Just a Bit More - the War Room

Okay...just a bit more about me with a sneak peak of the War Room thrown in.

This is also going to be a post to tie into my other blog as well - so be afraid!

One thing I have always found interesting about Wargamers, and miniature painters in general, are their work stations/desks.

Over on the Steve Dean Painting Forum there is a thread called 'Post your Desk'. So, I thought I would post a picture of MY painting desk here. I also need to re-read through the one on the STDPF site - I could have sworn I posted a pic of my desk on it, but didn't find it listed.

Anyway, here is my spot:

It isn't much - but it's mine.

Now for the tour....

The shelves and cubby holes contain my painting guides (mainly Osprey) as well as rules and terrain guides.

Most of my paints are kept in tool boxes under the desk.

Right now, there is a unit of British Peninsular infantry on the desk. They are going to be based on Sharpe's beloved South Essex.

There is also a unit of Zulus (the dark figures in front) and a small unit of Zulu War British.

On the middle shelf is a unit of F&IW British, some Indians for the same period, a few Roman gladiators and a couple of elephants. However, I'm going to be switching gears for a bit and start on another project. I'll talk about that in another post.

Now, on the very top of the desk is a LEGO Pirate ship, one of my model buildings, some minis and toy soldiers as well as a collection of wargaming specific books and rules.

For those of you who are real nosy....

On the top of the file cabinet, in the back, you will see a box with some red books in it. This is in fact one of my very first eBay finds and a REAL treasure. What it is is a set of books covering WWI that was printed in 1919. Now what makes these so special is the fact that the 'box' they are in is their original shipping crate! That's right, these books had NEVER seen the light of day until I purchased them and opened the crate. Each book is mint and was in it's original paper wrapping. The guy who listed them on eBay found them in his father's garage on a shelf behind a bunch of junk. They were intended for a school library (per the shipping label) so we have no idea why they were there. The best part is what I paid. The guy listed them in a funky way so not many people found them (keep in mind - this was in the first few months of eBay starting). I paid a whopping $35 for the books and $25 of that was shipping!! The down side was that the set wasn't complete. The original packing sheet said that the final volume would be shipped at a latter date. Well, I hunted down that last volume and bought it. That book set me back $45 and didn't include shipping!!!

Also of interest... On top of the books is a Roman style helmet I made for a church play way back when I was in High School.

Okay, I know some of you are asking "What's with all the junk around the painting desk?". Well, there's a simple reason for it - my gaming room is under construction!

Currently I'm working on the biggest building project of my life, a 100+ year old house we call 'Simpson's Folly'.

About a year and a half ago my father-n-law bought a huge amount of insulation for pennies on the dollar. He knew we wanted some for our attic so he bought it for us. The problem was, we were not ready to start the attic project! This was going to be one of our last projects. However, he bought the stuff, it had to be moved, and the only place to store it was our garage. BTW - it filled half the garage - to the the rafters - so it could not stay. We had no option but stop work on the kitchen and start work on the attic - during the hottest part of the year.

Now, from day one we knew the attic was going to become MY room. Affectionately known as the 'War Room' it is to be my hobby/gaming room. Before this could be done the attic had to have a lot of work done to it. New floor joists had to be installed, insulation put in, wiring, a floor, etc. We still have a lot to do such as ceiling insulation, outlets, heating/cooling, refurbishing windows, etc. All-n-all it took about 4+ moths out of the kitchen project to get the attic to where it is now.

The attic foot print is bigger than our first house. The total space is about 960 sq. feet. Once the knee walls are up and the built in storage/book shelves are in it will shrink the room to about 700 sq. feet. The top of the ceiling is just under 13', right below this is where the gaming table will be.

That said, here are some pics from the attic/war room project. There are also going to be some links to take you to the full description with pictures.

This is just a general view of the attic 'before'.

The gaming table will go in front of where the white bookcase is.


You can go here to see more pictures and read about the beginning of the transformation.

If you go to the general house blog you can see all the posts dealing with the attic and learn all the dirty little pitfalls of dealing with it.

There is even a ghost involved!

As you can see, there is no floor - just planks. No insulation in the floor or on the ceiling either. Basically the attic was just being used for storage - ours and all the owners that came before (yes, some of there junk was left behind).

All of the stuff in the attic has been sorted through and boxed up. Some of it has been done away with as well. For the most part, all the stuff from the attic is now being stored in three of the rooms on the second floor. One of those rooms is where my painting desk currently resides.

So now you know why there is so much junk around my painting desk!!

Here is a picture of the same spot as above. It has been cleaned out, floor insulated, and a floor installed.



The ceiling insulation has yet to be installed, but we might try to do this next month.

If you go here and can see a lot more photos and read the full story.

Before we continue on, to the right you can see a window leaning against a window well along with a coil of power cable. This is where my new painting station will go.

The far back corner area is where I'm planning to have storage for unpainted lead , buildings and terrain. There is also going to be a small fireplace next to chimney (to the left in the photo).

This is the space to the front of the painting area (see the coil of cable at the bottom left?). This will be a general lounging area.

To give an idea of scale, that is one of my favorite reading chairs. It was left in the house after the auction. SWMBO hates it and keeps trying to get rid of it!

At the lower right side of the picture you can see the stairwell leading down to the library.

Here is a better view of the where my painting desk will go.

It overlooks our back yard and the window will be made to open up so I can take advantage of cool breezes.

This last photo is a general view of the south west corner of the attic. I'm not really sure what I plan to do with this section yet. SWMBO and I found a picture of a cool looking day bed that hangs from the rafters. We have thought about putting it up here.

I didn't include a picture of the spot, but there is also going to be an area just for my history/gaming library. It will be located in the south east corner of the attic. This spot has no window, so if a bad storm hits there will be less chance of damage to my books.

Remember the picture that shows the chair in it? In that photo you could see part of the stairwell. The library section of the attic is directly to the right of the stairwell. Also, to make it so no one falls down into the stairwell I'll be adding book cases along the edges. They will be tall enough to act as a wall, but short enough to be used as seating.

When all the main work is done the entire attic is going to be finished out in some sort of military/safari camp type theme. I just hope it turns out the way I envision it.

Anyway, now that you know the rest of the story I hope you can understand why I'm not getting a lot of painting done!!

Well, till next time...

Cheers!
Larry