of DVD & Book shelves up against the east walls for all that TF stuff and a glass cabinet in the centre for all my Primes. Maybe even if I can swing it moving my big AOE Grimlock cinema display in there too. But thats all to be decided down the road, it's more the construction set up side I'm looking for suggestions for if anyone has any (I know a few of you have dedicated rooms for your collections) before we go ahead

[Starscream77]

I have recently been redoing my man cave and my biggest tip is don't put fixed shelving in, used adjustable. As you know TFs come in all shapes and sizes and you want to maximise your display and not have wasted area on shelves

[Tetsuwan Convoy]

High ceiling/ventilation for the heat.
For those TFS near the cieling, where the heat will collect. I was a friends place after not being there for a while and his G1 Grimlock's gun had melted due to the accumulated hot days/nights and the gun had been pointing up the air.

Twas funny, Grimbo with a droopy gun


and a bit sad

But mostly funny!

[Paulbot]

This is pretty cool and look forward to seeing how it take shape.

Maybe have a think about light and where sunlight would fall on your shelves/toys/misc. look into UV coating - I know others have posted about this on other collection room threads.

[TAAUBlaster]

What are your outside walls going to be? Brick veneer or fibro (or similar)?

If it's fibro, I'd be a bit hesitant to put my Transformers shelving on the outside walls. Don't know how it is in Vic, but here in QLD the external walls can get pretty hot in the summer sun - even with insulation. If I was doing this, I would be putting the long shelving along the internal wall. You will lose a bit of space due to the double doors, but your figures won't cop the extra heat from the walls.
Of course, if you're going brick veneer, you can pretty much disregard what I said

[Demonac]

Is it possible to have a south facing window instead of north & west? (If those windows won't be letting in any sunlight, then you can disregard this)

[BigTransformerTrev]

Thanks for the tips guys! You all rock! In regards to the suggestions so far:

*The window on the north side will be under a verandah so no direct sunlight. However the west ones will get some direct sunlight in the arvos so may have to look into getting that UV stuff on them. I could put the windows on the south side but for the look of the house from the outside it wouldn't really work.

*We looked into having a higher roof but it was going to be too costly. Hopefully the TF's will be alright. Considering the limited space of the room I'm not going to really have a choice but to put the shelving along the outer walls (Which will be fibro) so I'm just gonna hope for the best - the rest of the house seems to do ok wall-hear wise.

*Adjustable shelving - great idea!


Please keep the suggestions coming! They are all appreciated and give me ideas to consider before we email the architect as the end of the week

[Ralph Wiggum]

From a lighting perspective, and from personal experience, down lights have a modern showroom feel but do have a limited focus from a top-down perspective, which means if you want your TF to be well illuminated at night, you'll need at a minimum four downlights AND use wide angle globes. It's a decent size room so a single globe in the middle of the room isn't going to cut it. My home theatre room seems similar in size so I'll post a pic later of what happens when you have downlights in a large room.

In terms of shelving, I'm a convert now for all enclosed glass shelving. Keeps the dust out (a winner for me) and gives that showroom/museum feel about the room. It's probably expensive as well, but get a quote from a store that does shop fitouts.

[kup]

High ceiling/ventilation for the heat.
For those TFS near the cieling, where the heat will collect. I was a friends place after not being there for a while and his G1 Grimlock's gun had melted due to the accumulated hot days/nights and the gun had been pointing up the air.

Twas funny, Grimbo with a droopy gun


and a bit sad

But mostly funny!

This is something that worries me as I am setting up my huge garage too as a collection room. It appears to be rain proof but during a hot/sunny day, it can get very warm in there. I probably won't have my G1s there but I worry about my CHUGs/others.

Edit:

This is an idea to keep things cool:

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/HPM-Digit...gAAOxy0zhTO-EB

I have a portable aircon unit, what I can do so it doesn't cost me a fortune is plug it in to a programmable power point like the one linked so it only turns on for a limited time a couple of times per day, enough to keep things cool during summer.

[Deonasis]

I am guessing you are avoiding carpet.